Research in Allied Health ALHE4060
Exam for Bailey Workbook.

1. Your instructor has reviewed several strategies to conduct and report on scientific research.  Discuss the procedures in the positivistic, scientific method and the components of this research paper. List two reasons why you agree or disagree with this worldview and how you might utilize it for your future research agenda.                                                                  Positivist is the understanding of the natural sciences, and the search for universal laws or truth. Positivist comes out to be more of quantitative research design. One reason I agree that research needs to have some positivist understanding. The natural sciences are critical in research. However secondly, I disagree that positivist the answer lies with in the natural sciences. I believe they are part of the research but not the whole part of research. I would utilize the natural sciences in my research, but I would open up my research to more of a relativist way too.

2. We have stated that the researcher must remember the equation [dependent variables = independent variables]. Discuss the differences between independent and dependent variables and the influence one exerts upon the other.  How was this theorum influential in your study or project?                                                                                                     The independent variables are the variables that can be manipulated to see the effects on the dependent variables. The dependent variables are the variables that are the measure of the experiment. The dependent variables are used to see how effective the treatment or manipulation and to be used to observed and measured at the beginning and at the end. This theorum influenced my research a lot because it made me look at what were independent variables and which were dependent variables, and to help see what is actually changing in the research.

3. Create a list of the independent variables you identified in your study (Hint: these
   are important client, institutional, environmental, or patient characteristics).  Give one example of a variable you could change or 'fix' in a departmental, governmental, or organizational policy.

Graduation rates, retirement rates, and the economy. The graduation rate.

4. When creating a study, one must address the operational definitions for individual studies.  Give 3 examples of operational definitions you encountered in your project.  How does this process help or hinder the researcher?

I encountered operational definitions in my project under the average age of a registrated nurse. I encountered another operational definition when doing research on statistical information when talking about the nursing shortage. Finally the last definition I came across was about the resignations of nurses.

5. Define the different scales of measurement (i.e. Ordinal, Nominal, Interval, Ratio). In each of these scales of measure, how would the researcher decide on which statistical analysis to use?  How did you decide what methodology to use (theoretically, you told me in METHODS chapter what you decided to do with all of the datum)

Ordinal data are numbers that still are discrete but are ordered; however, the intervals between the categories are not known and cannot be assumed to be equal. Also the they are ordered but are discrete. I don't believe that is could work for my research.

Nominal data are the numbers applied to nonnumerical variables Each category of data must be mutually exclusive, meaning that no individual or variable could be assigned to more than one group. There is no ordered relationship between categories, meaning that one category could not be considered to come before or after another category. This type of data also sometimes is referred to as discrete as opposed to continuous. I believe this is the best scale of measure for my research

Interval is ordered in a logical sequence. However, this time the intervals between the numbers are considered equal and represent actual amounts. Items are continuum; however, there is no actual zero point. This I could use because in my statistics I could measure the difference in numbers between years.

Ratio data are numbers that are also continuous with equal intervals between numbers. Additionally, ratio data have a meaningful zero point. Ratio data can be multiplied and divided, enabling one to say that a range of motion of 40 degrees is twice that of a 20-degree range. I don't believe I could have used this scale in my research paper.

6. Discuss the types of reliability. Why does a researcher in health care consider reliability an important component of their study?

There are 3 different types of reliability; test-retest reliability, split-half reliability, and interrater reliability. The first is test-retest reliability which is more concerned about how reliable scores are over time. Subjects are measured regarding some characteristics; a period of time is allowed to elapse, and the same subjects are remeasured on the same characteristics. Which this should produce similar scores. Split-half reliability is another that is concerned with the extent to which different parts of an instrument are measuring the same thing. If things are not measuring the same thing then the test maybe suspect. The scores may not be true and not represent the subject. To help with this the test is divided into two parts and the subject scores on the two groups of items are compared, then if both scores are similar the test then can be considered to be reliable. Finally interrater reliability is the extent to which different raters or observers perceive the same person or characteristics similarly. There are two parts to this concept: first are observers consistent in their ratings within themselves, and second , are observers consistent in their ratings with other observers? If the ratings are similar then the observer can be considered reliable. Reliability in the health care field is critical because if there isn't reliability in a study then others who look at the study may not be confident in you. If they don't have any reliability in a study.

 

7. Define validity. Examine internal and external validities and list attributes or problems associated with validity issues (think from the perspective of a potential patient or an informed peer reviewer of your study).

Validity is concerned with the accuracy of scientific findings

Internal validity studies the history, maturation, testing, subject selection, subject mortality or attrition, and instrumentaion. With internal validity I like that fact they use history to get a measurement of an independent variable. However, it can be compromised if the study subject becomes injury or losses interest during the study. Maturation is a good thing in experimenting, because the subject can be study over a period of time and the researcher can see how the subject changes. Testing most of the time is a good thing to use in research. Especially if the test is performed several times to see how the subject does over a period of time. Subject selection is critical in a research project, because if someone who volunteers maybe different then someone who is selected in particular. Also it can be controlled by using more than one study group and by randomly assigning subjects to the groups. Subject mortality or attrition would make me feel uneasy about the research project especially if I was the patient in the study. That and I don't think someone else needs to step in if someone is lost in the study. Instrumentation is the final thing with internal validity, this could be very useful or very bad to a research project if the equipment is not up to what is needed then bad information may come out of the research.

External validity some of the more common threats to external validity are the Hawthorne effect, replication, generalizability, Multitreatments, and researcher effect. The Hawthorne effect I believe a very bad thing in a study because it will produce incorrect results because that subject received special treatment. Replication is a critical part of research, because if you report a method and others are not able to replicate the same research then the research maybe thrown out. Generalizability the only way for this to work is if the population is randomly selected. In multitreatments the subjects receive more than one treatment as the independent variable. The results of this can not be generalized to other settings in which only one of those treatments is used. The only bad thing about this is the effects of the treatments may hard to see which treatments are actually working. This would cause the mulititreatments to not achieve external validity. Researcher effects is a big part in research because it can contaminate the research sometime in a positive or negative way.

 

8. Discuss the characteristics of a quantitative research design. Name and discuss at least two designs from this worldview or viewpoint.  Why would you decide to use this worldview or research methodology (instead of qualitative)?                                                                                           There are three different categories of quantitative research design, but also three different concepts. The three different concepts play a part in each level of design; manipulative, control, and randomization. Manipulation is just getting the experiment to do something in the research. Which is where dependent and independent variables come into play with the research design. Control is the standard to see if the manipulation had anything to do with the experiment. Finally randomization is a key part in quantitative research. It reduces the risk of systematic bias. These concepts are then used in each different experiment such as the True experimental designs, Quasi-experimental designs, and Nonexperimental designs. I want to look at true experimental designs and nonexperimental designs. True experimental design uses all three concepts, manipulation, control, and randomization. There must be an element of control, independent variables concering the subjects must be manipulated, and the subjects must be randomly selected or randomly assigned to groups. The result of this experimental design is known as cause and effect research. This method is good, because researchers can compare each type of treatment and determine which type is more effective. Nonexperimental is almost the exact opposite of true experimental design. Nonexperimental has no manipulation of an independent variabl. Control and randomization are not possible or even relevant facets of this type of research. This research is more of ex post facto or after the fact research. Which is just the research of something that can not be manipulated or changed. I use these research methods if the research either developed into using quantitative or if I know I had to use quantitative to do my research. I also always go into a research project thinking in terms of qualitative research.

9. Discuss the characteristics of a qualitative research design. Name and discuss at least two designs from this worldview or viewpoint. Why would you decide to use this worldview or research methodology (instead of quantitative)? Qualitative research can be described in general terms as descriptive and naturalistic, with natural settings as the sources of data. Qualitative researchers are concerned with the process as well as the outcome of there studies. What happens during the data gathering and analysis phase of the study is crucial to the eventual theory and hypothesis that are generated. One of the designs that like is the lived experience. This design is well suited for identifying the meanings people place on the events, processes, and structures of their lives. The data gathering and analysis proceed, participants' perceptions, assumptions, judgements, and suppositions become clear and can be placed in context in the social world around them. The reason I would pick lived experience is because there really is any better source of information then someone who has lived through a experience. The power of qualitative data is the best strategy for exploring a new area and developing hypotheses; they have strong potential for testing hypotheses; and they are useful when one needs to supplement, validate, explain, illuminate, ore reinterpret quantitative data gathered from the same setting. This design would really help in developing a hypotheses for my research design.

10. Your instructor has stated that “…the best positivistic (quantitative) studies often arise from a relativist study or (qualitative) framework of inquiry.” Discuss advantages and disadvantages of qualitative and quantitative research designs.  If you had it to do over, would you change the methoodology you used in your study?

The advantages of quantitative research is that there are 3 designs: True experimental designs, Quasi-experimental designs, and Non experimental designs. The advantage is these designs have a decreased level of experimental rigor, but become more and more pratical when it comes to human subject research, as it is often difficult to achieve the standards required for true experimental designs because of the vagaries of human behavior. I did use some nonexperimental design on this paper, because I could not manipulate the information I researched. All I could do was examine the relationships among the variables.

Qualitative research design is more the type of research I favor. Qualitative research is becoming more widely used in many different fields. The qualitative research is being used heavily in the medical field, which is the field that I am going into, so I believe it would be good to know qualitative research. I like the advantage of all the different features of qualitative research. Such as naturalistic settings, local groundedness, phenomenological perspective, lived experience, and Power of qualitative data. I also like the recurring features of qualitative research, and the different strategies of qualitative.

If I had to do it over I probably would change my methodology of my work. I would use more quantitative research in my methodology. I feel comfortable working on my research with qualitative research design, but I am starting to like the concepts of quantitative design. I would probably use more quantitative design in future research.