NRS 433 – Measurement, Statistics, and Appraisal
A critical analysis of a quantitative study focusing on protection of human participants, data collection, data management and analysis, problem statement, and interpretation of findings.
Introduction
Researches are done to expound knowledge in a certain field or to solve an identified in the field in question. To ensure that this is achieved, researchers are required to follow all scientific research ethics to ensure that the research is of great benefit to the entire population (Burns & Grove, 2011). The main purpose of this research critique is to establish if the researcher considered all the scientific research ethics and requirements. Some these include respect to human sample, accuracy, board approval, ensuring no data falsification and fabrication and thus ensuring that the research conclusion is highly based on the true research findings. This critique analysis will evaluate human participant protection in the research, data collection technique and how they adhered to the defined requirements, data management techniques and their suitability, and research findings and how these findings are interpreted. Finally, the paper gives a conclusion where the critique general findings are provided.
Protection of Human Participants
The main purpose of this study was to help in understanding why registered nurses leave their practice as nurse for something else. In this the research was not directly concerned about health and thus it was not to benefit the participants in any way but it was meant to benefit the industry by establishing the best way to prevent more nurses from leaving their positions. There are also no risks involved in this research since the research only involved simply interview. The participants gave their consent before the interview began and after getting a clear explanation of what the research was all about. This was done by providing them with a form which they were supposed to sign after reading to confirm their consent. The research participation was 100% voluntarily. This is because the researcher targeted registered nurses who have abandoned their duties as nurses. Thus, these individuals were first contacted via phone or email and whoever felt that he or she was willing to participate availed him or herself for the interview. Moreover, the informed consent allowed them to leave in between the interview if one felt uncomfortable. The researcher obtained the approval of institutional review board of the Georgia State University before the data collection process began and thus this research can be said to have taken all human participation measures that were necessary (MacKusic & Minick, 2010).
Data Collection
The research was basically a semi-structured interview with a dependent being leaving the nursing practice before retirement and the independent variables were work condition. Among the variables identified under work condition included friendliness of the workplace, emotional distress involved, as well as exhaustion and fatigue. Data was collected using face to face interview where semi-structured interview technique was employed and the conversations were tape recorded. The reason for adopting this data collection technique was to ensure that the researcher get comprehensive information regarding the actual reason why registered nurses could abandon their career. Semi-structured interview was not very limiting and was also not very extensive and thus, it served the purpose. Tape recording was done to ease the analysis process. The researcher does not state the actual time taken to collect the data. However the researcher only interviewed 11 participants which is an activity that can be managed within a short period of time. The data collection process started with sending of a simple email approaching nurses to assist in recommending possible participants by providing their telephone numbers. The email gave a clear description of the research and the purpose of the research. Telephone calls were made to all potential participants who were recommended by other nurses, where the purpose of the research was explained. Convenient mutual place and time was then determined for the interviews of all potential participants. Consent forms were provided before the interviews began, this was the followed by the actual interview.
Data management and Analysis
To protect the identity of the participants, the pseudonyms were used as a way to ensure confidentiality. Data was tape recorded and also transcripts filled while the conversation was still going on. Interview tapes were transcript. Hermeneutics was then applied to ensure that contexture meaning of the interview was found. Interpretive analysis was conducted with the aid of other nursing colleagues to ensure accuracy in this interpretation. Major themes were identified, they were then paired as recorded as required, and the supporting evidence coded. Possible meaning was obtained from the coded information to establish why registered nurses had to leave their career (MacKusic & Minick, 2010).
The author does not discuss on how the consistency of the process was assured. However, one semi-structured interview question was employed to ensure that the interviewer does not diverge greatly from the actual interview and thus the analysis would also fit the defined technique. There was no any use of statistical software to enhance the . To minimize the research biasness, the researcher interpreted the data with the aid of colleagues who clearly understood the purpose of the study. The colleagues were in the same academic level and professional level as the researcher and they were all well aware of the problem that was being investigated. Moreover they had practiced in the field for a while and thus, the participant explanation was easily making sense to them.
Findings and Interpretation
The researcher identified three main themes which determined whether a nurse would remain in his or work practice or whether a nurse would quit. They included work place environment, emotional distress and work fatigue and exhaustion. The results was interpreted to mean that nurses leave their practices prematurely due to poor working environment which is unfriendly or which is mad with violence and harassment, emotional exhaust that is as a result of handling traumatizing cases and developing attachment with patient who later die, and exhaust and fatigue due to long working hours and a high patient to nurses ratio. This depletes their energy and spirit and they thus decide to quit to save their life. The results are very consistent with the reality. As a matter of fact, America has already recognized the situation of nurses’ shortage in the country. In this regard, nurses in the system are trying to handle more work than they are supposed to. Moreover, medical field has been identified as one of the work places that are characterized by a high level of violence and harassment especially due to the tendency of handling even mentally ill patients, prisoners and also due to the night shit provision especially in organizations where security is not assured. Thus the results are consistent with the reality. The identified limitations include moderately small sample size which creates a doubt of whet her similar result would have been found if a larger sample was obtained. The findings did not have any coherent logic, the findings were descriptive and thus, only theme could have been used to isolate the. The result has a great implication to the nursing practice. It simply provided organization with the information why they are losing their nursing staffs to other industries. With the provided information, organization can enhance the nursing practice by creating a more conducive work environment, reduce the nurses working time and workload and enhance the security of their institutions. Therefore, the research finding can easily be used to reverse the situation. The findings can be applied to all nursing environment especially in large hospitals or in any other health care center.
