How to read a research article.

Scientific Inquiry provides a forum to facilitate the ongoing process of questioning and evaluating practice, presents informed practice based on available data, and innovates new practices through research and experimental learning.     

Research Fundamentals: II. Choosing and Defining a Research Question

Abstract. This is the second in a series of articles developed by members of the SAEM Research Committee to describe a stepwise approach to the research process. This series is aimed at junior academic emergency physicians (EPs), as well as nonacademic EPs with an interest in the research process. This article describes the development of a testable research hypothesis. While a multitude of sources provide interesting questions for consideration, choosing and refining the research question, so that it can be tested adequately and answered completely, are difficult tasks.     

Developing Future Clinician Scientists while Supporting a Research Infrastructure

Background

Supporting clinical research is a national priority. Clinician scientists are rare and clinical trials in academic medical centers (AMC) often fail to meet enrollment goals. Undergraduate students interested in biomedical careers often lack opportunities to perform clinical research.

Objective

Describe an innovative undergraduate course that supports clinical research in an AMC.

Methods

The course, Clinical Research Methods and Practice, offers undergraduate students the opportunity to learn clinical research through didactic and practical experiences. The students in turn support clinician scientists’ conduct of clinical studies in an AMC. Clinician scientists receive research support and participate in mentoring sessions for students.

Results

Over seven semesters, 128 students have assisted in 21 clinical studies located in outpatient and inpatient units of two hospitals. Students identified and screened eligible patients, collected clinical data, assisted in obtaining informed consent, and transported specimens. Many of the clinician scientists have met their enrollment goals and several have been top‐enrollers in multicenter clinical trials as a result of student support.

Conclusions

The Clinical Research Methods and Practice class addresses barriers to clinical research in AMC. This may be a model for institutions committed to mentoring students early in their career and to developing infrastructures for clinical research. Clin Trans Sci 2013; Volume 6: 94–97     

Using focus groups as a research method: a personal experience

AIM: The personal experience and systematic process of using focus groups as a research method to assist change within an NHS Trust are described. BACKGROUND: Focus groups have recently emerged as a popular qualitative research method in health research and were used in a qualitative research study to explore, from an Enrolled Nurse perspective, what it was that prevented them coming forward for conversion to the First Level of the UKCC Nursing Register. METHOD: The author facilitated the five focus groups with Enrolled Nurse membership within the local organizational context. Data were recorded on audio-tapes and transcribed in preparation for analysis. RESULTS: The use of focus groups in health care research has key benefits for involving people in the research process and the subsequent changes that may occur as a result. The use of focus groups presented real challenges in the area of recruiting Enrolled Nurses to engage in such a process. CONCLUSIONS: Focus groups have a valuable role to play in both research and the involvement of people in organizational change and development. However, to persuade traditionally disempowered groups to engage in the process will be a challenge to the leaders of such projects.     

Setting a research agenda for interprofessional education and collaborative practice in the context of United States health system reform

Interprofessional education (IPE) and collaborative practice (CP) have been prolific areas of inquiry exploring research questions mostly concerned with local program and project assessment. The actual sphere of influence of this research has been limited. Often discussed separately, this article places IPE and CP in the same conceptual space. The interface of these form a nexus where new knowledge creation may be facilitated. Rigorous research on IPE in relation to CP that is relevant to and framed by health system reform in the U.S. is the ultimate research goal of the National Center for Interprofessional Practice and Education at the University of Minnesota. This paper describes the direction and scope for a focused and purposive IPECP research agenda linked to improvement in health outcomes, contextualized by health care reform in the U.S. that has provided a revitalizing energy for this area of inquiry. A research agenda articulates a focus, meaningful and robust questions, and a theory of change within which intervention outcomes are examined. Further, a research agenda identifies the practices the area of inquiry is interested in informing, and the types of study designs and analytic approaches amenable to carrying out the proposed work.     

护理科研的选题与科研基金的申报

选题是提高课题中标率的关键。为了让广大护理人员掌握申报护理科研基金的基本方法,抓住申报课题的关键,提高申报课题的质量与中标率,从科研选题和标书填写两个方面做了深入阐述。强调立题依据要充分;研究目标要准确;研究方法要具体、可行。     

When a cigar is not just a cigar: alternative takes on data and data analysis

A commonplace in the qualitative research literature is that data can be interpreted in more than one way. Less commonly considered are how much the interpretive flexibility of data depends on the adequacy of researchers' interpretive repertoires and how it troubles the lines conventionally drawn between methods, primary and secondary analysis, and between valid and invalid interpretation. What largely differentiates inquiry is not whether it is qualitative or quantitative but rather the attitude taken toward the data generated in a study. The more varied the interpretive repertoire of researchers, the greater will be their capacity to be tuned in to and credibly account for the varied ways in which data can be seen and treated.     

An exploration of factors affecting the implementation of a randomized controlled trial of a transitional discharge model for people with a serious mental illness

Information about the contexts in which trials are carried out helps to identify confounding influences on the application of a trial. Furthermore, the ways in which context and implementation of trials influence participation are particularly important for trials which utilize people as part of the intervention. This is particularly likely in the mental health and psychosocial fields. The researchers used mixed methods to identify quality issues encountered during the conduct of a trial, aiming to explore process and contextual factors encountered during its implementation in a mental health setting. Staff and peer volunteers who contributed to the intervention provided information on implementation via diaries and group meetings. Findings in this paper relate to staff feedback. By providing an insider view, researchers were able to highlight the importance of obtaining feedback on implementation. Findings relate to the context of the study, particularly organizational, practitioner and trial preparation issues and illustrate the importance of building quality assurance mechanisms into research plans, such as monitoring and feedback processes. The issue of 'people involvement' in trial delivery requires sensitive management and flexibility in both preparation and delivery.     

Moving forward in a role as a researcher: the effect of a research method course on nurses' research activity

The aim of this study was to investigate whether a 1-year research course in basic research methodology, designed for clinical nurses, had a positive effect on the nurses' own research activity and their commitment to research in general. The research method applied was use of semistructured interviews. Seventy-nine clinical nurses participated in the study. Students of the research course (n = 37), i.e. the study group, were compared with a group of clinical nurses who did not participate in the course (n = 42), i.e. the reference group. A statistically significant difference was found in several variables between the two groups. Eighty-nine per cent of the study group members were active in planning their own research projects compared with 35.7% in the reference group. The study group also showed a higher level of interest and commitment to research results of others and read English language articles. A total of 13.9% of the study group experienced being unable to find time during working hours to participate in research projects, while this was true for 50% of nurses in the reference group. Experiences from the research course in basic methodology show that educational programmes designed for clinical nurses may facilitate and support their own research efforts as well as enhance their commitment to research in general. The course reinforced nurses' self-confidence in research-based practice. Clinical nurses require personal initiative, perseverance and competence in research methodology as well as sensitization towards a research culture in order to move away from the salaried work of a practitioner and into the role of a researcher.     

Publication Track Records as a Metric of Clinical Research Training Effectiveness

Clinical research training programs exist across the country, but no quantitative studies have been performed to evaluate the effectiveness of these programs. The goal of this study was to evaluate the success of the clinical research training program at the University of Cincinnati by comparing the publication histories of pediatric fellows who graduated from the clinical and translational research Master of Science (MS) degree programs between 1995 and 2011 with fellows who did not pursue an MS degree. Among 296 pediatric fellows, 44 of 54 graduates (81%) published at least 1 first‐authored paper, as compared with 149 of 242 (62%) fellows who did not obtain an MS degree (P < 0.01). In multivariable analysis, 3–4 years after program completion, MS graduates published more papers overall (R ² = 0.10) and more first‐authored papers than did non‐MS graduates (R ² = 0.04). These findings suggest that graduate training in clinical and translational research is related to an increase in research productivity as assessed by publication rates.     

Challenges of the grounded theory approach to a novice researcher

The grounded theory approach has been used in nursing research since 1970. The latest methodological books describe the research process in detail. However, there are many problems involved in the grounded theory approach, which especially need to be considered by a novice researcher. One of these problems is the question of how deeply and widely the researcher should familiarize her- or himself with the research topic before the empirical study. The problems also include the need to focus the research problem and to choose the sampling method. Data analysis is a multistage process, which demands from the researcher both sensitivity and time to work out the findings which emerge from the data. In this paper, the grounded theory approach is described as a process undertaken by the novice researcher. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the challenges of the grounded theory approach and the problems encountered by a researcher using the method for the first time.     

Developing scholarship in nursing - steps within a strategy

This paper seeks to share with the reader some of the mechanisms currently being used to generate scholarship in academic nursing, both at the institutional and individual levels. It then goes on to explore other ways in which educational managers might encourage scholarly activity. Finally, it presents the crystallization of ideas generated during discussions conducted with lecturers focusing on their selection of a workable path towards a future of scholarship, for them as an academic. It is intended as food for thought for managers of educational programmes and individual nurse academics as they scan the horizons of the future in an attempt to make the 'best' decisions for the profession of nursing and individuals within it.     

The Case Study as a Research Strategy

A research strategy seldom used in the caring sciences is the case study. A case study is an empirical in-depth inquiry about an individual, family, group or organization. It is preferable when ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions are asked. The case study is mainly used to explain those causal links in real-life intervention that are too complex for either the survey or experimental strategies. Like other research strategies, its design includes questions or propositions, units of analysis, the logic linking the data to the questions or propositions, and the interpretations of the outcomes. A case study can be reported as a single case or as a compilation of a series of cases. In conclusion, a case study is a simple and excellent way for a care professional to present him or herself to the scientific world.     

Barriers to and facilitators of research utilization, as perceived by a group of registered nurses in Sweden

A survey was conducted to describe registered nurses' ( n =237), perceptions of the barriers to and the facilitators of research utilization at two hospitals in Sweden. A questionnaire, Barriers and Facilitators to Using Research in Practice developed by Funk et al. , was used to collect the data. The major barriers to research utilization were that the research is not readily available along with inadequate facilities for implementation of research findings, lack of competent colleagues with whom to discuss research, lack of time for reading and implementing research findings and the nurses lack of authority in the organization. The nurses who had studied research methods in their basic nursing education, seemed to perceive fewer barriers than those who had not. The facilitating factors most frequently suggested by the nurses were diverse models of education to increase their knowledge of research methods and to develop skills in evaluating research findings. The allocation of resources for education and implementation of research findings in clinical practice, in addition to special positions in clinical practice for nurses with scientific qualifications, were also suggested.     

Narrative research: a viable methodology for clinical nursing

TOPIC: Narrative research provides a reasonable methodology for gathering rich, multidimensional data in the clinical setting. PURPOSE: To familiarize nurses with the concept of narrative research, review pertinent narrative research literature, and identify some ways this methodology can be integrated into clinical nursing. SOURCES: A review of published literature from psychology, sociology, anthropology, and nursing, with citations from women with breast cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Narrative research can make a valid contribution to nursing science in language familiar to nurses and other healthcare professionals.