Nursing Research

1. What is the study problem and purpose?

2. Is the problem significant and relevant to nursing? Explain.

1. 1. Are relevant previous studies identified and described? Explain

2. 2. Are relevant theories and models identified and described? Explain

3. 3. Are the references current? Examine the number of sources in the past 5 and 10 years in the reference list. Explain

4. 4. Is the literature review organized to demonstrate the progressive development of ideas through previous research? Explain

1. Is the framework explicitly presented or must it be extracted from the literature review? What is it? Explain

2. Does the framework describe and define the concepts of interest? Explain

3. Does the framework present the relationships among the concepts? Is a map or model of the framework provided for clarity? Explain

1. Are the objectives, questions, or hypotheses clearly and concisely expressed? What are they?

2. Are the objectives, questions, or hypotheses logically linked to the research purpose? Explain

or Hypotheses

1. Identify the major study variables: Be specific

a. Independent

b. Dependent

2. Are the major variables defined (conceptually and operationally)

based on previous research and/or theories? Explain

1. Identify the specific design of the study. Was the best design selected to direct this study? Explain

2. Does the design provide a means to examine all of the objectives, questions, or hypotheses and the study purpose? Explain

1. Are the inclusion and exclusion sample criteria described? Explain

2. Did the researchers indicate the method used to obtain the sample? Is the sampling method adequate to produce a sample that is representative of the study population? What are the potential biases in the sampling method? Explain all answers in detail.

3. Discuss the institutional review board approval and informed consent obtained. Are the HIPAA privacy regulations followed? Explain

Answer the following, dependent on type of tools used in the study:

Scales and Questionnaires

1. Are the instruments clearly described? What are they? Explain

2. Are the techniques to administer, complete, and score the instruments provided? Explain

3. Are the reliability and validity of the instruments described? Did the researcher examine the reliability and validity of the instruments for the present sample? Explain all answers in detail.

Scales and Questionnaires

1. Is the data collection process clearly described and consistently implemented? What is it? Explain

2. Do the data collection methods address the research objectives, questions, or hypotheses? If so, explain

1. Do the data analyses address each objective, question, or hypothesis? Explain

2. What statistical analyses are included in the research report? Are the data analysis procedures appropriate to the type of data collected? Explain

1. What is the researcher’s interpretation of findings? Are the results related to the study framework? Explain

2. Which findings are consistent with those expected? Which findings are unexpected? Are significant and non-significant findings explained?

3. Were the statistically significant findings also examined for clinical significance? Explain

4. Are the study limitations identified and relevant? How so? Explain

5. What suggestions are made for further studies? Be specific

Interpretation of Findings

1. Are the study findings consistent with those of previous research? Explain

2. Do you have confidence in the findings? How so? Explain

3. Do the findings add to nursing knowledge? How so? Explain 4. Are the findings ready for use in practice? How so? Explain