Deck 7: Introduction to Quantitative Research

Question 1

The nurse researcher determines that all aspects of a study systematically and logically follow from the research problem.Which condition has been met?

A) Internal validity
B) External validity
C) Accuracy
D) Legitimacy

Answer 1

Accuracy

Question 2

What action would be the best control for a mediating variable when designing a study to determine whether a videotape format or a pamphlet is more effective in teaching young women how to perform breast self-examination (BSE)?

A) Randomly assign subjects to the two groups.
B) Exclude subjects who already perform BSE on a regular basis.
C) Limit the study subjects to women who are heterosexual.
D) Determine what breast cancer means to the individual participants.

Answer 2

Exclude subjects who already perform BSE on a regular basis.

Question 3

The nurse researcher designed a study examining anxiety among elementary school children.If a widely publicized murder of a child occurred in the city during the time frame of the study,what type of threat to internal validity would the murder represent?

A) Maturation
B) Instrumentation
C) Selection bias
D) Historical

Answer 3

Historical

Question 4

Why would a nurse researcher want to limit or eliminate extraneous variables in a study?

A) More research questions would be required to define the extraneous variable.
B) Extraneous variables compete with the dependent variable as an explanation of the study's outcome.
C) Extraneous variables compete with the independent variable as an explanation of the study's outcome.
D) Manipulation of the extraneous variables increases the risk for researcher bias in the study's outcome.

Question 5

How can the literature review assist a nurse researcher in selecting the appropriate design for a quantitative study?

A) By enlarging the scope of the hypothesis
B) By ensuring that the researcher remains faithful to the study purpose
C) By allowing the researcher to compare current findings with previous findings
D) By providing the opportunity to determine the objectivity of the problem area

Question 6

When would the issue of control be less important in a quantitative study?

A) When a statistically significant analysis is used
B) When an exploratory research design is used
C) When an experimental research design is used
D) When a correlational research design is used

Question 7

Why would a nurse researcher choose to assign randomly the subjects in a study?

A) To ensure that all groups within a study are representative of the larger population
B) To increase the chances that the study groups will be different from each other with regard to extraneous variables
C) To ensure that current events do not influence the outcomes of the study
D) To eliminate the need for establishing specific study criteria and subject eligibility

Question 8

The nurse researcher is designing a quantitative research study.What is the overall purpose of research design?

A) To determine sample size
B) To identify the problem statement
C) To aid in the solution of a research question
D) To assist the researcher in identifying gaps in knowledge

Question 9

A nurse researcher is designing a quantitative research study involving a specific group of patients admitted to local hospitals and is assessing the feasibility of the study.Which factor negatively affects the feasibility of this study?

A) The local region has a high percentage of families that could participate in the study.
B) Potential study subjects represent less than 1% of hospital admissions during the year previous to the study.
C) Study participants who were children under the age of 5 years could not give direct informed consent to participate in the study.
D) A comprehensive review of the literature shows no studies were conducted that examined this question during the past 15 years.

Question 10

Which factor is the measure used by a nurse researcher to keep the conditions of a quantitative study uniform?

A) Accuracy
B) Methods
C) Control
D) Validity

Question 11

A nurse researcher assigns half of a study sample to an experimental group and the other half of the study group to a control group.What does this represent regarding controlling for mediating variables?

A) Data-collection constancy
B) Manipulation of the mediating variable
C) Elimination of the mediating variable(s)
D) Manipulation of the independent variable

Question 12

Why would the nurse researcher's administration of a pretest in a research study be of concern?

A) It is a threat to internal validity that may affect the posttest results.
B) It is a threat to external validity that may affect the posttest results.
C) It is a form of selection bias that contributes to the problem of maturation.
D) It is a form of maturation that contributes to the problem of selection bias.

Question 13

When should a nurse researcher include an extraneous variable as part of a study's design?

A) When it is nonmodifiable, such as age or gender
B) When it is an important consideration for the outcome
C) When the researcher is limited by time and monetary influences
D) When it would not make a difference in the overall study outcome

Question 14

How would a nurse researcher ensure that the sample used in a research study is homogeneous?

A) Restrict eligibility criteria to limit extraneous variables relevant to the study.
B) Randomly assign subjects to either the experimental or the control group.
C) Assign one research assistant to collect all data.
D) Collect all data at the same time of day.

Question 15

Which action represents the nurse researcher's attempt at constancy in data collection to control extraneous variables in a study examining the effect of hormone replacement therapy on bone-density loss in postmenopausal women?

A) Drawing the blood at the same time of day for all subjects
B) Having the same phlebotomist drawing the blood from all subjects
C) Using the same room for drawing blood from all subjects
D) Ensuring that all subjects were postmenopausal women taking hormone replacement therapy

Question 16

Which situation represents a threat to internal validity in an experimental study measuring the effect of a videotape of home-going instructions for patients being discharged after coronary artery bypass graft surgery?

A) Both men and women were included as subjects in the study.
B) Two new surgeons began performing the coronary artery bypass graft surgeries.
C) Patients in the experimental group discussed aspects of the tapes with patients in the control group.
D) Data collection took 1 year.

Question 17

Which factor would be considered a mediating variable among potential subjects in a study to determine whether use of high doses of vitamin C are helpful in reducing susceptibility to influenza?

A) Gender and religion of the potential subjects
B) The subjects' knowledge of influenza vaccines
C) The subjects' use of influenza vaccines
D) The educational level and marital status of the potential subjects

Question 18

How could a nurse researcher's use of a homogeneous population of subjects in a research study weaken that study?

A) Decreased reliability of the findings
B) Decreased generalizability of the findings
C) Increased number of subjects needed to reach statistical significance
D) Increased risk that the findings were the result of chance alone

Question 19

Why should a nurse researcher consider mortality a threat to the internal validity of a study?

A) There is a concern that the intervention may have harmful effects.
B) Those who participated in the study may have died as a result of being in the study.
C) Those who dropped out of the study may be different from those who remained in the study.
D) When a study has a large number of participants who drop out of the study, the design is inappropriate for the study questions.

Question 20

What condition would a nurse researcher be attempting to achieve by obtaining the required number of subjects in such a manner that each subject in a population has an equal chance of being selected?

A) Selection bias
B) Convenience
C) Randomization
D) Internal reliability

Question 21

How can a nurse researcher take action in a quantitative research study to eliminate bias on the dependent variable?

A) By establishing strict eligibility criteria for the study participants
B) By ensuring that all data are collected by a single researcher
C) By formulating at least two hypotheses for each research question
D) By testing a theoretical framework

Question 22

What about external validity would concern a nurse researcher regarding a research study?

A) The relationship between the independent variable and the study outcomes
B) Whether a specific event influenced the dependent variable
C) The degree to which extraneous or mediating variables interfered with the study outcomes
D) The degree to which the findings are generalizable to populations beyond those studied

Question 23

How could a nurse researcher control for selection bias in a study?

A) By allowing subjects to self-select into an experimental or a control group
B) By hand picking the subjects for the study and determining the group assignment
C) By using defined selection criteria for approaching potential subjects
D) The task of selecting subjects should not be performed by the researcher conducting the study.

Question 24

Which situation reflects a reactive effect?

A) Control subjects in an intervention study to reduce anxiety also experienced a reduction in anxiety.
B) The subjects in an intervention group continue the intervention after the study has ended.
C) Subjects become concerned after learning that they have received a placebo intervention.
D) Study subjects want to know the outcomes of the study.

Question 25

A journal reviewer is critiquing a new quantitative research study that has been submitted for publication.In critiquing the study sections,in what order will components be scrutinized?
A.Design description
B.Research question
C.Sample
D.Data analysis
E.Data collection

A) a, b, c, d, e
B) e, d, c, b, a
C) b, a, c, e, d
D) d, b, a, c, e

Question 26

What would be considered pragmatic considerations for the nurse researcher in determining the feasibility of a research question? (Select all that apply)

A) Time
B) Selection effects
C) Reactive effects
D) Measurement effects
E) Subject availability
F) Money

Question 27

In a study investigating the effect of type of operating room mattress and surgical position on tissue interface pressures,the researchers used healthy young adult subjects.Which component of research design is most affected by this choice?

A) Internal validity
B) Mortality
C) Instrumentation
D) External validity

Question 28

A nursing student is reviewing a research study in which researchers used pretest/posttest design to examine the effect of an AIDS education intervention on teenagers' knowledge level over a school year.What threats to internal validity could be present? (Select all that apply.)

A) Maturation
B) Selection effects
C) Reactivity
D) Hawthorne effect
E) Testing

Question 29

What type of quantitative study would lead a nurse researcher to be less concerned about the issue of control?

A) Paper and pencil
B) Exploratory
C) Experimental
D) Correlational

Question 30

How can a nurse researcher know that a research study has external validity?

A) External validity refers to the relationship existing between the independent variable and study outcomes.
B) External validity refers to the influence of a specific event on the dependent variable.
C) External validity refers to the degree to which extraneous or mediating variables interfered with the study outcomes.
D) External validity refers to the degree to which findings are generalizable to populations beyond those studied.

Question 31

A neophyte researcher is planning to write a proposal for starting a research study.The researcher is concerned about control for the quantitative design.What components should the researcher include? (Select all that apply.)

A) Using validated, reliable collection methods
B) Including all age ranges of subjects
C) Including trained data collectors
D) Incorporating standardized data collection processes for each subject
E) Using only words for analysis

Question 32

What factor(s)would be considered to be threats to internal validity? (Select all that apply).

A) Time
B) Selection effects
C) History
D) Testing
E) Subject availability
F) Money
G) Selection bias

Question 33

A nurse researcher wants to study the effect of a nutritional educational intervention on weight loss in obese adolescents.The researcher designs a study including a homogeneous sample,randomization,and consistent data-collection procedures.Which variable should these approaches protect from interference?

A) Nutritional educational intervention
B) Age range
C) Obesity
D) Weight loss