A Pediatric Nurse, Who Has Worked on the Inpatient Unit

A pediatric nurse, who has worked on the inpatient unit for 7 years, is enrolled in a master's program. The nurse notes that children who are homeless and who are admitted to the inpatient setting seem to have longer lengths of hospital stay, appear to have poorer verbal skills, and seem to be more fearful of separation from their parents. The nurse designs a study to measure these variables in homeless children and to compare the findings with the average patients on the same unit. What is the research objective?

A) To answer the research question
B) To determine the strength of the statistical relationship among the variables
C) To determine whether homeless children seem to have longer length of hospital stay, poorer verbal skills, and more fear of separation from their parents than do other children
D) To measure length of stay, verbal skills, and fear of separation from parents in homeless children admitted to the hospital