Deck 9: Introduction to Quantitative Research

Question 1

A nurse researcher assigns participants to experimental and control groups in such a manner that each participant in a population has an equal chance of being selected.What is the researcher using?

A) Selection bias
B) Convenience sampling
C) Randomization
D) Internal validity

Answer 1

Randomization

Question 2

Which of the following aspect of the study is considered a measure to maintain the uniformity of conditions of a quantitative study?

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

Answer 2

Control

Question 3

How could a nurse researcher's use of a homogeneous sample weaken a research study?

A) By decreasing the reliability of the findings
B) By decreasing the generalizability of the findings
C) By increasing the number of participants needed to reach statistical significance
D) By increasing the risk that the findings were the result of chance alone

Answer 3

By decreasing the generalizability of the findings

Question 4

A nurse researcher is investigating the effect of type of operating room mattress and surgical position on tissue interface pressures in healthy young adults.Which component of research is most affected by the choice of participants?

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

Question 5

For which of these reasons would a nurse researcher choose to assign participants randomly to groups in a study?

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

Question 6

A nurse is designing a study to determine whether a videotape or a written pamphlet is more effective in teaching young women how to perform breast self-examination (BSE).Which of these actions would provide the best control for a mediating variable?

A) Include identical content in both BSE teaching methods
B) Exclude participants who already perform BSE on a regular basis
C) Limit the study participants to women who are heterosexual
D) Determine what breast cancer means to the individual participants

Question 7

A nurse researcher assigns half a study sample to an experimental group and the other half to a control group.What does this action represent?

A) Instrumentation of the independent variable
B) Manipulation of the mediating variable
C) Elimination of the mediating variable
D) Manipulation of the independent variable

Question 8

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

A) When excluding the variable would limit the study's generalizability
B) When the variable is an important consideration for the study's outcome
C) When the researcher is limited by time or monetary constraints
D) When it would not make a difference in the overall study outcome

Question 9

Which of these situations describes a reactive (Hawthorne)effect?

A) Control participants in an intervention study to reduce anxiety also experience a reduction in anxiety.
B) The participants in an intervention support group continue the support group after the study has ended.
C) Participants become concerned after learning that they received a placebo, not the treatment, during the study.
D) Study participants want to know the outcomes of the study after it is completed.

Question 10

The issue of control would be less important in a quantitative study with which type of research design?

A) Exploratory
B) Experimental
C) Correlational
D) Randomized clinical trial

Question 11

A study is examining the effect of a new antilipemic drug,compared with placebo,on lipoprotein levels in postmenopausal women.Which of these actions represents the researcher's attempt at constancy in data collection to control extraneous variables?

A) Drawing the serum lipoprotein levels of all participants at the same time of day
B) Having the same phlebotomist draw serum lipoprotein levels of all participants
C) Using the same room for drawing blood for lipoprotein levels of all participants
D) Ensuring that all participants are postmenopausal women taking lipid-lowering medication

Question 12

What is the overall purpose of research design in a quantitative research study?

A) To determine sample size
B) To identify the problem statement
C) To provide a plan for answering the research question
D) To assist the researcher in identifying gaps in the knowledge base

Question 13

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

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

Question 14

Which situation represents a threat to internal validity in an experimental study measuring the effect of a videotape of discharge instructions for patients who underwent coronary artery bypass graft (CABG)surgery?

A) Both men and women undergoing CABG surgery were included as participants in the study.
B) Two new surgeons began performing CABG surgery during the study period.
C) Patients in the experimental group discussed aspects of the videotape with patients in the control group.
D) Data collection for the videotape and control groups took 1 year.

Question 15

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

A) More research questions would be required to account for the extraneous variables.
B) Extensive statistical analysis would be required to justify the presence of extraneous variables.
C) Extraneous variables compete with the independent variables as explanations of the study's outcome.
D) Manipulation of the extraneous variables increases the risk for researcher bias in the study's outcomes.

Question 16

When reviewing a research report,the nurse determines that all aspects of a study systematically and logically follow from the research problem.Which condition has been met?

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

Question 17

A nurse researcher should consider mortality a threat to the study's internal validity for which of these reasons?

A) There is concern that the intervention may have harmful effects on participants.
B) Those who dropped out of the study may be different than those who remained in the study.
C) Those who participated in the study may have died as a result of being in the study.
D) There is concern that the design is inappropriate for the study question if a large number of participants dropout of a study.

Question 18

In which of these ways does the nurse researcher's literature review help select the appropriate study design?

A) By enlarging the scope of the study's hypotheses
B) By objectively assessing available knowledge of the area
C) By comparing current findings with previous study findings
D) By ensuring faithfulness to the study's purpose

Question 19

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

Question 20

A nurse researcher can control for selection bias in a study by taking which of these actions?

A) Allow participants to self-select into an experimental or a control group.
B) Handpick the participants for group assignment.
C) Use defined selection criteria for approaching potential participants.
D) Have someone other than the researcher select the participants for the study.

Question 21

A researcher wants to study the effects of head injury in children under the age of 5 years on mothers' decisions to work outside of the home.Which of the following factors negatively affects the feasibility of this study?

A) The local region has a high percentage of single-parent families.
B) Head injuries in children under age 5 represented less than 1% of hospital admissions during the year previous to the study.
C) Children under the age of 5 years are not able to read, write, or give direct informed consent to participate in this study.
D) A comprehensive review of the literature shows no studies that examined this question were conducted during the past 15 years.

Question 22

Which of the following actions in a quantitative research study represents a measure to eliminate bias on the dependent variable?

A) Establishing strict eligibility criteria for the study participants
B) Ensuring that all data are collected by a single researcher
C) Formulating at least two hypotheses for each research question
D) Testing a theoretical framework

Question 23

Why is the administration of a pretest a cause for concern in a research study?

A) It is a threat to internal validity, as it may affect the posttest results.
B) It is a threat to external validity, as it 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 24

What should the nurse researcher consider when determining the feasibility of a research question?

A) Time
B) Selection effects
C) Reactive effects
D) Measurement effects
E) Participant availability
F) Cost

Question 25

Which of the following factors would be considered a mediating variable among potential participants in a study to determine whether high doses of vitamin C are helpful in reducing susceptibility to influenza?

A) Gender and religion of the potential participants
B) The participants' previous experience with influenza
C) The participants having received influenza vaccination
D) The educational level and marital status of the potential participants

Question 26

Which of the following techniques or actions represents constancy in data collection for control of extraneous variables in a study examining the effect of hormone replacement therapy on bone density loss in postmenopausal women?

A) Drawing blood from all participants at the same time of day
B) Always having the same nurse or phlebotomist always draw blood from all participants
C) Using the same room for drawing blood from all participants
D) Ensuring that all participants are postmenopausal women taking hormone replacement therapy

Question 27

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

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

Question 28

In what way could a homogeneous population of participants in a study weaken the study?

A) By decreasing the reliability of the findings
B) By decreasing the generalizability of the findings
C) By increasing the number of participants needed to reach statistical significance
D) By increasing the risk of the findings being the result of chance alone

Question 29

When should an extraneous variable be included as part of the 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 issues
D) When it would not make a difference to the overall study outcome

Question 30

A nurse researcher is planning to write a proposal for a research study using a quantitative design.To maintain control in the study,the nurse should include which elements?

A) Valid, reliable collection methods
B) Participants of all ages
C) Trained data collectors
D) Standardized data collection processes
E) Analysis of data by words or text only

Question 31

For which type of quantitative study is the issue of control less important?

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

Question 32

Which factors would be considered threats to internal validity?

A) Time
B) Selection effects
C) History
D) Testing
E) Participant availability
F) Cost
G) Selection bias