Vital Notes for Nurses: Research for Evidence-Based Practice

by Robert Newell (University of Bradford); Philip Burnard (University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff)

• ISBN13: 9781405125628
• ISBN10: 1405125624
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-07-01
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

Vital notes on research and evidence-based practice provides a concise, accessible introduction to research and evidence based practice for pre-registration students and newly qualified nurses. It places research and evidence in the context of clinical practice, introduces the main methodological approaches in qualitative and quantitative research and describes the processes of research appraisal, dissemination and implementation. It aims to engage students with the research and evidence agenda, demonstrate the relevance of research and evidence to nursing practice, and provide them with the skills needed to explore these areas in greater detail. Each chapter stands alone but contains links to other chapters and a ls"where to go nextrs" section for students wanting to pursue methods in more detail.

Author Biography

Robert Newell is Professor of Nursing Research, School of Health Studies, University of Bradford. He is also Series Editor for the Routledge Essentials in Nursing series, and Founding Editor of the journal Clinical Effectiveness in Nursing (Churchill Livingstone).

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Preface	xi
About the Authors	xiii
Section 1 Contextual Materials
Introduction to Nursing Research for Evidence-Based Practice	3	(5)
Introduction	3	(1)
The scope of nursing research	4	(1)
Whose business is research in nursing?	5	(1)
Using this book to get involved in nursing research	6	(1)
Notes on person and gender	7	(1)
The Research Process: Organising your Research	8	(13)
Introduction	8	(1)
The title	9	(1)
The abstract	9	(1)
Aims and objectives	9	(1)
A review of the literature	10	(2)
The sample	12	(1)
Measures and materials	13	(1)
Data collection	13	(1)
Data analysis	14	(1)
Ethical issues	14	(1)
Financial issues	15	(1)
Writing the report	15	(1)
Publishing the findings	16	(1)
Timetable	17	(1)
Other issues	18	(1)
Organising your own research	18	(2)
Further reading	20	(1)
Choosing Methodological Approaches	21	(8)
Introduction	21	(1)
When is a methodological approach fit for purpose?	22	(1)
Two different approaches to knowledge	22	(1)
Different broad methodological approaches and their appropriateness	23	(3)
What sorts of questions for what general approaches?	26	(1)
Do we need to do research at all?	27	(1)
Further reading	28	(1)
Searching the Literature	29	(8)
Introduction	29	(1)
Purpose of literature searches	30	(1)
Systematic reviews	31	(1)
Search process	32	(1)
Designing a search strategy	32	(1)
Components of a search strategy	33	(2)
Retrieval and inclusion criteria	35	(1)
Resources	35	(1)
Reporting your search	36	(1)
Further reading	36	(1)
Ethics of Nursing Research	37	(8)
Introduction	37	(3)
Ethic committees and research governance	40	(2)
What can you do?	42	(1)
Further reading	43	(2)
Basic Concepts: Sampling, Reliability and Validity	45	(12)
Sampling in research	45	(1)
Samples and populations	46	(1)
Sampling as an everyday pursuit	47	(2)
Samples and representativeness	49	(2)
Validity and reliability	51	(1)
Validity, reliability and sampling	51	(1)
Horses for courses	52	(1)
Further reading	53	(4)
Section 2 Qualitative Approaches
Issues in Qualitative Data Collection	57	(15)
Introduction	57	(1)
Sampling for qualitative research	58	(2)
Interviews	60	(6)
Questionnaires	66	(1)
Observation	66	(4)
Published work	70	(1)
Further reading	71	(1)
Case Studies	72	(7)
Introduction	72	(1)
The case study as `illustration'	73	(2)
The case study as a research method	75	(1)
Drawbacks	76	(2)
Further reading	78	(1)
Ethnography	79	(10)
Introduction	79	(1)
The stages of an ethnographic study	80	(2)
General methods used in ethnographic research	82	(2)
What should be observed?	84	(1)
Analysis	85	(2)
Further reading	87	(2)
Phenomenology	89	(8)
Introduction	89	(2)
Philosophical background	91	(2)
Applications	93	(1)
Methods	94	(2)
Further reading	96	(1)
A Pragmatic Approach to Qualitative Data Analysis	97	(11)
Introduction	97	(3)
Thematic content analysis	100	(6)
Conclusion	106	(1)
Further reading	106	(2)
Limitations of Qualitative Research	108	(13)
Introduction	108	(1)
Reliability and validity	109	(2)
Generalisability	111	(1)
The nature of human beings	112	(2)
Data analysis	114	(3)
Further reading	117	(4)
Section 3 Quantitative Approaches
Sampling, Reliability and Validity Issues in Data Collection and Analysis	121	(9)
Introduction	122	(1)
Representativeness, fairness and random sampling	122	(1)
Stratification	123	(1)
Sampling	123	(2)
Sampling, representativeness and external validity	125	(1)
Internal validity	126	(1)
Reliability	126	(1)
Validity of measures	127	(1)
Conclusions	128	(1)
Further reading	129	(1)
Cause and Effect, Hypothesis Testing and Estimation	130	(10)
Introduction	130	(1)
Cause and effect relationships in daily life	131	(1)
Examining cause and effect in health care	132	(1)
Variables	133	(1)
Hypotheses	134	(4)
Estimation	138	(1)
Further reading	139	(1)
Experimental and Quasi-experimental Approaches	140	(11)
Introduction	141	(1)
True experiments	141	(2)
Quasi-experimental designs	143	(4)
Factorial studies	147	(2)
Conclusions	149	(1)
Further reading	150	(1)
The Single-case Experiment	151	(12)
What is a single-case experimental design?	151	(1)
Why SCEDs?	152	(1)
The value of SCEDs	153	(1)
SCEDs in clinical practice	153	(1)
Types of single-case experimental design	154	(6)
Data analysis of single-case experiments	160	(1)
Shortcomings of single-case experimental designs	161	(1)
Conclusions	161	(1)
Further reading	162	(1)
Randomised Controlled Trials	163	(9)
Introduction	163	(1)
What is an RCT?	164	(4)
Explanatory versus pragmatic trials	168	(3)
Further reading	171	(1)
Non-experimental Approaches	172	(8)
Introduction	172	(2)
Descriptive designs	174	(1)
Causal comparative designs (comparative designs/ex post facto designs)	174	(1)
Correlational designs	175	(2)
Correlation and prediction	177	(2)
Further reading	179	(1)
Surveys	180	(8)
Introduction	180	(1)
Background issues in survey research	181	(2)
Instrument design and question construction	183	(1)
Administration	184	(2)
Enhancing response rate	186	(1)
Conclusions	186	(1)
Further reading	187	(1)
The Role of Statistics	188	(13)
Why do I need to know about statistical tests?	188	(1)
What are statistics for?	189	(1)
Basic ideas: visual displays, levels of data and statistics	190	(1)
Descriptive statistics	191	(2)
Parametric and non-parametric statistical tests	193	(1)
Inferential statistics	194	(1)
Designs and statistics	195	(1)
Estimation and confidence intervals	195	(2)
Is this really all I need to know?	197	(1)
Further reading	197	(4)
Section 4 Appraisal, Dissemination and Implementation
Evidence-based Practice and Clinical Effectiveness	201	(8)
Evidence and clinical practice	201	(1)
What are evidence-based practice (EBP) and clinical effectiveness?	202	(1)
The process of EBP in practice	203	(2)
The nature of evidence to support practice	205	(1)
Criticisms of evidence-based practice	206	(1)
Further reading	207	(2)
Critical Evaluation of Research Reports	209	(10)
Introduction	209	(2)
Reading the paper	211	(7)
Conclusions	218	(1)
Further reading	218	(1)
Writing a Research Report	219	(12)
Introduction	219	(1)
Help the reader	220	(1)
General structure of the report	221	(7)
Basic style tips	228	(2)
Further reading	230	(1)
Getting Research into Practice	231	(8)
Introduction	231	(1)
The nature of the change process	232	(1)
Effectiveness of interventions to get research into practice	233	(2)
Barriers to implementation	235	(1)
Creating clinical guidelines: a change strategy in your organisation?	236	(1)
And finally . . .	237	(1)
Further reading	238	(1)
Index	239