Deck 5: Linking Theory, Research, and Practice

Question 1

In the United States during the 1970s, nursing practice included the use of granulated sugar to pack stage III and IV wounds based on the idea that bacteria would be less invasive of new tissue formation. Over time, this method did not result in statistically significant increases in wound-healing time when compared to the saline wet-packing method. Research was initiated to determine which packing method led to the best wound healing. The use of sugar for wound packing was an example of what type of practice?

A) Nursing practice based on personal experience
B) Nursing practice based on research
C) Nursing practice based on untested theory
D) Nursing practice based on tested theory

Answer 1

C

Question 2

A researcher studying hand hygiene practices of visitors to medical facilities hypothesizes that if hand sanitizer dispensers are placed by the doors of bathroom facilities, then a significant percentage of facility users will replace soap-and-water hand hygiene with sanitizer hygiene only. Which of the following guides the researcher's hypothesis?

A) Model
B) Construct
C) Metaparadigm
D) Proposition

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Which statement regarding inductive research is true?

A) Inductive research is often used to develop theories.
B) Inductive research is often quantitative rather than qualitative.
C) Inductive researchers often test ideas that are based on theoretical assumptions.
D) Inductive researchers often begin by consulting the available literature to develop a theoretical framework.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which of the following individuals is engaging in research and theory development at the micro level?

A) A nurse developing a theory to describe behaviors exhibited by adolescent patients with cancer
B) A researcher conducting patient trials of a new pharmaceutical intervention
C) A researcher studying whether symptoms of an autoimmune disorder differ significantly for male and female patients
D) A nurse assessing a patient to evaluate whether an intervention was effective

Question 5

A researcher wants to design a study that investigates the effects of engagement with animals on the emotional health of patients in long-term inpatient care. In order to measure the variable "emotional health," what must the researcher first develop?

A) An inductive method of researching emotional health
B) A conceptual definition of emotional health
C) An operational definition of emotional health
D) A metaparadigm of emotional health

Question 6

Florence Nightingale's definition of health as "the absence of disease" is an example of which type of definition?

A) Conceptual
B) Empirical
C) Operational
D) Theoretical

Question 7

When a researcher uses deduction to formulate a hypothesis and then forms a theory, why can it be said that a theory is never proven?

A) Researchers cannot formulate a hypothesis based on a variable.
B) The relationship of the hypothesis to the theory cannot be accepted.
C) A theory holds only until some evidence comes forward to refute it.
D) A hypothesis cannot lead to the development of an accurate theory.

Question 8

When Virginia Henderson is credited with publishing the first definition of nursing as "to attend the functional needs of patients" in a text from 1955, but this definition of nursing was really given by her coauthor, Bertha Harmer, in a 1925 text, what is occurring?

A) The later citation of the definition is not credited to Henderson.
B) The credit is mistakenly given to Harmer for the definition.
C) The text by Henderson does not involve the work of Harmer.
D) The prior work of Harmer is not being properly honored.

Question 9

When researchers and theorists contributing to the body of nursing knowledge fail to give credit to the work of those who came before them, the evolution of nursing knowledge becomes difficult to trace.

Question 10

When a patient does not respond to a well-researched intervention that is normally successful, the nurse must rely more on research findings and less on clinical judgment and patient preference.