A nurse researcher would decide to use a retrospective or ex post facto study for which reason?
A) Obtaining informed consent is not an important issue.
B) There is maximal opportunity to manipulate the independent variable.
C) The dependent variable is measured at multiple times to examine maturation.
D) The dependent variable has already been affected by the independent variable.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

A retrospective or ex post facto study is a type of observational study that examines the relationship between an independent variable that has already occurred and a dependent variable that has already been affected by it. Therefore, the best reason for a nurse researcher to use a retrospective or ex post facto study is when the dependent variable has already been affected by the independent variable, making it impossible or unethical to manipulate the independent variable. For example, if a nurse researcher wants to examine the relationship between smoking and lung cancer, it would be unethical to assign some people to smoke and others not to smoke, so a retrospective study could be conducted to examine the relationship between smoking and lung cancer in people who have already been exposed to smoking. Obtaining informed consent is still an important issue in retrospective studies, and there is minimal opportunity to manipulate the independent variable in this type of study. Maturation is also not a reason to use a retrospective study since maturation is a phenomenon that occurs over time, and a retrospective study examines past events.

A Nurse Researcher Would Decide to Use a Retrospective or Ex