In critiquing research reports, you will need to evaluate whether researchers have adequately communicated their research problem. The delineation of the problem, statement of purpose, research questions, and hypotheses set the stage for the description of what was done and what was learned. Ideally, you should not have to dig too deeply to decipher the research problem or to discover the questions.
A critique of the research problem involves multiple dimensions. Substantively, you need to consider whether the problem has significance for nursing and has the potential to produce evidence to improve nursing practice. Studies that build on existing knowledge in a meaningful way are well-poised to make contributions to evidence-based nursing practice. Researchers who develop a systematic program of research, building on their own earlier findings, are especially likely to make signif- icant contributions. For example, Beck’s series of studies relating to postpartum depression (e.g., Beck, 1993, 1996, 2001; Beck & Gable, 2002, 2005) have influenced women’s health care worldwide. Also, research problems stemming from estab- lished research priorities (see Chapter 1) have a high likelihood of yielding impor- tant new evidence for nurses because they reflect expert opinion about areas of needed research.
Another dimension in critiquing the research problem concerns methodologic issues—in particular, whether the research problem is compatible with the chosen research paradigm and its associated methods. You should also evaluate whether the statement of purpose or research questions have been properly worded and lend themselves to empirical inquiry.
In a quantitative study, if the research report does not contain explicit hypothe- ses, you need to consider whether their absence is justified. If there are hypotheses, you should evaluate whether the hypotheses are logically connected to the research problem and whether they are consistent with available knowledge or relevant the- ory. The wording of the hypothesis should also be assessed. The hypothesis is a valid guidepost to scientific inquiry only if it is testable. To be testable, the hypoth- esis must contain a prediction about the relationship between two or more meas- urable variables.
Specific guidelines for critiquing research problems, research questions, and hypotheses are presented in Box 6.3.
1. What is the research problem? Is the problem statement easy to locate and clearly stated? Does the problem statement build a cogent and persuasive argument for the new study?
2. Does the problem have significance for nursing? How might the research contribute to nursing practice, administration, education, or policy?
3. Is there a good fit between the research problem and the paradigm within which the research was conducted? Is there a good fit with the qualitative research tradition (if applicable)?
4. Does the report formally present a statement of purpose, research question, and/or hypotheses?
Is this information communicated clearly and concisely, and is it placed in a logical and useful location?
5. Are purpose statements or questions worded appropriately? (e.g., are key concepts/variables identified and the population of interest specified? Are verbs used appropriately to suggest the nature of the inquiry and/or the research tradition?)
6. If there are no formal hypotheses, is their absence justified? Are statistical tests used in analyzing the data despite the absence of stated hypotheses?
7. Do hypotheses (if any) flow from a theory or previous research? Is there a justifiable basis for the predictions?
8. Are hypotheses (if any) properly worded—do they state a predicted relationship between two or more variables? Are they directional or nondirectional, and is there a rationale for how they were stated? Are they presented as research or as null hypotheses?
BOX 6.3 GUIDELINES FOR CRITIQUING RESEARCH PROBLEMS, RESEARCH QUESTIONS, AND HYPOTHESES
R E S E A R C H E X A M P L E S A N D C R I T I C A L T H I N K I N G A C T I V I T I E S
This section describes how the research problem and research questions were communicated in two nursing studies, one quantitative and one qualitative.
EXAMPLE 1 ■ Quantitative Research Study
The effect of a multi-component smoking cessation intervention in African American women residing in public housing (Andrews et al., 2007).
Problem Statement
“Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death among all individuals in the United States (US), with widening gaps in health disparities occurring among ethnic minorities . . . African American women residing in urban subsidized housing developments report
prevalence rates of 40–60% in some communities, which is at least twice the rate of women in the general population . . . African American women in subsidized housing developments indicate that cigarette smoking provides an alternate source of pleasure in the absence of other available resources, and that it is used to regulate mood and depression, manage stress, and cope with living conditions . . . Because of the limited research that has targeted African American women of low socioeconomic status who smoke, no evidence is available of the
effectiveness of gender- and ethnic/racial-specific smoking cessation interventions...” (pp.
45–46) (Citations were omitted to streamline the presentation).
Statement of Purpose
The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of a community-partnered intervention (Sister to Sister) to promote smoking cessation among African American women in subsidized housing developments.
Hypotheses
Five hypotheses were tested in this study, including the following three: (1) Women who receive the Sister to Sister intervention will have higher 6-month continuous smoking
abstinence than women who do not receive the intervention; (2) Women who receive the inter- vention will have higher 7-day abstinence at 6, 12, and 24 weeks than those who do not; and (3) Women who receive the intervention will have higher levels of social support, smoking ces- sation self-efficacy, and spiritual well-being at 6, 12, and 24 weeks than those who do not.
Intervention
A collaborative model involving a nurse researcher, community advisory board, and commu- nity members was used to plan, develop, and implement a culturally tailored, multicomponent intervention. The three major components were (1) a multiweek nurse-delivered, behavioral/
empowerment counseling component in a group format; (2) nicotine replacement therapy;
and (3) personal contact from a community health worker to enhance self-efficacy, social support and spiritual well-being.
Study Methods
Two of 16 subsidized housing developments in a county in Georgia were selected because of their similarity in size, level of poverty, and racial composition (99.5% African American). By coin toss, one community was selected to receive the intervention, and the other served as a comparison. The study participants were 103 women smokers who desired to quit—51 in the intervention group and 52 in the comparison group. Data were collected at the outset of the study and 6, 12, and 24 weeks later. Women in the comparison group received self-help written smoking cessation materials.
Key Findings
There was a 6-month continuous smoking abstinence rate of 27.5% in the intervention group and 5.7% in the comparison group, supporting hypothesis 1. Hypothesis 2 was also supported.
For example, at 6 weeks, the 7-day prevalence rate was 49.0% for those who received the intervention and 7.6% for those who did not. Hypothesis 3 was only partially supported: there were significantly greater improvements for those in the intervention group on two of the three psychosocial outcomes (measures of social support and self-efficacy), but not at all three follow-up time periods.
CRITICAL THINKING SUGGESTIONS*:
*See the Student Resource CD-ROM for a discussion of these questions.
1. Answer the relevant questions from Box 6.3 regarding this study.
2. Also consider the following targeted questions, which may further sharpen your critical thinking skills and assist you in understanding this study:
a. Where in the research report do you think the researchers would have presented the hypotheses? Where in the report would the results of the hypothesis tests be placed?
b. What clues does the summary give you that this study is quantitative?
c. The report did not state research questions. What might some research questions be?
d. Would it have been possible to state the three hypotheses as a single hypothesis? If yes, state what it would be.
e. Develop a research question for a phenomenological and/or grounded theory study relating to the same general topic area as this study.
3. If the results of this study are valid and generalizable, what are some of the uses to which the findings might be put in clinical practice?
EXAMPLE 2 ■ Qualitative Research Study
Family photographs: Expressions of parents raising children with disabilities (Lassetter, Man- dleco, & Roper, 2007).
Problem Statement:
“The prevalence of disabilities in children is surprisingly high. In 2003, approximately 6.9% of children 18 years of age and younger in the United States had chronic conditions that limited their activities . . . The disabilities of these children influence not only their own lives but also the lives of their family members in a variety of ways . . . Raising a child with a disability can be a source of stress of parents . . . Specific sources of stress include learning to cope with the unanticipated event of having a child with a disability, the varying physical and psychological demands of child care, the likelihood of lifelong dependency, communication challenges, and an uncertain diagnosis . . . Much of the information concerning parents’ experiences raising children with disabilities has been obtained through quantitative methods . . . Even though findings of quantitative studies are informative, the richness of parents’ experiences can best be understood through qualitative research . . . In fact, several researchers have used qualita- tive methods to understand better the lives of parents with disabilities . . . However, there is still much to learn, and a different qualitative approach can help researchers discover some of the deep, unknown meanings of the phenomenon under study . . . ” (p. 456) (Citations were omitted to streamline the presentation).
Statement of Purpose
The purpose of this descriptive study was to capture the perceptions of the everyday lives of parents raising a child with disabilities by using photography.
Research Questions
Two research questions were articulated in the report: (1) “How do parents raising children with disabilities perceive their everyday lives?” and (2) “Can information and meaning be dis- tilled by using photography as a research tool with parents raising children with disabilities?”
Method
The study participants were 15 parental dyads raising a child with Down syndrome, develop- mental disabilities, visual impairments, or speech disorders. The parents were given a dispos- able camera and asked to photograph images of life that were important to them over a 2- week period. Then the researchers interviewed the parents, using the photographs as the focal point of the in-depth interviews.
Key Findings
Four themes emerged from the analysis of the photos (e.g., active activities, quiet activities).
Six themes emerged when discussing photographs the parents would have liked to have taken but did not (e.g., normalcy, joys, struggles). The researchers concluded that photography was useful as a method of obtaining information from parents.
CRITICAL THINKING SUGGESTIONS:
1. Answer the relevant questions from Box 6.3 regarding this study.
2. Also, consider the following targeted questions, which may further sharpen your critical thinking skills and assist you in understanding this study:
a. Where in the research report do you think the researchers would have presented the statement of purpose and research questions?
b. Does it appear that this study was conducted within one of the three main qualitative traditions? If so, which one?
c. What is a fundamental difference between the two research questions in this study?
d. What clues does the summary give you that this study is qualitative?
3. If the results of this study are trustworthy, what are some of the uses to which the findings might be put in clinical practice?
EXAMPLE 3 ■ Quantitative Research in Appendix A
1. Read the abstract and the introduction from Howell and colleagues’ (2007) study (“Anxiety, anger, and blood pressure in children”) in Appendix A of this book, and then answer the relevant questions in Box 6.3.
2. Also, consider the following targeted questions, which may further sharpen your critical thinking skills and assist you in assessing aspects of the study’s merit:
a. Based on the review of the literature, it would be possible to state several research hypotheses. State one or two.
b. If your hypothesis in exercise 2.a was a directional hypothesis, state it as a nondirec- tional hypothesis (or vice versa). Also state it as a null hypothesis.
EXAMPLE 4 ■ Qualitative Research in Appendix B
1. Read the abstract and introduction from Beck’s (2006) study (“Anniversary of birth trauma”) in Appendix B of this book and then answer the relevant questions in Box 6.3.
2. Also, consider the following targeted questions, which may further sharpen your critical thinking skills and assist you in assessing aspects of the study’s merit:
a. Do you think that Beck provided enough rationale for the significance of her research problem?
b. Do you think that Beck needed to include research questions in her report, or was the purpose statement clear enough to stand alone?
CHAPTER REVIEW
Key new terms introduced in the chapter, together with a summary of major points, are presented in this section. In addition, Chapter 6 of the accompanying Study Guide for Essentials of Nursing Research, 7th edition offers various exercises and study suggestions for reinforcing the concepts presented in this chapter. For addi- tional review, see the Student Self-Study Review Questions section of the Student Resource CD-ROM provided with this book.
Key New Terms
Directional hypothesis Hypothesis
Nondirectional hypothesis
Null hypothesis Problem statement Research hypothesis Research problem
Research question Statement of purpose
Summary Points
* A research problem is a perplexing or troubling situation that a researcher wants to address through disciplined inquiry.
* Researchers usually identify a broad topic, narrow the scope of the problem, and then identify questions consistent with a paradigm of choice.
* The most common sources of ideas for nursing research problems are clinical experience, relevant literature, social issues, theory, and external suggestions.
* Researchers communicate their aims in research reports as problem statements, statements of purpose, research questions, or hypotheses.
* The problem statementarticulates the nature, context, and significance of a problem to be studied. Problem statements typically include several components to develop an argument: problem identification; background; problem scope;
consequences of the problem; knowledge gaps; and possible solutions to the problem.
* A statement of purpose, which summarizes the overall study goal, identifies the key concepts (variables) and the study group or population. Purpose state- ments often communicate, through the use of verbs and other key terms, the underlying research tradition of qualitative studies, or whether study is experi- mental or nonexperimental in quantitative ones.
* A research question is the specific query researchers want to answer in addressing the research problem. In quantitative studies, research questions usually are about the existence, nature, strength, and direction of relationships.
* A hypothesisis a statement of predicted relationships between two or more vari- ables. A testable hypothesis in quantitative studies states the anticipated associa- tion between one or more independent and one or more dependent variables.
* Directional hypothesespredict the direction of a relationship; nondirectional hypothesespredict the existence of relationships, not their direction.
* Research hypotheses predict the existence of relationships; null hypotheses express the absence of a relationship.
* Hypotheses are never proved or disproved in an ultimate sense—they are accepted or rejected, supported or not supported by the data.