Week 2 Flashcards
what is a quantitative (2) vs qualitative (3) term used to describe the person contributing info in a study
- quantitative = subject, study participant
- qualitative = study participant, informant, key informant
what is a quantitative vs qualitative term used to describe the person undertaking the study
- both = researcher, investigator
what is a quantitative (3) vs qualitative (2)term used to describe that which is being investigated
- quantitative = concepts, constructs, variables
- qualitative = phenomena, concepts
what is a quantitative vs qualitative term used to describe the info gathered in a study
- quantitative = data (numerical values)
- qualitative = data (narrative descriptions)
what is a quantitative (3) vs qualitative (1) term used to describe the connections between concepts in a study
- quantitative = relationships, cause-and-effect, associative
- qualitative = patterns of association
what is a quantitative vs qualitative term used to describe the logical reasoning processes in a study
- quantitative = deductive reasoning
- qualitative = inductive reasoning
what is deductive reasoning
- poses hypothesis based on previously captured facts or variable & relationships that have been captured in theory
what is inductive reasoning
- working from specific observations from the ground up to try to understand what people’s experiences are straight from their own voices
what is quantitative research
- objective approach to explaining and predicting events
- often involves mathematical techniques (numbers) to count or measure variables
what is qualitative research
- uses holistic approach to understand people’s experiences & in-depth understanding of how life unfolds in natural settings & to examine people’s experiences of illness in health care
- studies people’s perceptions of events and experiences
- often done when v little is known abt the topic
- often a precursor to quantitative–> helps us identify key factors or variable that are important for ongoing studies
define: study subject or participant
- people being studies or cooperating in the study
define: study site
- the overall location for a study
ex. Portland
what is the benefit of multisite studies
- tends to yielf to more diverse group of study participants = potentialy enhancing the generalizability of findings
define: theories
- set of relationships composed of constructs and concepts
- knits concepts into a coherent system that purports to explain phenomena
- less abstract
define: constructs
- cannot readily be observed, but you can define or operationalize them w observable features –> measured w multiple variable (concepts)
- slightly more complex abstractions
- not something we can define unless we give it a definition (ex. wealth, everyone interprets it differently)
define: concepts
- a mental image that can be observed both directly (ex. height, weight) or indirectly (age
- abstractions of particular aspects of human behavior or characteristics
what are examples of constructs
- self-care –> underlying concepts of bathing, eating, dressings
- quality of life
define: variable
- a characteristic or quality that takes on different values, that varies from one person to the next
what are 5 types of variables
- independent
- dependent
- confounding
- controlled
- conceptual
define: independent variable, what is another name for this
- experimental variable
- the presumed cause of a dependent variable
- the one things you can change in an experiment
ex. the liquid used to water each plant
define: dependent variable, what is another name for this
- outcome variable –> the outcome being measured
- the presumed effect/outcome of an independent variable
- the change that happens bc of the independent variable
ex. the height or health of the plant
define: confounding variables, what is another name
- extraneous variables
- other factors that influence the results of a study
what is a controlled variable
- everything you want to remain constant
ex. pot used, type of plant, amt of liquid, soil type, etc.
define: conceptual variable
- the abstract or theoretical meaning of a concept being studied
define: operational variable
- the operation (measurements) a researcher must perform to measure the concept and collect the desired info
define: data
- the pieces of info researchers collect in a study
what kind of data is collected in a quantitative study
- numeric data (quantitative data)
what kind of data is collected in a qualitative study
- narrative (verbal) data
define: relationship
- a bond or connection between variables
define a cause-and-effect relationship; what is an examples
- causal relationship
- a relationship in which one event (the cause) makes another event happen (the effect)
ex. cigarette smoking & lung cancer
define a associative relationship; what is an example
- functional relationship
- relationship between two random variables which makes them statistically dependent –> related, but not causal
ex. gender and life expectancy
describe the qualitative study of pattern
- qualitative researchers may seek patterns of association as a way of illuminating the underlying meaning and dimensionality of phenomena of interest
what are the 5 phases in a quantitative study
- conceptual
- design & planning stage
- empirical stage
- analytical phase
- dissemination phase
describe the conceptual phase of a quantitative study (3)
involves:
- formulation of research problem or question
- reviewing the literature relating to the research problem, see what else has been done
- formulating hypothesis
describe the design and planning phase of a quantitative study (4)
- aim is to prepare a general plan of research
- formulate a research design
- decide whether to do qualitative vs quantitative
- identify variables
describe the empirical phase of quantitative study (4)
- in this phase, the researcher implements the plans they made to collect data
- describe how they will collect data: ex. tools, interviews, observation
- use research to identify reliable tools
- describe framework they will use to analyze data, enter data for analysis
describe the analytic phase of quantitative study (3)
- occurs after data is collected, the data is now systematically organized so it can be interpreted and analyzed by the researcher
- analysis of the data
- interpretation of the results
describe the disseminative phase of a quantitative study (2)
- the researcher communicates the results of the study to others
ex. final research report, papers in journal, etc. - gives recommendations based on findings
which action should be performed first when designing and planning a quantitative study
- formulating a research design
list the steps in the design and planning phase of a quantitative study (4)
- formulate a research design
- develop intervention protocols
- identify the population
- design the sampling plan
find reading that outlines this for the other phases
what are 3 broad design options for a quantitative study
- experimental
- quasi-experimental
- non-experimental
what is an experimental design option
- randomized control trial
- assigning people randomly to a treatment or control group to determine cause & effect
what is the gold standard design to reveal causation? why?
- randomized controlled trial
- controls allows us to be relatively sure it is the intervention causing the outcome
what 3 features are included in an experimental design
- intervention
- control
- randomization
define: interventions
- the researcher does something to some subjects
- introduces an intervention or treatment
define: control
- the researcher introduces controls, including the use of a control group
define: randomization
- participants assigned to a control or experimental condition on a random basis
- often done by computer
describe how the experimental design works
target population –> selection –> random assignment –> pretest on both the treatment and control group –> intervention done to treatment group, nothing to control group –> posttest to both treatment and control group
what is a quasi-experimental design
- controlled trial without randomization to the different groups
what is a non-experimental design
- observational study
- no manipulation of the independent variable
what is the goal of an experiment
- to determine the effect that an independent variable has on a dependent variable
what is an extraneous variable
- variables other than the independent varibal that impact the dependent variable
what is a confounding variable
- when an extraneous variable impacts the validity/results of an experiment
what is an advantages of experiments
- can detect causation
how can experiments detect causation
- controls other confounding variables
what are disadvantages of experiments (5)
- not all variables can be manipulated (either realistically or ethically) –> very common problem in nursing
- often not feasible or ethical
- expensive
- hawthorne effect
- confounding variables
what is the Hawthorne effect
- knowledge of being in a study may cause people to change their behavior
- the phenomenom in which subjects alter their behavior in response to being observed
- considered to be one of the most important studies in human relations
what does a quasi-experimental design involve (3)
- an intervention
- may or may not have a control/comparison group
- may or may not lack randomization (just naturally occurring groups
has an intervention, lacks one of the other two
what is a con to quasi-experimental design
- the ability to make causal conclusions is weakened due to potential non-equivalence between comparison groups (less control over confounding variables)
what are the 2 main categories of quasi experimental designs
- nonequivalent control group designs (intervention group compared to comparison group)
- within-subject designs (subjects serve as their own control)
describe how the non-equivalent control group design works ; what is a an important aspect of this
- expirmental group –> pretest –> experimental treatment –> posttest
- comparison group –> pretest –> nothing changes –> posttest
- the pretest is important to determine if similar outcomes before they participate
what are advantages of the quasi-experiment (5)
- easier and more practical/feasible than true experiments
- some control (comparison group)
- more adaptable to real world settings
- less costly
- more ethical (groups naturally occur)
what are disadvantages to the quasi-experiment (2)
- more difficult to infer causality (no equivalence between 2 groups)
- usually there are several alternative rival hypotheses for results
what does “non-experimental studies” mean
- if researchers do not intervene by controlling independent variable, then it is non-experimental = observation
what is descriptive research
- describes variables of interest within a population through rates, ratios, proportions (%), mean, median, mode, correlation
what are types of nonexperimental studies (2)
- correlation designs
- cohort and case control studies
what is a correlation
- an association between variables which can be detected thru statistical analysis
what are addressed w correlational designs
- cause-probing questions (ex. prognosis or harm/etiology questions) for which manipulation is not possible are typically address w a correlational design
ex. gender cannot be manipulated, smoking cannot ethically be manipulated
describe the strength of correlational studies
- weaker than RCTs for cause-probing questions
what are cohort studies (3)
- start with an exposure of interest (ex. people who have been to the North pole)
- find an analogous group (similar to first group in every way except for the exposure)
- follow this group through over time to see what outcomes emerge as a result of the exposure (prospective)
what is a con of cohort studies (2)
- takes a long time
- expensive
what is a benefit to cohort studies
- evidence considered to be stronger (than case control)
what is a benefit to cohort studies
- evidence considered to be stronger (than case control)
what are case control studies
- start with a group of cases with a particular outcome (ex. people with a particular disease)
- create an analogous group (do not have that condition, but are in every other way similar to the first group)
- then go back in time (retrospectively) at their histories to try and identify exposures that may have led to the condition
- then compare the two groups, and try to determine differences
what is a benefit of case control studies (2)
- can be done fast
- cheap
what is a disadvantage of case control studies
- the evidence found from this is not considered to be strong evidence
what are advantages of non-experimental studies (3)
- studies problems that cannot be conducted experimentally (ex. lung cancer and smoking)
- can gather info on relationships between multiple variables
- experimental studies are often dependent on starting w descriptive correlational
what are disadvantages of non-experimental studies (2)
- no causation that can be proved
- self selection (groups within a study that form themselves (ex. male vs female, smokers vs nonsmokers) = no equivalency between 2 groups
what are 6 components of research journal articles
- title & abstract
- intro
- methods
- results
- discussion
- references
what is found under the intro of a research journal article (5)
- central phenoma/study variables
- study purpose and research questions
- literature review
- theoretical framework
- significance of the study (clinical relevance)
what is found under the methods portion of research journal articles (5)
- research design (must match research Q)
- sampling plan (target population, how recruited)
- data collection (how, tools)
- study procedures (who, any training)
- data analysis
what is found under the results section of research journal articles for QL versus QN ?
- quantatitive: stats, significance, often in tables
- qualitative: themes or categories
what is found under the discussion section of research journal articles (4)
- interpretation of results
- implications for research, clinical practice, education
- study limitations (how were they addressed?)
- future research (next steps)
what is the difference between random assignment and random selection
- assignment: random assignment to control & experimental group
- selection: who we select from the population is randomly selected, not cherry picking who participates in the study
what is a pilot study (2)
- when a researcher is interested in the feasibility of conducting a study
- NOT testing the effectiveness of an intervention/hypothesis
ex. how hard would it be to get a decent sample size? would people be willing to participate? etc.
