Question 1

Explain the relationship between positivism and quantitative research.

Accepted Answer

The roots of quantitative research are in positivism, which maintains that there is an objective reality in the world that can be quantified in some way so observation or measurement can occur.

Question 2

Which research design is quantitative in nature?&#10;A) Ethnography&#10;B) Phenomenology&#10;C) Grounded theory&#10;D) Cross-sectional survey

Accepted Answer

Cross-sectional surveys represent a quantitative research design. Qualitative research designs include ethnography, grounded theory, and phenomenology.

Question 3

Which characteristic represents an advantage of using quantitative research designs?&#10;A) Limiting awareness of participants' perceptions&#10;B) Not including subjective data about human interactions&#10;C) Focusing on the statistical significance of the hypothesis&#10;D) Ensuring a detached relationship between researcher and participants

Accepted Answer

Use of a quantitative research design allows the investigator to scientifically select the instrument to be used and gather the data without becoming emotionally involved with the participants or the overall research project. As a result, benefits of quantitative research include maintaining the statistical significance of the hypothesis as the primary focus of the project. Potential disadvantages associated with quantitative research designs include a lack of subjective data about human interactions necessary to answer research questions pertaining to social, internal, or holistic phenomena; the inability to establish subjective human factors that could expose personal variables that may influence the project's final outcome; and a detached relationship between the researcher and the participants.

Question 4

Differentiate between an experimental study and a nonexperimental study.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Differentiate between an experimental study and a...

Question 5

Which research design is considered most powerful when seeking to inform healthcare providers about the potential benefits of a healthcare intervention?&#10;A) Pretest-posttest&#10;B) Case control study&#10;C) Solomon four-group&#10;D) Randomized control trial

Accepted Answer

The randomized controlled trial (RCT), which is an experimental design, is considered the strongest design to provide healthcare professionals with information regarding the benefits of a specific healthcare. Like the RCT, the pretest-posttest design also is experimental in nature; however, a fundamental weakness of the pretest-posttest design centers on challenges with attributing causation when there is neither randomization nor a control group. The Solomon four-group design is a variation of the pretest-posttest design. Case control studies, which represent a nonexperimental study design, are challenged by difficulty in establishing that exposure to the causative factors actually occurred
before the outcome.

Question 6

Explain the strengths and disadvantages associated with the randomized control trial (RCT).

Accepted Answer

The answer of Explain the strengths and disadvantages associated with...

Question 7

Which purpose is served by the inclusion of a control group in a randomized controlled trial (RCT)?&#10;A) Distributing known and unknown factors equally&#10;B) Protecting against the occurrence of selection bias&#10;C) Ensuring similarity of experimental and control groups&#10;D) Allowing for comparison of experimental and control groups

Accepted Answer

The control group is needed for comparison purposes. Randomization is needed to ensure that the experimental and control groups are as similar as possible, except for exposure to the intervention or treatment. Randomization also is needed to protect from selection bias because it ensures that both known and unknown factors are distributed in a uniform way among the groups.

Question 8

Summarize the nature of the cross-sectional study design, including one major advantage and disadvantage of using a survey to implement this research design.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Summarize the nature of the cross-sectional study...

Question 9

Which term refers to the degree to which characteristics of the sample of subjects approximate those of the larger population of potential respondents?&#10;A) Blinding&#10;B) External validity&#10;C) Internal validity&#10;D) Representativeness

Accepted Answer

Representativeness means that the characteristics of the sample of subjects closely approximate those of the larger population of potential respondents. Internal validity refers to the ability to infer that the independent variable causes a specific change in the dependent variable. External validity pertains to the generalizability of the results obtained. Blinding occurs when neither the research subject nor the person assessing the outcome of the treatment is aware of the group to which the client belongs.

Question 10

Describe the nature and indications for use of a quasi-experimental research design.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Describe the nature and indications for use...

Deck 6: Designing a Clinically Based Quantitative Capstone Research Project