Nursing Research & Statistics
Nursing Research & Statistics
INTRODUCTION:
The word research means “to search again” or “to examine carefully". Research is systematic
inquiry, or study to validate and refine existing knowledge and develop new knowledge. The
ultimate goal of research is the development of a body of knowledge for a discipline or
profession such as nursing.
Research conducted by nurses includes various types of studies in order to derive clinical
interventions to assist those who require nursing care. The complexity of nursing research and its
broad scope often require scientific underpinning from several disciplines. Hence, nursing
research cuts across traditional research lines, and draws its methods from several fields.
DEFINITION:
RESEARCH:
- A formal, systematic, and rigorous process of inquiry used by nurses to generate and test the
concepts and propositions that constitute nursing theories, which are derived from or linked with
a conceptual model of nursing.
- Nursing research is research that provides evidence used to support nursing practices. Nursing,
as an evidence-based area of practice, has been developing since the time of Florence
Nightingale to the present day, where many nurses now work as researchers based
in universities as well as in the health care setting.
CHARACTERISTICS OF RESEARCH:
1. A systematic approach must be followed for accurate data. Rules and procedures are an
integral part of the process that set the objective. Researchers need to practice ethics and a
code of conduct while making observations or drawing conclusions.
2. Research is based on logical reasoning and involves both inductive and deductive methods.
3. The data or knowledge that is derived is in real time from actual observations in natural
settings.
4. There is an in-depth analysis of all data collected so that there are no anomalies associated
with it.
5. Research creates a path for generating new questions. Existing data helps create more
opportunities for research.
6. Research is analytical in nature. It makes use of all the available data so that there is no
ambiguity in inference.
7. Accuracy is one of the most important aspects of research. The information that is obtained
should be accurate and true to its nature. For example, laboratories provide a controlled
environment to collect data. Accuracy is measured in the instruments used, the calibrations of
instruments or tools, and the final result of the experiment.
PURPOSES OF RESEARCH:
There are three purposes of research:
TYPES OF RESEARCH:
Research used in evidence-based practice can be quantitative, qualitative or both. From there,
these two types can be divided into multiple categories.
2. Qualitative research: Findings take the form of thoughts, perceptions and experiences.
1. Ethnography: Observes or provides analysis about cultural and social customs and
practices and how particular cultures understand disease and health.
2. Grounded theory: Is all about building theories in response to questions, problems and
observations.
3. Symbolic interactions: Studies personal interaction, communication patterns,
interpretations and reactions. These factors can influence how people change their health
practices over time.
4. Historical research: Systematically reviews a topic, culture or group and the subject’s
history.
5. Phenomenology: Uses personal experiences and insights to inform the author’s conclusion.
SAMPLING
INTRODUCTION:
DEFINITION:
PURPOSES OF SAMPLING:
• Economical: The researcher can save lots of time, money, and resources to study a
phenomenon. Therefore, sampling provides an economical option for the researcher to generate
empirical evidences.
• Improved quality of data: It is a proven fact that when a person handles less amount of work
or fewer number of people, then it is easier to ensure the quality of the outcome.
• Quick study results: Studying an entire population itself will take a lot of time, But with a
sample, it is possible to generate study results faster, which is one of the important objectives of
every researcher.
• Precision and accuracy of data: while carrying a study on a part of the population (sample)
helps the researcher to generate more precise data, where formulation of the interpretations of the
data becomes much easier. It is always easy to establish better rapport with a sample and thus to
collect more accurate data. Thus, a sample helps to generate precise and accurate data in a
research study.
METHODS OF REDUCING SAMPLING ERRORS:
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION:
Review of literature is one of the most important steps in the research process. It is an account of
what is already known about a particular phenomenon. The main purpose of literature review is
to convey to the readers about the work already done & the knowledge & ideas that have been
already established on a particular topic of research.
DEFINITION:
A literature review is a body of text that aims to review the critical points of knowledge on a
particular topic of research.
(ANM, 2000)
PURPOSES:
The purpose of a literature review is to convey to the reader previous knowledge & facts
established on a topic, & their strength &weakness.
The literature review allows the reader to be updated with the state of research in a field
& any contradictions that may exist with challenges findings of other research studies.
It helps to develop research investigative tools & to improve research methodologies.
It also provide the knowledge about the problems faced by the previous researchers’
while studying same topic.
Describe the relationship of each study to other research studies under consideration.
Identify new ways to interpret & shed light on any gaps in previous research.
Resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory previous studies.
Identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent duplication of effort.
Identify potential relationship between concepts &to identify researchable hypothesis.
Learn how others have defined & measured key concepts.
Identify data sources that other researchers have used.
Develop alternative research projects.
1. Primary Sources :
Literature review mostly relies on primary sources, i.e. research reports, which are
description of studies written by researchers who conducted them.
A primary source is written by a person who developed the theory or conducted the
research, or is the description of an investigation written by the person who conducted it.
Most primary sources are found in published literature.
2. Secondary Sources :
Secondary source research documents are description of studies prepared by someone
other than the original researcher.
They are written by people other than the individuals who developed the theory or
conducted the research.
The secondary sources may be used when primary sources are not available or if
researchers want external opinions on an issue or problem or even the results of their own
research.
Other sources:
Electronic Sources
CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing &Allied Health Literature)
Pub Med
MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis &Retrieved System Online)
Registry of Nursing Research
Online Journals
Printed Sources
Journals
Research reports
Unpublished dissertations & theses
Magazines & newspapers
Conference papers & proceedings
Encyclopedias & dictionaries
Books
STEPS IN LITERATURE REVIEW:
At this stage, researchers try to find common themes of research topic & organize the
literature under these themes, subthemes, or categories.
At this stage, researchers try to discover specific literature materials relevant to the field
of study or research methodologies which are more relevant for their research.
At this stage, researchers start writing the literature under each thematic section by using
previously collected draft of annotations.
Here they organize the related articles under each theme by ensuring that every article is
related to each other.
Furthermore, related articles may be grouped together by ensuring the coherence
between different segments of the literature abstracts.
In this section, researchers have a list of the thematic sections & they tie them together
with an introduction, conclusion, & some additions & revisions in the sections to show
how they relate to each other & to the overall theme.
POINTS TO BE CONSIDERED FOR LITERATURE REVIEW:
INTRODUCTION:
A measure of central tendency is a single value that attempts to describe a set of data
by identifying the central position within that set of data. As such, measures of central
tendency are sometimes called measures of central location. They are also classed as
summary statistics. The mean (often called the average) is most likely the measure of
central tendency that are most familiar with, but there are others, such as the median
and the mode.
Mean,
Median and
Mode are all valid measures of central tendency
MEAN (ARITHMETIC):
The arithmetic mean is the quantity obtained by summing two or more numbers and then
dividing by the total number of numbers. It is also known as average or average value.
• The mean or average is probably the most commonly used method of describing central
tendency.
• Mean is computed by dividing the sum of all the values by the total number of values.
̅
Arithmetic mean is represented by 𝐗
𝟏𝟐.𝟓+𝟏𝟑+𝟏𝟎+𝟏𝟏.𝟓+𝟏𝟏+𝟏𝟒+𝟗+𝟕.𝟓+𝟏𝟎+𝟏𝟐 𝟏𝟏𝟎.𝟓
= =
𝟏𝟎 𝟏𝟎
̅ =∑ 𝒙𝒇
𝐗 ∑𝒇
where𝑥 = midpoint of class interval and 𝑓 = corresponding frequency. Midpoint of the class
interval is calculated by the following formula:
𝐋𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭 + 𝐔𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐭
Midpoint =
𝟐
For example, calculate the mean age of the following group of people.
̅ =∑ 𝒙𝒇 = 𝟑𝟕𝟔𝟐.𝟓 =27.87
𝐗 ∑𝒇 𝟏𝟑𝟓
Therefore, mean age of the people in this group will be 27.87 years.
Very small and very large items usually affect the value of average.
In the distribution with open-ended classes, values of mean cannot be computed without
making assumptions.
It is not always a good measure of central tendency.
MEDIAN
Median is the middle-most value when the data is arranged in ascending order of magnitude. The
middle value will divide the number of observations in the data into two equal parts. The median
is denoted by M. It is also called positional average.
• One-half of items in the distribution have a value larger than the median value.
• One-half of items in the distribution have a value smaller than the median value.
Data with Odd Set of Numbers: In case of discrete data with odd set of numbers,
median is calculated using following formula:
𝒏+𝟏 𝒕𝒉
Formula =𝐌 = ( ) observation or item
𝟐
Calculating median for discrete data with even set of numbers: In case of discrete
data with even set of numbers, the median is calculated by using following steps as given
in example.
Example : Find the median for the following data set: 102, 56, 34, 99, 89, 101, 10, 54.
2. Find two numbers in the middle (where there are an equal number of data points above and
below the two middle numbers).
3. Add the two middle numbers (56 + 89 = 145) and then divide by 2, to get the average. 145/2 =
72.5.
Thus the median will be 72.5 for above given odd set of data.
Example : Calculate the median for the following frequency table data.
Solution: In case of continuous frequency table, median can be calculated by using following
formula:
(𝑵⁄𝟐 −𝒎)𝒘
𝑴 = 𝒍+ 𝒇
w=the width = 50
Therefore, the median is 241.7. The value of median always lies within the median class.
MERITS OF MEDIAN:
DEMERITS OF MEDIAN:
• Since it is the positional averages, the value is not determined by all the observations.
A data set could have no mode (when no number is appearing in data set more than once)
Unimodal (one most frequently occurring numbering in data set),
Bimodal (When two numbers are frequently occurring at equal frequency in data set)
Trimodal (when three numbers are frequently occurring at equal frequency in data set).
The bimodal, trimodal and subsequent modes are also known as multimodal.
EXAMPLES:
None/ no mode: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9.
The data set having more than one mode is also known as multimodal data set.
Calculation of Mode for Discrete Frequency: For the raw data and discrete frequency
table the most frequently occurring value is considered as mode. Z = value which has the
highest frequency.
f2 = frequency of class just after the modal class. Modal class is the one which has the
highest frequency.
MERITS OF MODE:
DEMERITS OF MODE: