A nurse has expressed skepticism to a colleague about the value ...

[audie]

A nurse has expressed skepticism to a colleague about the value of nursing research, claiming that nursing research has little relevance to practice. How can the nurse's colleague best defend the importance of nursing research?
 
  A) The existence of nursing research means that nurses are now able to access federal grant
  money, something that didn't use to be the case.
  B) Nursing research has allowed the development of masters and doctoral programs and has
  greatly increased the credibility of the profession.
  C) The growth of nursing research has caused nursing to be viewed as a true profession,
  rather than simply as a trade or a skill.
  D) The application of nursing research has the potential to improve nursing practice and
  patient outcomes.

Question 2

A nurse has read a qualitative research study in order to understand the lived experience of parents who have a neonatal loss. Which of the following questions should the nurse prioritize when appraising the results of this study?
 
  A) How well did the authors capture the personal experiences of these parents?
  B) How well did the authors control for confounding variables that may have affected the
  findings?
  C) Did the authors use statistical measures that were appropriate to the phenomenon in
  question?
  D) Were the instruments that the researchers used statistically valid and reliable?

[Jordin Calloway]

Answer to Question 1

Ans: D
The greatest value of nursing research lies in the potential to improve practice and,
ultimately, to improve patient outcomes. This supersedes the contributions of nursing research
to education programs, grant funding, or the public view of the profession.

Answer to Question 2

Ans: A
Qualitative studies are judged on the basis of how well they capture and convey the
subjective experiences of individuals. Statistical measures and variables are not dimensions of a
qualitative methodology.