ACTIVITY 1: This activity provides specific guidelines for critiquing aspects of the

study covered in this chapter. Basically, this activity is designed to assist you in
using the information in this chapter in an overall preliminary assessment of a
research report.
INSTRUCTION
Reading the full journal articles would prove useful for learning more about the
studies, their methods, and the findings. Answer the questions in the table
(Research Report) about the Elisabeth Solvik and Solveig Struksnes (2018), study
described in this chapter.

Research Example of a Quantitative Study: Training Nursing Skills: A Quantitative

Study of Nursing Students’ Experiences before and after Clinical Practice

Abstract
Introduction. Requirements for Patient Safety suggest that students encounter
patients well prepared. In clinical laboratory practice (CLP), the students
simulate patient situations as a preparation for an internship. Various CLP models
have been tried out to meet the students’ prerequisites and learning
Strategies. Objectives. The purpose of this study was to try out two different
learning sessions related to the bed bath procedure. Design and Methods. The
study has a descriptive, quantitative design with elements from clinically
controlled trials. Sample. The population of 160 first-year students was
randomly divided into two classes. Questionnaires.Two questionnaires were
answered with six-month intervals: Form 1 immediately after the first training
session and Form 2 a short time after clinical practice. Findings.A majority of
the nursing students reported that the exercises in the clinical lab were a good way
to prepare for the practice, although most of them did not perceive that the
procedure conducted at the university resembled how it is conducted in
clinical practice. Age or level of discomfort related to organization of the skills
training did not have impact on the students’ confidence in mastering bed bath
in clinical practice. Students without previous experience were less confident to
master the procedure in clinical practice, but the results evened out during the
internship. Conclusions. The results from this study could indicate that the
students’ age to a larger extent should be considered in the universities’
facilitation of nursing students’ clinical preparations, to improve the transition to
“real life” as smoothly and meaningfully as possible to nursing students.

1. How relevant is the research problem in this report to the actual practice of
nursing? Does the study focus on a topic that is a priority area for nursing research?
(1 statement only)

Practicing nursing in real life is way different from school, this report was able to
found out that the clinical preparation should be done as the student nurses will soon
handling patients and this study focuses on enhancing the future nurse’s skills that
aims to improve patient care and patient outcome which is a priority area of nursing
research.

2. What is the underlying purpose (or purposes) of the study—identification,

description, exploration, explanation, or prediction and control? Does the purpose
correspond to an EBP focus such as treatment, diagnosis, prognosis, harm/etiology,
or meaning? (1 statement only)

The purpose of the study is control, simply because there are confounding
influences on the dependent variable—student’s confidence in
practicing nursing in the real world).

3. What is the paradigm of the study? (2 statements)

The paradigm of the study is positivist, this study tried a 2 different learning
sessions which aim to measured student level of satisfaction or confidence in
practicing nursing in real life in addition the researcher is independent from
the respondents and focuses mainly on the inquiry. In obtaining the findings, the
the researcher used emphasis on quantitative information and there is a statistical
analysis which is an element of a positivist paradigm.

4. Identify the independent and the dependent variable of the study. (2 statements)

The student’s confidence in practicing nursing in real life is dependent

on the 2 learning sessions used in two groups (controlled group and the project group),
past clinical experience, and age. Therefore, a student’s level of confidence is
the factor that was measured in this study by determining the effect of the
independent variables into it.
5. What is the method used in the study? What do you think is more appropriate?
(2 statements)

The method used in the study is quantitative because there is a systematic

collection of data, there is even a control data (under control conditions)
in which the researcher analyzes it with statistics without bias. Personally,
I would use a qualitative method and exploration as my purpose of the study, I sense
that it would be more relatable to me and at the same time it will allow me to
explore more on the phenomena and I would rather know more about the entire
student’s experiences without controlling the context by having a “project group”.

6. What is the level of evidence used in the study? (2 statements)

The level of evidence will fall under Level 1 since there is a randomized control
trial. The “project group” is the experimental group and a control group is present as
well. These groups are followed up for the variables/outcomes of interest.