Deck 3: Research Foundations for Nursing Practice

Question 1

A nurse is going to determine the best design to use for a research project. Which action would the nurse perform to guide this choice?

A) Collect data.
B) Do a review of the literature.
C) Write an overview of the conceptual framework.
D) Identify themes and categories.

Answer 1

Write an overview of the conceptual framework.

Question 2

The nurse wants to study outpatient medical records to determine a specific pattern of care. Which part of HIPAA should this nurse initially consult to guide the study?

A) Disclosing data
B) Creating data
C) Destroying data
D) Accessing data

Answer 2

Accessing data

Question 3

A nurse is conducting research regarding the social habits of teenagers. A 14-year-old is being considered as a study participant. How should the nurse manage the issue of informed consent? Note: Credit will be given only if all correct choices and no incorrect choices are selected.
Standard Text: Select all that apply.

A) Have the 14-year-old give the legal informed consent.
B) Explain the study to the 14-year-old.
C) Have the child's parent sign the legal informed consent form.
D) Obtain written consent from the 14-year-old.
E) Sign the legal written consent for the 14-year-old, noting that the child indicated desire to participate in the study.

Answer 3

Explain the study to the 14-year-old.
Have the child's parent sign the legal informed consent form.
Obtain written consent from the 14-year-old.

Question 4

A patient has not responded to an intervention with the desired outcome. Which nursing action is the best example of using evidence-based practice to solve this problem?

A) Apply the intervention again.
B) Find a research study about the intervention and apply the study's finding.
C) Evaluate what went wrong with the intervention.
D) Find research, quality improvement study outcomes, and information from experts to change the intervention.

Question 5

A qualitative research study has concluded and the nurse researcher is currently watching the study participants to make sure that the research findings can be observed in their routine lives. The nurse is conducting which type of basic research?

A) Ethnography
B) Experimental research
C) Phenomenology
D) Grounded theory

Question 6

Hospital management has developed an initiative for the use of evidence-based practice in all hospital departments. Which statements would the nurse educator use in educative sessions with nurses? Note: Credit will be given only if all correct choices and no incorrect choices are selected.
Standard Text: Select all that apply.

A) "The interventions nurses have traditionally used will form the foundation for our practice."
B) "We will be reviewing all our standards and protocols in light of associated research."
C) "Your clinical expertise will be valuable as we develop evidence-based practice in our units."
D) "Evidence-based practice is focused on the conservation of resources."
E) "You will be asked to question your practice."

Question 7

The nurse is analyzing a phenomenological research study. Which data would the nurse evaluate as matching this study design? Note: Credit will be given only if all correct choices and no incorrect choices are selected.
Standard Text: Select all that apply.

A) Waiting to have a procedure done is more stressful than the actual procedure.
B) A patient's blood pressure is 150/90 after ambulating 10 feet.
C) A patient's urine output after ingesting 240 mL of water is 100 mL.
D) Ten mothers in the same housing community desire a centrally located day care facility.
E) Breast cancer survivors are more likely than others to participate in efforts to raise money for breast cancer research.

Question 8

The nurse is implementing stage 2 of a critique of a quantitative research study. In this stage, the nurse will perform which action?

A) Study the findings.
B) Summarize the quality of the study.
C) Review the purpose of the research.
D) Focus on the conduct of the research.

Question 9

Even though the nurses in a patient care area have been asked to collect data while conducting patient care, several nurses do the data collection only if time is available. Which research problem criteria does the inconsistent collection of data exemplify?

A) Feasible to address
B) Researchable
C) Of interest to the researcher
D) Significant to nursing

Question 10

While conducting a research study, the researcher creates a table of new health data based on patient responses. Which action by the researcher is correct?

A) Asking the patients' nurses if the data appears to be correct and then document it was validated
B) Validating the data with laboratory results in the patients' medical records that are not part of the study
C) Gaining permission from the patients to use the data and discussing who will receive it
D) Sharing the data with the patients' health care providers to improve care

Question 11

A patient refuses to participate in a research study for an experimental medication. By accepting the patient's decision, the nurse is exercising which ethical principle?

A) Respect for persons
B) Justice
C) Informed consent
D) Beneficence

Question 12

A nurse notices a particular nursing intervention is not successful in helping patients achieve their health care goals and decides to study the issue. What should the nurse do first?

A) Identify the problem.
B) Design the sampling plan.
C) Conduct a literature review.
D) Conduct a pilot study.

Question 13

Which study titles would alert the members of an institutional review board IRB) that the study sample may include vulnerable subjects? Note: Credit will be given only if all correct choices and no incorrect choices are selected.
Standard Text: Select all that apply.

A) Identification of Coping Patterns Among Pregnant Wives of Soldiers Involved in Combat
B) Development of Cancer in Persons Exposed to Passive Tobacco Smoke
C) Interventions to Delay Development of Alzheimer Disease in Persons with Down Syndrome
D) Weight Gain in Students during the First Two Semesters of Nursing School
E) Interventions to Decrease Feelings of Breathlessness in Terminally Ill Subjects

Question 14

The nurse asks a patient if he has used a newly developed exercise to relieve the arthritis pain in his shoulders. The nurse is most likely employing which concept?

A) Applied research
B) Basic research
C) Critical thinking
D) Discharge planning

Question 15

A nurse who is reading a research report has questions about the study's internal validity. Which questions might this nurse be considering? Note: Credit will be given only if all correct choices and no incorrect choices are selected.
Standard Text: Select all that apply.

A) Was there bias in the random selection of study subjects?
B) Was the research setting adequately controlled?
C) Do all of the items being measured focus on the same trait?
D) Did the independent variable occur before the dependent variable?
E) Why was the sample size at the end of the study so much smaller than the sample size at the beginning of the study?

Question 16

The nurse, working with patients in an orthopedic surgical unit, wants to study the impact of assistive devices on progressive ambulation. What would be an example of a research problem for this study?

A) Do post-hip replacement patients ambulate faster with one crutch or two?
B) How does learning postsurgical exercises before the hip replacement impact the patient's use of assistive devices?
C) Will post-hip replacement patients recover from surgery faster if ambulated the day after surgery?
D) Will post-hip replacement surgery patients be discharged using a cane for ambulation?

Question 17

A patient with severe hypertension, chosen to receive an experimental medication that has shown a dramatic efficacy in lowering blood pressure, has been told that his participation in the study is no longer needed. The patient is upset because he wanted to try the medication to control his blood pressure. What should the nurse do to support this patient?

A) Tell the patient that he can participate some other time.
B) Explain to the patient that experimental medications rarely produce the desired results.
C) Help the patient understand that his participation "wasn't meant to be."
D) Talk with the researchers about the patient's right to receive the medication.

Question 18

The nurses have been instructed on the use of an evidence-based practice EBP) method to monitor patients; however, several nurses continue to conduct patient monitoring using the previous method. What can the nurse manager do to increase the use of the evidence-based practice method?

A) Assign the nurses not using the new method to participate in gathering data for a research study.
B) Review the evidence-based material again with those nurses who are not using the new method.
C) Remind the nurses that performance evaluations are tied to the use of evidence-based practice.
D) Determine that either method would be appropriate for the nurses to use.

Question 19

The nurse, critiquing a quantitative research study, is particularly interested in information obtained in stage 3 of the critique. This information would most likely include which information?

A) How the findings of the study are related to the theoretical framework
B) Whether the study can be replicated
C) The major strengths of the study
D) How ethical issues were handled

Question 20

While critiquing a quantitative research study, the nurse is curious about the sample size. Which Note: Credit will be given only if all correct choices and no incorrect choices are selected. Standard Text: Select all that apply.

A) Does the study describe the population about whom results will be generalized?
B) Are inclusion and exclusion criteria identified?
C) Is the sample size appropriate to meet assumptions of the statistical tests?
D) How are the rights of the participants protected?
E) Is the sample representative of the population?