A new article on the Nurse Author & Editor website :
Reporting Nursing Research, An Essay on Style: Beginnings
I highly recommend the Nurse Author & Editor website if you are writing anything from an abstract for a conference to a book from your thesis or dissertation. Keep disseminating your good work!
SHORT ANSWER: …Because a pilot is about testing research methods,….not about answering research questions.
If a project has “pilot” in the title, then you as a reader should expect a study that examines whether certain research methods work (methodologic research). Methods include things like timing of data collection, sampling strategies, length of questionnaire, and so on. Pilots suggest what methods will effectively to answer researchers’ questions. Advance prep in methods makes for a smooth research landing.
Small sample = Pilot? A PILOT is related to study goals and design–not sample size. Of course pilots typically have small samples, but a small sample does not a pilot study make. Sometimes journals may tempt a researcher to call their study a pilot because of small samples. Don’t go there. Doing so means after-the-fact, posthoc changes that were Not the original, a priori goals and design.
Practical problems? If researchers label a study a “pilot” after it is completed (post hoc), they raise practical & ethical issues. At a practical level, researchers must create feasibility questions & answers. (See NIH.) The authors should drop data analysis that answers their original research questions.
Ethics? This ethically requires researchers 1) to say they planned something that they didn’t or 2) to take additional action. Additional action may be complete transparency about the change and seeking modification to original human subjects’ committee approvals. An example of one human subjects issue is that you informed your subjects that their data would answer a particular research question, and now you want to use their data to answer something else–methods questions!
Options? You can just learn from your small study and go for a bigger one, including improving methods. Some journals will consider publication of innovative studies even when small.
Look first, then leap: Better to look a priori, before leaping. If you think you might have trouble with your methods, design a pilot. If you made the unpleasant discovery that your methods didn’t work as you hoped, you can 1) disseminate your results anyway or 2) rethink ethical and practical issues.
Who’s with me? The National Institutes of Health agree: https://nccih.nih.gov/grants/whatnccihfunds/pilot_studies . NIH notes that common misuses of “pilots” are determining safety, efficacy of intervention, and effect size.
Who disagrees? McGrath argues that clinical pilots MAY test safety and efficacy, as well as feasibility. (See McGrath, J. M. (2013). Not all studies with small samples are pilot studies, Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing, 27(4): 281-283. doi: 10.1097/01.JPN.0000437186.01731.bc )
Flaky conferences can taken advantage of your time, money and energy. My own publications in bona fide journals have triggered an onslaught of emails from probably predatory conferences–World Congresses of this and that (global health, nursing, education, etc.). The cartoon below totally resonates! Thanks PHD Comics.
http://phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1704
Cool. You completed your project and now want to publish it.
Beware! Predatory journals are ready to snap up your work! It helps them, but not you.
What is a predatory journal? One that can eat you and your paper alive.
Predatory journals don’t meet quality peer-review standards.Many predators are Open Access Journals. What are Open Access Journals? Ones “that use a funding model that does not charge readers or their institutions for access” (https://doaj.org/faq#definition).
Open Access Journals may be legitimate OR predatory.
How can you identify predatory journals? While perhaps not Mighty Mouse—yep, I’m showing my age—help from the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) is on the way. DOAJ provides a searchable list of LEGITIMATE open access journals (click here). A quick search for “nursing” yielded 7.
How does DOAJ define quality of journals? Quality open access journals “must exercise peer-review with an editor and an editorial board or editorial review (particularly in the Humanities) carried out by at least two editors” (https://doaj.org/faq#definition).
Is there a list of predatory open access journals? YES. To see one that is updated, click here. Also, you can help! If you find an open access journal that claims to have the DOAJ quality seal, but isn’t on the DOAJ legitimate journal list, DOAJ wants to hear from you!
For more on DOAJ, see https://doaj.org/: “DOAJ is a community-curated online directory that indexes and provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals. DOAJ is independent.”
Stay safe. As Randy Newman sings, “It’s a jungle out there.”
-Dr.H
Caveat Emptor! (“let the buyer beware”) I got a string of emails that I suspect are phishing to get me to send $$$. Does the emailer assume that I am in some sort of “publish or perish” greed mode?
The likely phisher got in touch with me via ResearchGate. I love ResearchGate. Seriously. It’s a great place to notify interested scholars of peer-reviewed work OR to post your work as ‘grey literature’ (i.e., “usually unpublished [work, including]… research reports, …evaluations, theses, dissertations, webcasts, poster sessions, presentations, conference proceedings, PowerPoint Presentations, etc..” per CSU/LB)
I christened the emails a “scholar scam.” (Please disabuse me of this notion if you know better.) First,I got an email asking if one of my ResearchGate-posted papers had been published. When I 
answered ‘no,’ I got a string of gmails (not “.edu”) attempting to get me to add as author someone who is not an author, then with other requests. Supposedly the advantage for me is to get help publishing. Frankly, I don’t need the help. (If you do, please pick your own reputable scholar friends to assist.)
I suspect that the phisher wants to convince me to PAY with promises of publication. The paying part would be real and the publication part likely imaginary. (BTW: Anyone can pay to publish anytime without anyone else’s help.) I was not yet asked for $$$, but if the emails continue, I expect that to come.
ummm….no thank you….Caveat Emptor!
What do you think? Anyone else receive similar emails?-Dr.H
p.s. the article in question that is fulltext at ResearchGate – Highfield, MEF, Osterhues, DJ, & Chu, L. (2008) Religious & spiritual content in physical therapy curricula: A survey of U.S. program directors. Published on ResearchGate.
So…after you do research or finish out your evidence-based practice project, you have to disseminate your findings, right? That means good writing skills are necessary.
I stumbled into the GRAMMAR PARTY blog today when I wondered whether or not to italicize coup d’état. Do you know? I didn’t. Check out this helpful resource.
The difference between research and evidence-based practice (EBP) can sometimes be confusing, but the contrast between them is sharp. I think most of the confusion comes because those implementing both processes measure outcomes. Here are differences:
meaning of results) is creating knowledge (AKA creating research evidence). A research project that has been written up IS evidence that can be used in practice. The process of research is guided by the scientific method.
research evidence) in practice. While researchers create new knowledge,The creation of evidence obviously precedes its application to practice. Something must be made before it can be used. Research obviously precedes the application of research findings to practice. When those findings are applied to practice, then we say the practice is evidence-based.
A good analogy for how research & EBP differ & work together can be seen in autos.
CRITICAL THINKING: 1) Why is the common phrase “evidence-based research” unclear? Should you use it? Why or why not? 2) What is a clinical question you now face. (e.g., C.Diff spread; nurse morale on your unit; managing neuropathic pain) and think about how the Stetler EBP model at http://www.nccmt.ca/registry/resource/pdf/83.pdf might help. Because you will be measuring outcomes, then why is this still considered EBP.
Want to know the standardized format for writing up your research study, QI report, 
case study, systematic review, or clinical practice guideline? Check out these standardized reporting guidelines: http://www.equator-network.org/reporting-guidelines/
Of course you should always give priority to the author instructions for the particular journal in which you want to publish, but most adhere generally or fully to these standardized guides.
Write away!
Want to know how to write an introduction/background section of a paper? Pay attention to STRUCTURE & evidence-based ARGUMENT in order to DIY (do-it-yourself) your own intro/background for a school paper or research report!
Let’s use this 2015 free full-text article by Marie Flem Sørbø et al. as a model! Past and recent abuse is associated with early cessation of breast feeding: results from a large prospective cohort in Norway . (Hint: Clicking on the article’s pdf tab may make it easier to read.)
Focus only on the INTRO/BACKGROUND section for now. Check out the STRUCTURE then the EVIDENCE-BASED ARGUMENT of the Intro/Background. This is how you should write your own.
STRUCTURE of INTRO/BACKGROUND in Sørbø et al. (2015):
ARGUMENTS in INTRO/BACKGROUND in Sørbø et al. (2015):
All this leads naturally, logically to …(drum roll please!)…the research questions/hypotheses, which are the gaps in our knowledge that the research will fill. This sets up the rest of the research article!
For more info on Intro/Background: Review my blogpost Intro to Intro’s
*ok, yeh. I cheated and included one additional sentence to capture the authors’ flow of argument.
If you are writing something for publication, watch this 2 minute video before selecting a journal! You’ll thank yourself for doing it.
< 2 minute video that tells you how to think, check, submit:
Don’t be fooled. It’s a lot of work to prepare something to publish, and you want your work to appear in a credible source and be accessible. It’s YOUR reputation!
If you are a student search for literature, it is important to know this also!! You want to use the highest quality evidence you can find for your projects.
Discovering Your Inner Scientist 