Answer to Question 1
ANS: A, D, E
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality partners with public and private sectors to improve the quality and safety of patient care by promoting the use of the best research evidence available in practice. Its three future goals are focused on the following: Safety and quality: Reduce the risk of harm by promoting delivery of the best possible health care; Effectiveness: Improve healthcare outcomes by encouraging the use of evidence to make informed healthcare decisions; and Efficiency: Transform research into practice to facilitate wider access to effective healthcare services and reduce unnecessary costs.
Answer to Question 2
ANS: A, B, C, D, E, F
The quantitative approach to scientific inquiry emerged from a branch of philosophy called logical positivism, which operates on strict rules of logic, truth, laws, axioms, and predictions. Quantitative research requires the use of structured interviews, questionnaires, or observations, scales, or physiological measures that generate numerical data. Statistical analyses are conducted to reduce and organize data, describe variables, examine relationships, and determine differences among groups. Control, instruments, and statistical analyses are used to ensure that the research findings accurately reflect reality so that the study findings can be generalized. Generalization involves the application of trends or general tendencies (which are identified by studying a sample) to the population from which the research sample was drawn. Researchers must be cautious in making generalizations, because a sound generalization requires the support of many studies with a variety of samples.