Analyzing Research Methods
Using the same six articles you used for your annotated bibliography in Module Four, submit a short paper addressing the following: What research methods have been used to address your research problem? Were these methods appropriate? What data collection methods have you noted in your review of literature? Evaluate the appropriateness of statistical analyses used. What gaps and inconsistencies in the literature have you noted? Analyzing Research Methods Essay Paper
Analyzing Research Methods: Nurses’ Shift Length and its Impact on their Wellbeing, Care Quality, and Patient Safety
The usefulness of research in improving knowledge and advancing evidence-based practice (EBP) depends on its clinical significance. This is because a study’s results can be statistically significant but fail to be clinically significant. Clinical significance on its part depends on the generalizability of the findings in the patent population studied, with observable and tangible desirable patient outcomes. All this is possible only if the methodology used to conduct the research, its data collection tools, and its statistical analysis tools are sound and foolproof. The purpose of this paper is to analyze these parameters with regard to the articles reviewed earlier in the annotated bibliography on this subject of shift length for nurses. Analyzing Research Methods Essay Paper
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- Stimpfel and Aiken (2013)
The research method used in this study to address the research question was that of a cross-sectional survey. Nurses were asked to respond to particular questions about the scheduling of their shifts and how it affects them and care quality/ patient outcomes. Given that it is the opinions of the nurses that were sought regarding the scheduling of their shifts and shift length; this method was appropriate. It provided a snapshot of the situation at the time of the study. The predominant data collection method and tool used in this research and the other literature reviewed was the questionnaire instrument. The researchers in this case made analysis easy by using a Likert-type questionnaire making data categorization easier. The Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing work Index was employed to measure the quality of the setting in which the nurses work. These statistical analysis tools were appropriate for the study. The gaps and inconsistencies noted involve the role that the training and competence of the nurse plays in the disadvantage experienced in a long shift length.
- Stimpfel et al. (2012)
The research method used to address the research question in this case was a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data collected earlier from three studies. This method was appropriate judging by the expected outcomes and aims of the study. This was to determine the effect of longer nursing shifts and forced overtime work on care quality and patient outcomes. These researchers did not use collect new data but used data already collected by three earlier studies. Those earlier studies were cross-sectional surveys that give a snapshot of the time. The data analysis methods the researchers used include descriptive statistics, regression models, and bivariate models (Stimpfel et al., 2012). These were appropriate given that nonparametric tests were needed to establish causality. In this study, too, the gaps and inconsistencies discovered relate to the role that psychological safety at the workplace plays in the causation of burnout and turnover intention.
In both these studies, the methodologies used, the data collection tools employed, and the statistical analysis tests and tools employed were appropriate and yielded the expected results. What this means is that the results are generalizable to the entire population of nurses and are evidence-based. In conclusion, longer shifts for nurses are a major cause of poor patient outcomes and low patient satisfaction rates (Stimpfel & Aiken, 2013; Stimpfel et al., 2012).
References
Stimpfel, A.W., & Aiken, L.H. (2013). Hospital staff nurses’ shift length associated with safety and quality of care. Journal of Nursing Care Quality, 28(2), 122-129. https://doi.org/10.1097/NCQ.0b013e3182725f09
Stimpfel, A.W., Sloane, D.M., & Aiken, L.H. (2012). The longer the shifts for hospital nurses, the higher the levels of burnout and patient dissatisfaction. Health Affairs, 31(11), 2501-2509. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2011.1377 Analyzing Research Methods Essay Paper