Recently nurse scientists were asked that question. Here are a few responses. For more see: https://www.aacnnursing.org/news-data/research-data-center/phd-data/meet-nurse-researchers-and-teams
All posts by Martha "Marty" Farrar Highfield PhD RN
Historical research in healthcare: Free, zoom forums from UVA
| “Hospital City, Health Care Nation: Race, Capital, and the Costs of American Health Care”Guian McKee, PhD |
| Tuesday, September 12, 2023 12 p.m. (ET) on Zoom |
| Hosted by the UVA Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical InquiryZoom link: https://virginia.zoom.us/j/95756992198?pwd=TEZQNmVjOGxENmdCUlZFUGtWa3Ztdz09 Meeting ID: 957 5699 2198Passcode: 355573 |
| Dr. Guian McKee will speak about his new book, Hospital City, Health Care Nation, which recasts the story of the U.S. health care system by emphasizing its economic, social, and medical importance in American communities. Focusing on urban hospitals and academic medical centers, the book argues that the country’s high level of health care spending has allowed such institutions to become vital economic anchors for communities. Yet that spending has also constrained possibilities for comprehensive health care reform over many decades. At the same time, the role of hospitals in urban renewal, in community health provision, and as employers of low-wage workers has contributed directly to racial health disparities. McKee points to the increased role of financial capital after the 1960s in shaping not only hospital growth but also the underlying character of these vital institutions. The book shows how hospitals’ quest for capital has interacted with structural racism and inequality to constrain the U.S. health care system. Dr. McKee is a professor of presidential studies at the UVA Miller Center. He is co-chair of the Presidential Recordings Program and co-directs its Health Care Policy Project. His 2023 book, Hospital City, Health Care Nation, is available through the University of Pennsylvania Press. We hope you can tune in! Maura Singleton Center Manager Eleanor Crowder Bjoring Center for Nursing Historical Inquiry E mks2d@virginia.edu P 434.924.0083; 434.989.1550 (cell) UVA School of Nursing 202 Jeanette Lancaster Way P.O. Box 800782 Charlottesville, VA 22908-0782 www.nursing.virginia.edu/nursing-history/ |
Primer on Design: Part 3 – Mixing UP Methods
QUICK REVIEW: Research design is the overall plan for a study. And…there are 2 main types of design: 1) Non-experiments in which the researcher observes and documents what exists,
and 2) Experiments when the researcher tries out an intervention and measures outcomes.
NEW INFO: Two non-experimental research designs that are often confused with one another are: 1) cohort studies & 2) case studies. Epidemiologists often use these designs to study large populations.
In a cohort study, a group of participants, who were exposed to a presumed cause of disease or injury, are followed into the future (prospectively) to identify emerging health issues. Researchers may also look at their past (retrospectively) to determine the amount of exposure that is related to health outcomes.
In contrast, in a case controlled study, participants with a disease or condition (cases) and others without it (controls) are followed retrospectively to compare their exposure to a presumed cause.
EXAMPLES?
- Martinez-Calderon et al (2017 ) Influence of psychological factors on the prognosis of chronic shoulder pain: protocol for a prospective cohort study. BMJ Open, 7. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-012822
- Smith et al (2019). An outbreak of hepatitis A in Canada: The use of a control bank to conduct a case-control study. Epidemiology & Infection, 147. doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0950268819001870
CRITICAL THINKING: Do you work with a group that has an interesting past of exposure to some potential cause of disease or injury? Which of the above designs do you find more appealing and why?
Free, virtual seminar: How to publish in peer review journal
This Wiley sponsored online seminar should provide good information on how to disseminate your project findings!
The Whole Picture: Mixed Methods Design
Mixed methods (MM) research provides a more complete picture of reality by including both complementary quantitative and qualitative data.
A clinical analogy for MM research is asking patients to rate their pain numerically on a 0–10 scale and then to describe the pain character in words.
MM researchers sometimes include both experimental hypotheses and non-experimental research questions in the same study.
Common MM subtypes are in the below table. In concurrent designs investigators collect all data at the same time, and in sequential designs they collect one type of data before the other. In triangulated MM, data receive equal weight, but in embedded designs, such as a large RCT in which only a small subset of RCT participants are interviewed, the main study data is weighted more heavily. In sequential MM, researchers give more weight to whatever type of data were collected first; for exploratory this is qualitative data and for explanatory it is quantitative data.
FOR MORE INFO: WHAT IS MIXED METHODS RESEARCH? – Dr. John Creswell
| MM DESIGN | EQUALLY WEIGHTED DATA | PRIORITY WEIGHTED DATA |
| Concurrent data collection: *Triangulation | All data | |
| *Embedded | Main study data | |
| Sequential data collection: *Exploratory | Qualitative data | |
| *Explanatory | Quantitative data |
New research: Mindfulness
Check out the newest and add your critique in comments.
“Evidence suggests that mindfulness training using a phone application (app) may support neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurses in their high stress work.” https://journals.lww.com/advancesinneonatalcare/Abstract/9900/The_Effect_of_a_Mindfulness_Phone_Application_on.63.aspx
The Effect of a Mindfulness Phone Application on NICU Nurses’ Professional Quality of Life
by Egami, Susan MSN, RNC-NIC, IBCLC; Highfield, Martha E. Farrar PhD, RN
Editor(s): Dowling, Donna PhD, RN, Section Editors; Newberry, Desi M. DNP, NNP-BC, Section Editors; Parker, Leslie PhD, APRN, FAAN, Section EditorsAuthor Information
Advances in Neonatal Care ():10.1097/ANC.0000000000001064, April 10, 2023. | DOI: 10.1097/ANC.0000000000001064
Correlation Studies: Primer on Design Part 2
REMEMBER:
Research design = overall plan for a study.
The 2 major categories of research study design are:
- Non-experimental, observation-only studies, &
- Experimental testing of an intervention studies.
Correlation study designs are in that first category. Correlation studies focus on whether changes in at least one variable are statistically related to changes in another. In other words, do two or more variables change at the same time.
Such studies do not test whether one variable causes change in the other. Instead they are analogous to the chicken-and-egg dilemma in which one can confirm that the number of chickens and eggs are related to each other, but no one can say which came first or which caused the other. Correlation study questions may take this form, “Is there a relationship between changes in [variable x] and changes in [variable y]?” while a correlation hypothesis might be a prediction that, “As [variable x] increases, [variable y] decreases.”
An example of a question appropriate to this design is, “Are nurses’ age and educational levels related to their professional quality of life?” Sometimes a yet-unidentified, mediating variable may be creating the changes in one or all correlated variables. For example, rising nurse age and education may make them likely to choose certain work settings with high professional quality of life; this means the mediating variable of work setting—not age or education—might be creating a particular professional quality of life.
| Alert! Correlation is not causation. |
Primer on Research Design: Part 1-Description
A research design is the investigator-chosen, overarching study framework that facilitates getting the most accurate answer to a hypothesis or question. Think of research design as similar to the framing of a house during construction. Just as house-framing provides structure and limits to walls, floors, and ceilings, so does a research design provide structure and limits to a host of protocol details.
| Tip. The two major categories of research design are: 1) Non-experimental, observation only and 2) Experimental testing of an intervention. |
DESCRIPTIVE STUDIES
Non-experimental studies that examine one variable at a time.
When little is known and no theory exists on a topic, descriptive research begins to build theory by identifying and defining key, related concepts (variables). Although a descriptive study may explore several variables, only one of those is measured at a time; there is no examination of relationships between variables. Descriptive studies create a picture of what exists by analyzing quantitative or qualitative
data to answer questions like, “What is [variable x]?” or “How often does it occur?” Examples of such one-variable questions are “What are the experiences of first-time fathers?” or “How many falls occur in the emergency room?” (Variables are in italics.) The former question produces qualitative data, and the latter, quantitative.
Descriptive results raise important questions for further study, and findings are rarely generalizable. You can see this especially in a descriptive case study: an in-depth exploration of a single event or phenomena that is limited to a particular time and place. Given case study limitations, opinions differ on whether they even qualify as research.
Descriptive research that arises from constructivist or advocacy assumptions merits particular attention. In these designs, researchers collect in-depth qualitative information about only one variable and then critically reflect on that data in order to uncover emerging themes or theories. Often broad data are collected in a natural setting in which researchers exercise little control over other variables. Sample size is not pre-determined, data collection and analysis are concurrent, and the researcher collects and analyzes data until no new ideas emerge (data saturation). The most basic qualitative descriptive method is perhaps content analysis, sometimes called narrative descriptive analysis, in which researchers uncover themes within informant descriptions. Figure 4 identifies major qualitative traditions beyond content analysis and case studies.
| Alert! All qualitative studies are descriptive, but not all descriptive studies are qualitative. |
Box 1. Descriptive Qualitative Designs
| Design | Focus | Discipline of Origin |
| Ethnography | Uncovers phenomena within a given culture, such as meanings, communications, and mores. | Anthropology |
| Grounded Theory | Identifies a basic social problem and the process that participants use to confront it. | Sociology |
| Phenomenology | Documents the “lived experience” of informants going through a particular event or situation. | Psychology |
| Community participatory action | Seeks positive social change and empowerment of an oppressed community by engaging them in every step of the research process. | Marxist political theory |
| Feminist | Seeks positive social change and empowerment of women as an oppressed group. | Marxist political theory |
EBP: Think Three R’s
Risks, Resources, Readiness
3 things to consider when adapting or adopting research evidence to/in a particular practice setting according to Stetler (2001).
Check out the 1-minute video summary by DrH at https://www.instagram.com/martyhrn/
The biggest enemy was not Russia
Check out this explanation of the famous rose plot about preventable deaths of soldiers!! Lessons to be learned today.
How to speak to stakeholders. How to change nursing.
