overview of The Research Process

1. overview of The Research Process Islamic University College of Nursing

2. Introduction • The steps of the research process are systematic and orderly and relate to both nursing theory and nursing practice. • The steps of the research process generally proceed in order (table 4-1). • It is important to remember that a researcher may vary the steps slightly, but the steps must still be addressed systematically. • Critical thinking, critical reading, critiquing skills and the overall format of a research article are designed to help you read research articles more effectively and with greater understanding.

3. Critical thinking and critical reading skills • There is a difference in style and format between research article & theoretical article. • The skill of evaluating research article is occurring with time and help. • The best way to become an intelligent consumer of research is to use critical thinking and reading skills so the essential objective is to help you acquire these critical thinking and reading skills • Skill of critical thinking and reading, like learning the steps of the research process, are learning processes that take time.

4. Critical Thinking Is the rational examination of ideas, inferences, assumptions, principles, arguments, conclusions, issues, statements, beliefs, and actions

5. Youare engaging in the following process: • The art of thinking about your thinking so as to make it more clear, precise, accurate, relevant. • The art of constructive skepticism. • The art of identifying and removing bias, prejudice, and one-sidedness of thought. • The art of clarifying what you do understand and what you do not know.

6. While thinking about all of this, you are: You are consciously thinking about your own thoughts and what you say, write, read, or do, as well as what others say, write, or do. Questioning the appropriateness of the content. Applying standards or criteria. Seeing how things measure up. Thinking about alternative ways of handling the same situation.

7. While thinking about all of this, you are: • Questioning the appropriateness of the content. • Applying standards or criteria. • Seeing how things measure up. • Thinking about alternative ways of handling the same situation.

8. Although the critical thinking is considered a highly rational process, it is a highly emotional and at times anxiety producing one. • Developing the ability to evaluate research critically requires not only critical thinking skills but critical reading skills.

9. Critical reading: Paul (1990) defines critical reading as: An active intellectually engaging process in which the reader participates in an inner dialogue with the writer. It means entering into a point of view other than our own, the point of view of the writer. A critical reader actively looks for assumptions, key concepts and ideas, reasons and justifications, supporting examples, parallel experiences, and any other structured features of the written text to interpret and asses it accurately and fairly.

10. The Process of critical reading: • The reader of a research study should have skilled reading, writing and reasoning abilities. • It is quit common for a research study to require several readings (2-4 and even up to 6 reading) • The reader should do the following: • Identify concepts. • Clarify unfamiliar concepts or terms. • Question assumptions and rationale. • Determine supporting evidence.

11. Process of critical reading: • Preliminary understanding. • Comprehensive understanding. • Analysis understanding. • Synthesis understanding.

12. Preliminary understanding: familiarity It is gained by quickly or lightly reading an article to familiarize yourself with its content or to get general sense of the material.

13. Abstract: Keys the reader to the main components. Skimming the concert: Introduction. Major headings One or two sentences under headings Summary or conclusion. During the preliminary reading: The title and abstract are red closely but the content is skimmed: • Title: Keys the reader to the main variable.

14. Preliminary reading includes • Highlighting or underlining the main steps of research process. • Making notes on the photocopied article. • Writing key variables, at the top of the photocopied article. • Highlighting or underlining on the photocopy new and unfamiliar terms and significant sentences.

15. Looking up the definitions of new terms and writing them in the margins of photocopy. • Reviewing old and new term before the next reading • Writing comments, questions and notes on the photocopy • Keeping a research text and a dictionary by your side.

16. Comprehensive understanding: content in relation to context. Comprehensive understanding is to see the parts of the study in relation to the whole article. When reading for comprehension: • keep your research text and dictionary near by. • Some terms may have seemed clear during the preliminary reading, on the second reading they may be unclear. • Write cues or key relationships wards on the photocopy. • Make another copy and ask your professor to read it. • Indicate on the copy the unclear areas and write out your specific questions.

17. Strategies to facilitate comprehensive understanding: • Reviewing all unfamiliar terms before reading for the second time. • Clarifying any additional unclear terms. • Reading additional sources as necessary. • Writing cues, relationships of concepts, and questions on the photocopy. • Making another copy for your faculty member to read. • Stating main idea or theme of the article, in your own wards in one or two sentences on the photocopy.

18. Analysis understanding: Breaking into parts: The purpose of reading for analysis is to break the content into parts to understand each aspect of the study

19. Ask yourself: • Did I capture the main idea or theme? • How are the major parts organized? • What is the purpose of the article? • How was this study carried out? • Can 9 say that I understand the parts of this article and summarize each section.

20. The critique Is the process of objectively and critically evaluating a research reports’ content for scientific merit and application to practice, theory and education Critiquing criteria: Are the measures, standards, evaluation guides, or questions used to judge (critique) a product or behavior. • The reader, must evaluate each step of the research process. • The reader must questions about whether each explanation of a step meets or does not meat these criteria.

21. Strategies to facilitate analysis understanding: • Being familiar with critiquing criteria • Reaching the comprehensive reading stage before applying critiquing criteria • Applying the critiquing criteria to each step. • Asking whether the content meets the criteria for each step. • Asking fellow student to analyze the same study & comparing results. • Writing notes on the copy about how each step of the research process measures up against the established criteria

22. Synthesis understanding: Putting together • Synthesis: Is the “ combination or putting together” combining of parts into a whole. The purpose of reading for synthesis is to : • pull all the information together to form a new whole • Make sense of it. • Explain relationships

23. Reading for synthesis is facilitated by the following strategies: Reviewing your notes on the article on: • How each step of the research process measured up against the established criteria • Briefly summarizing the study in your own words: the components of the study, the study's overall strengths & weaknesses • Following the suggested format

24. Research articles format and style: • A journals have guides manuscript preparation and submission, which generally are published in each journal • Some researches devote more space in an article to the results where as others present a longer discussion of the method procedures.

25. This is depending on: • A journals’ space limitation. • A journal's author guidelines. • The type or author guidelines • The type or nature of the study • An individual researches evaluation of what is the most important component to report

26. Published article about a quantitative study will differ from one about a qualitative study a qualitative study does not test a hypothesis but may generate hypotheses based on the results

27. Abstract An abstract is a short comprehensive synopsis of a study at beginning of an article. An abstract quickly focuses the reader the main points of a study. Abstract is accurate, self-contained, concise, no evaluative, coherent, and readable. Abstracts vary in length from50 to250 words. A number of journals that publish research provide abstracts;

28. Steps of the Research Process and Journal Format • Research • Purpose • Literature review • Theoretical framework (TF) and/or Conceptual framework (CF) • Hypothesis/ research/ question • Research design • Sample: type and size • instruments (measurement tools)

29. Steps of the Research Process and Journal Format- cont’d • Validity and reliability • Data collection procedure • Result • Discussion of findings and new findings • Implication, limitation, and recommendations • References • Communicating research • Results

30. Exercise Example: Fifty adult coronary artery by-pass (CABG) patients were randomly assigned to preadmission self-instruction or post hospital admission instruction of therapeutic exercises (e.g.coughing). Self –instructed subjects reported higher positive mood scores, performed correctly significantly more exercise behaviors and required less teaching time following admission.(p.253) • Sample composition (CABG) • Sample size (50) • Type of sampling method (probability) • Design (experimental) • Type of procedure (two groups comparison of inter venation effectiveness)

31. Identification of research problem The researcher presents a picture of the area researched. may written in the introduction or early in research article. Example: It is important to determine the factors associated with adaptation to the care of these children assume that the factors predicting adaptation are similar.

32. Definition of the Purpose The purpose is defined either at the end of the researcher’s initial introduction or at the end of the literature review or conceptual framework section. Example: The purpose of this study was to determine the adaptation of preadolescent and adolescent with insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM).(p.144)

33. Literature Review and Theoretical Framework • Authors of studies and journal articles present the literature review and theoretical framework in different ways. • The section heading may include the main concepts • May be called • Review of the literate • Literature review • Theoretical framework • conceptual framework • Or may not be labeled at all (see chapters 5-and 6) • This section contain both the literature review and theoretical frameworks

34. Hypothesis/ Research Question • A study’s research question and hypotheses can also be presented in different ways Example: There is no difference in thromboplastin time in effectiveness of low-dose heparin therapy; as measured by activated partial three different subcutaneous sites 240)

35. Research Design The type of research designee can be found in the procedure or methods section or not stated at all Determine whether the study is

36. Sampling The population from which the sample was drawn is discussed in the methods section entitled “ method” Methodology under the subheading of subjects or sample Example : (Quantitative research) The final sample included 101 subject classified as general medical/ surgical patients .

37. . Example ):Qualitative research) Sample from a group of nursing home residents who met the following criteria : • Age of 62 years or older • Cognitively intact • Expectation of living in the nursing home indefinitely • Length of stay of at least 2 months. • The researchers also noted that they were guided by a theoretical sampling strategy.

38. Instruments: Reliability and Validity . • The researcher usually describes the particular measure (instrument or tool) used by discussing its reliability and validity. However, the validity and reliability of instruments are not always reported.

39. Procedure and Data Collection Methods : • The procedures used to collect data or the step-by-step way that researcher (s) used the measures (instruments or tools) is generally headed procedures.\

40. Data Analysis The data analysis procedures, that is the, statistical used in quantitative studies and the results of descriptive and/ or inferential tests applied, are presented in the section labeled results or findings.

41. Results/ Discussion The last section of a research study is the results or discussion section. The researcher in this section ties together all the pieces of the study and gives a picture of the study as a whole. • Often researchers reported the results in one section and the discussion in a separate section. • Example It was not expected that investing in close friends as a coping strategy would be associated with poorer metabolic control.

42. Recommendations and Implications: In some cases the researcher reports the implications, based on the findings, for practice and education and recommend future studies in a separate section; in other cases they appear at the end of the discussion section.

43. References: Included at the end of research article or any scholarly article, are all references cited in the article - The main purpose of the reference list is to support the material presented by identifying the sources in a manner that allows easy retrieval by the reader (APA, 1983).

44. Communicating Results * Communicating the results of a study can take the form of a research article, a poster, or a paper presentation . * Research – based nursing care plans and patient protocols are outcome measures that indicate effectively communicated research.

45. Thank You