See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/267332631

Critiquing �Nursing Research

Conference Paper · July 2012

CITATIONS READS

0 49,679

1 author:

Ahmad M Al-Bashaireh
Higher Colleges of Technology
52 PUBLICATIONS   621 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Effect of Tobacco Smoking on Bone Turnover Markers View project

Female Sexual Dysfunction (FSD) in women with T2DM View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Ahmad M Al-Bashaireh on 25 October 2014.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Ahmad Al Bashaireh , RN, BSN, MSc
Nursing Leadership Scientific Day
Focus on Nursing Research
12 July 2012
 Objectives

On completion of this session participants will

be prepared to:
1. Discuss the guidelines for critiquing a
research study
2. Critique a selected research study
Critiquing Nursing Research
Defined
Critical evaluation/appraisal of research
studies through using specific criteria in
which the evaluator makes precise and
objective judgments about the research study.

The word “critique‟ is often equated to the

word “criticism.” This is unfortunate
because the purpose of the research
critique is to assess the strengths as well
as the weakness of a research study.
 Purpose
 Critiquing process aids in development of
research skills

 As reader assesses the parts of a published

research study, ideas come to mind for:
 Development of future research studies
 Improvements in research studies that have already
been conducted or those that are in process
 Improvements in clinical fields
 Check EBP and systematic reviews
Nursing Research Articles
 Four major areas addressed in journal articles
 Literature review
 Research method used
 Results or findings of the research study
 Discussion

 Other areas discussed

 Theoretical framework
 Conclusion
 Contents of Research to be Critiqued
1. Researcher qualifications 12. Definition of terms
2. Title 13. Research design
3. Abstract 14. Setting
4. Introduction 15. Population and sample
5. Purpose 16. Data collections methods
6. Problem statement 17. Data collection instruments
7. Review of the literature 18. Results /data analysis
8. Theoretical/conceptual 19. Discussion of findings
framework 20. Conclusion
9. Assumptions 21. Implications
10. Limitations 22. Recommendations
11. Hypothesis (es) 23. Other considerations
 Who Critiques Nursing Research?
 Research Committee or IRB for approval
 Journal reviewer before publishing the study
 Nursing conference „Scientific Committee‟ before approval of a
research abstract
 Nurse/student in order to get more information or to explore the
experiences of others before conducting research
 Journal club members critique one or a group of articles
 EBP institutions or committees to appraise the research and its
impact and its applicability on clinical fields
 Strategy for Critiquing
Research Articles
 Clear guidelines and framework for critiquing nursing research
 Research critique involves thorough examination of all parts of a
research study and makes an initial evaluation report
 Then each part of the study should be subjected to an in-depth
evaluation
 The critique checklist is helpful for the evaluation of each
element in a systematic, structured way to determine:
 Presence or absence of necessary elements
 Good to poor elements
 Comments about the various parts of the study should be written down as
the reader evaluates the study
 Critique Checklist/Guidelines
for Research Articles
 Nieswiadomy, Rose Marie. 2012. Foundations of Nursing
Research. Sixth edition

 Rebecca, I. 2008. A nurses‟ guide to the critical reading of

research. Australian Journal Of Advanced Nursing. Volume 26
Number 1.

 Ryan, Francis. etal. 2007. Step-by-step guide to critiquing

research: Part 1. qualitative research. British Journal Of
Nursing. Volume 16 Number 11.

 Ryan, Francis. etal. 2007. Step-by-step guide to critiquing

research. Part 2. qualitative research. British Journal Of
Nursing. Volume 16 Number 12.

 Russell, C. etal .How to develop successful journal club.

International transplant nurse society.
 Critique Checklist/Guidelines
for Research Articles
Critical Appraisal in JBI
 Prognostic study
 Risk study
 Intervention study
 Cost study
 Experience study
 Diagnosis two-level and
multi level studies
 Systematic review of
interventions

JBI RAPid, Rapid Appraisal Protocol Internet Database. User Guide Version 1.2
 Critiquing Contents of Research
Researcher Qualifications
 What are the researcher‟s qualifications regarding research study
 Many nursing research studies in past years were conducted by non nurses.
 Authorities in subject areas are generally more qualified

 Brief biographical sketch that will assist the reader in evaluating the
qualifications of the author or authors.
 If this information is not provided, the initials after the name, such as M.S or
Ph.D. will inform the reader of the educational background of the researcher

 If the research has been funded by some organization, such as

American Nurses‟ Foundation, this information should be provided
 Critiquing Contents of Research
Title
 Clarity & conciseness of title are major considerations
 The focus of the research should be apparent in the title
 It should contain the population and the major variable(s)
 The title should be brief, containing no more than 15 words
 Extraneous words like “A study of….””The relationship
between…,” or “The effect of…” should be avoided
 It is very important that the title contain the critical word → help
in searching process for the literature
 Critiquing Contents of Research
Abstract
 Usually the only section of article that is read

 Abstracts are typically 100 to 200 words in length

 The researcher should present the essential component of

the research study in the abstract
 Hypothesis(es) or research question(s)
 Methods
 Description of subjects
 Major findings

Background → Objectives → Method → Result → Conclusion

 Critiquing Contents of Research
Introduction
 Should catch interest of reader & set stage for
presentation of research study

 Should contain brief exploration of study area

 Background information on the problem
 Significance of this problem to nursing is presented
 Study purpose may be included in this section
 Critiquing Contents of Research
Purpose

 Reason(s) for undertaking study should have

been clearly formulated before research started

 Broad purpose of study may be made more

specific in the form of objectives or goals
 Critiquing Contents of Research
Problem Statement
 Should be clearly identified

 Can be declarative or interrogative

 Interrogative form preferable

 Should contain:
 Population
 Major variable(s)

 Ethical nature of study should be clear

 Feasibility & significance of study can be evaluated through

the problem statement
 Critiquing Contents of Research
Literature Review
 Relevance to the study

 Comprehensiveness of the review

 Presents theory and research that both supports and

opposes expected study results

 Indicates how present study contributes to existing

knowledge
 Critiquing Contents of Research
Theoretical/Conceptual Framework
 Framework may be found in the introductory section
or the literature review section of the research article

 Is the framework
 Identifiable?
 Appropriate one for the study?
 Based on a nursing theory or a theory from another
discipline?
 Critiquing Contents of Research
Assumptions
 All research studies are based on assumptions

 Assumptions come from theory & previous research

 Explicit assumptions are those asserted by the

researcher and are clearly identifiable by the reader

 Implicit assumptions are those made by researcher but

are not clearly identified in research study
 Critiquing Contents of Research
Assumptions
Example
If study determines giving a back rub at bedtime
decreases patient requests for sleeping medications,
the researcher has made three assumptions:

 Adequate sleep is necessary for patients

 Sleeping medications are not the most healthful type
of sleep enhancer
 One of the roles of nurses is to try to assist patients in
obtaining adequate sleep
 Critiquing Contents of Research
Limitations of the Study
 Limitations of the study must be clearly stated
 Uncontrolled variables that affect study
 Aspects of study where no control has been
exercised
 In experimental studies, internal and external
threats to validity
 Inappropriateness of instrument
 Sample size
 Critiquing Contents of Research
Hypothesis(es)
 Hypothesis contain population and variables and reflect the
problem statement.

 Research studies that examine relationships between variables

should contain hypotheses

 When hypotheses are not appropriate for study, research

questions may be used

 Hypotheses should be clearly and concisely stated in a

declarative sentence and in the present tense

 Hypotheses should be based on theory or research findings

 Critiquing Contents of Research
Definition of Terms

 May not be included in journal article because of

space constraints

 May be derived from study framework

 Terms defined both conceptually & operationally

 Conceptual = theoretical
 Operational = from research instrument used to gather data
 Critiquing Contents of Research
Research Design
 Clearly identified and adequately described

 Appropriate design for the study under consideration

 Quantitative designs and qualitative designs are evaluated

with different criteria

 In experimental studies
 Is the treatment adequately described and appropriate for the study?
 The method of assigning subjects to groups, if there is more than one
group, should be discussed
 Means to control threats to internal and external validity should be
included in the section on research design
 Study Design
No control Control

Descriptive studies Analytical studies

No Intervention Intervention

Case report
Observational Experimental
studies studies
Case serial Randomized
Controlled Clinical
reports trials
Case-control Cohort
Randomized
Cross-sectional studies studies Controlled field
studies trials

Non-randomized
Retrospective experiments
Prospective
Ecological (historical)
studies
 Critiquing Contents of Research
Setting

 The setting for research study needs to be described

 Many agencies do not want to be identified in research

studies

 The description is general in nature

 “A small, private psychiatric institution in the southeastern
United States.”
 “Tertiary teaching hospital.”
 Critiquing Contents of Research
Population and Sample
 Sample should be easily determined in research article
 Description of demographic characteristics of sample &
sample size
 Percentage of population represented by sample
 Acknowledgment of subjects that drop out
 Protection of subjects‟ rights
 Include identification and description of sampling method
 Describe specific type of probability or no-probability sampling
method used
 Determine appropriateness of sampling method
Reference & Study Population

Reference
Population

Study
Population
 Critiquing Contents of Research
Data Collection Methods
 Description of data method should be extensive
enough to allow exact replication of research study

 Five general questions asked in evaluating data

collection - what, how, who, where, and when
 What date will be collected?
 How will the data be collected?
 Who will collect the data?
 Where will the data be collected?
 When will the data be collected?
 Critiquing Contents of Research
Data Collection Instruments
 All data collection instruments should be clearly
identified and described

 Scoring procedures and range of possible scores on the

instrument should be included

 Studies can make use of multiple data collection

instruments

 The most important characteristics of an instrument is

its reliability and validity
 Critiquing Contents of Research
Data Analysis & Findings

 Decide if appropriate statistical tests were

selected

 Decide if results are presented accurately and

completely

 Was study hypothesis supported or not supported

 Findings should be clearly presented in both the

text and the table
Positive Linear Correlation

y y y

x x x
(a) Positive (b) Strong (c) Perfect
positive positive
 Critiquing Contents of Research
Discussion of Findings
 Research reports vary in material presented in discussion
of findings section:
 Data analysis
 Interpretation of findings
 Conclusions
 Implications
 Recommendations

 Findings or facts of research study are presented in a

completely objective fashion

 The author interprets the study results

 Critiquing Contents of Research
Discussion of Findings
 Author compares present findings with other research studies
discussed in the literature review

 No new literature sources should be introduced in findings

 Author must make it clear that findings either supported or failed

to support the framework of the study

 Both statistical and clinical significance should be discussed

 Study limitations need to be identified and discussed

 Critiquing Contents of Research
Conclusions
 Conclusions answer the “so what?” questions that might be
proposed to researcher at the end of a study
 Study conclusions are author‟s attempt to make generalizations
based on the study findings
 Personal experiences and opinions should not influence
conclusions

 Findings are strictly data bound

 Researcher has some freedom to go beyond data when presenting
the conclusions
 Critiquing Contents of Research
Implications
 Implications need to be explicitly identify by
researcher for nursing practice, nursing education,
nursing research
 Implications section of a research report contains
the “should” that result from the research findings

 For example:
 Nurse Educator should include material in nursing
curriculum on the topic of the study
 Researchers should conduct more research in area of
interest
 Critiquing Contents of Research
Recommendations
 A suggestion to:
 Replicate the study
 Develop a new instrument
 Use a larger sample size
 Take into consideration limitations of present
study
 Consider findings of previous research studies
 Critiquing Contents of Research
Other Considerations

 Grammar, sentence structure, punctuation

 Author‟s writing style and use of words

 Accuracy and completeness of reference list

References
 Nieswiadomy, Rose Marie. 2012. Foundations of Nursing Research. Sixth
edition.

 Rebecca, I. 2008. A nurses‟ guide to the critical reading of research.

Australian Journal Of Advanced Nursing. Volume 26, Number 1.

 Ryan, Francis. etal. 2007. Step-by-step guide to critiquing research: Part 1.

qualitative research. British Journal Of Nursing. Volume 16, Number 11.

 Ryan, Francis. etal. 2007. Step-by-step guide to critiquing research. Part 2.

qualitative research. British Journal Of Nursing. Volume 16, Number 12.

 Russell, C. etal. How to develop successful journal club. International

Transplant Nurse Society.

 Caldwell, Cay. etal. 2005. Developing a framework for critiquing health

research. Journal of Health, Social and Environmental, Volume 6, Number 1.

 JBI RAPid, Rapid Appraisal Protocol Internet Database. User Guide Version
1.2.
 Thank You

View publication stats