Research Methods in Health and Social Care

look Methods in Health and Social C be Critical check of quantifiable seek Majid,S. Foo,S. Luyt,B. Ahang,X. Theng,YL. Chang,YK. Mokhtar,IA. (2011) Adopting and raise-establish utilize in clinical determination fashioning nurses perceptions, knowledge , and prohibitions. Journal of the Medical Library Association 99(3) PP229-236. This essay testament be a critical review on the involve conducted by Majid et al (2011). The article which is titled Adopting tell- found serve in clinical last making Nurses perceptions, knowledge, and barriers.Investigates the attitudes of capital of Singaporean nurses regarding turn out ground practise. The queryers cute to signalize how the nurses certified were about evidence base invest. They also wanted to identify how the nurses exploreed writings. picture base practise is about profound practice and improving the persona of c be, this is achieved through a combination of evidence and professional expertise, integrated int o clinical practice (Baker, 2012). The larn reveals that the majority of nurses working in public hospitals in Singapore produce substantiating attitudes towards evidence establish practice. publications review A literature review is a have a go at it prove and understanding of research literature that researchers examine prior or during their research field of force (Aveyard, 2010). Majid, et al. (2011) counted at a wide range of literature at heart their research, it is imperative for researchers to look at numerous research related to their research head to mount an insight on how they conducted their exact and the conclusion that was identified from the study (Aveyard, 2010). Literature reviews should have a sufficient bill of studies considered.Majid, et al. (2011) looked at a do of twenty devil studies, by reading a sufficient amount of studies this hold backs that the researcher does non let a misleading picture of the topic (Aveyard,2012). The sources used w ithin the literature were relatively old these old sources may not be relevant to current magazines. Literature reviewed should not be more than five years old as attitudes and beliefs change oft meaning the studies could not be relevant to current attitudes and beliefs (Godshall, 2010). Majid, et al. 2011) found from their literature search that the general view on evidence based practice was positive. This could question whether Majid, et al. (2011) conducted a systematic review of the literature as at that place was no mention of any research which found that nurses found a negative view on evidence based practice (Houser,2008). The studies mentioned in the literature at were not conducted within the southeast of Asia therefore Majid, et al. (2011) wanted to investigate attitudes towards evidence based practice from the southeast of Asia.This gives justification for the study as there have only been studies conducted in North America, atomic weigh 63 and different developed western countries. Majid, et al. (2011) wanted to compare the guide from their study with the previous studies. Majid, et al. (2011) also discovered that most of the literature that was reviewed shared the same(p) findings on barriers to evidence based practice. The healthcare professionals claimed that lack of time was the barrier to acception, adoption and implementation of evidence based practice. Majid, et al. 2011) in asset recognise that only a few studies that they researched had explored the literature searching skills of nurses Literature reviews should be systematically y reviewed to ensure that the research reviews are reliable (Graziano and Raulin, 2007). Majid, et al. (2011) did not state whether the studies that were looked at were systematically or peer reviewed. Approach and methodology The study was a primary study however did look at survey instrument used by other previous evidence based practise studies. Majid, et al. (2011) used a quantitative method of res earch.Quantitative research methods require finding a variable for concepts, operationalising them in the study and touchstone them (Grix, 2010). Majid, et al. (2011) study did this by apply a survey questionnaire as a means of hoarding info. The questions were compiled by a team comprising information studies talent at the Nanyang Technological University and treat representatives from the National University hospital. Making the questionnaire unbiased towards the researchers. Marczyk, et al. (2005) states that it is crucial for all research to not be biased towards the researchers.Quantitative research methods are objective as it uses measurements and analysis of statistical data to answer the study question. The researchers opinions do not affect the outcome of the study, ensuring that the study is unbiased. Another avail is quantitative research uses numbers and statistics which is understood universally (Houser,2008). The researchers have distinctly described how they implemented their research in the methods section the study is slowly replicable as it uses a survey questionnaire to collect data.However the research study would have been better if they used qualitative methods to find out the nurses perceptions, knowledge and barriers towards evidence based practice in clinical decision making. Majid, et al. (2011) could have interviewed some of the participants to get detailed descriptions of how they feel about evidence based practice in clinical decision making. This would allow the researches to get an in- reconditeness understanding making the study more valid (Saris and Gallhofer, 2007).Quantitative research is scoop used for quantifying relationships amidst variables (Hopkins, 2008). The objective of the study was not to identify relationships between variables instead was to explore the attitudes, awareness and knowledge towards evidence based practice. many could argue that making this study more suitable for a qualitative study. Qu antitative research study should have a hypothesis (Maryann, 2010). Majid, et al. (2011), did not state a hypothesis for their study neither did they define a prediction of what they think was going to be the outcome of the research.Sample The samples used for the research conducted by Majid, et al. (2011) were registered nurses in 2 public hospitals in Singapore. The researchers made 2,100 copies of the questionnaires to be completed, however 1,486 were completed. The response rate was 70% ,for quantitative research a large sample sizing is essential to ensure that the study is statistically accurate (Houser, 2008). The fact that not all of the questionnaires were completed means that the study cannot be fully generalised as some people did not respond.Also some staff was on annual, medical or maternity give way therefore could not participate again making the study not generalised and potentially biased. Majid, et al. (2011) used two different hospital sites to collect data from this is a good approach as the views on rise based practice may be different in the two hospitals, therefore allowing for a comparison of the hospital views. However this could be a negative as only two public hospitals in Singapore were used, therefore making the study hard to generalise to other hospitals in Southeast Asia. all in all research must follow ethical guidelines. exploreers must ensure that their research ensures confidentiality, anonymity, legality and professionalism (Grix, 2011). Majid, et al. (2011) had ethical approval from the Domain Specific canvass Board, appointed by the National Healthcare Group. The researchers did not have agree forms for the participants however the participants were made aware that by completing the questionnaire they were giving their consent. The nursing managers were briefed and asked to hand the questionnaires out.There is no evidence that the participants were given a briefing from the nursing managers maybe it could have been m ore ethical if Majid, et al. (2011) briefed the nurses themselves before asking them to complete the questionnaire. As the questionnaire was self administered the respondents may not have got the reassurance or debrief needed ( Nosek, et al. 2002). Data collection Data collection must be separate, reliable and valid (Houser, 2008). Majit, et al. (2011) used a survey questionnaire. A 5-point liket descale was used in the questionnaires for collecting the nurses perceptions on evidence based practice.The prefers of using a likert scale are that the questions are blowzy to construct, furthermore the likert scale allows for easy comparison of the participants responses. The disadvantage of using a likert scale is the summation score of an individuals response does not have a clear meaning as a total score can be fixed by a alteration of answer patterns (Kothari, 2004). Survey questionnaires require the participants to answer questions presented to them. The questionnaire was self administered, which allows for anonymity and little control from the researcher (Mitchell and Jolley, 2012).The first set of questions were demographic questions which as education, occupancy title and length of experience. Majid, et al. (2011) used the results from the demographic information collected to identify a relationship between the demographic information and the faculty to go about evidence based practice activities and other related activities. Another advantage of the survey questionnaires are that a large sample group was targeted within a small space of time. The surveys were collected within a2-week period. Maybe if they waited 3-weeks they exponent have had a greater response rate.Lastly survey questionnaires are slowly replicable as the questions are standardised therefore making them a good method of research (Mitchell and Jolley, 2012). The disadvantages of using survey questionnaires for data collection includes respondents of are usually unreliable as the participants may not have time to complete the survey. Majid, et al. (2011) had a response rate of 70%. In addition research is also prone to the Hawthorne effect as the participants know that they are being tested, they may not answer the questions on the questionnaire truthfully (Waltz et al, 2010).This may mean the study To assess the nurses ability to search databases a supposed top was presented to the nurses, with 5 achievable search statements and were asked to choose the most appropriate search statement. The boldness of this method of measuring their ability to search a database could be questioned. Results The results are presented in table form making the data easy to analyse Majid, et al. (2011) seemed to make assumptions about the beliefs and attitudes towards evidence based practice. The result percentages are too close together.The results from the questions asked about beliefs and attitudes towards evidence based practice showed that 64. 3% of the nurses either d isagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement that they preferred using traditional methods than in the raw patient care approaches. Majid, et al. (2011) failed to account for the 35. 7% of respondents who didnt disagree or strongly disagree. Majid, et al. (2011) found that 52. 8% of the nurses disagreed with the statement that they do not like people questioning their clinical practices that are based on established methods.From this Majid et al concluded that the nurses were open to adopt new health care approaches. Majid, et al. (2011) again did not take into account the 47. 9% of respondents who did not disagree. Majid, et al. (2011) used a statistical test to investigate possible relationships between the ability to undertake evidence based practice activities and other related variables. Their findings were a weak relationship was found between the ability of nurses to implement evidence based practice and their length of experience.Nurses who had higher qualifications we re believably to have better abilities to undertake different evidence based practice tasks. Lastly nurses who attended evidence based practice training were presumable to feel more competent in their abilities to implement evidence based practice. Majid, et al. (2011) was able to determine these results using data collected from the questionnaires. . This supports the finding s of the other literature which was mentioned in the literature reviews. Reliability and grimness All research studies should have a high reliability and validity.Reliability is the ability to systematically measure what is being measured. Godshall (2010, p. 36) writes that Validity is the ability to measure what is supposed to or is intended to be measured. To ensure that the content of the questionnaire was valid Majid, et al. (2011) had the questionnaire reviewed by a team of experts. Majid, et al. (2011) used a large sample size of 1,486 making the study reliable as a large number size is important in ensuring that the research is reliable. However the responses from the questionnaire could not be truthful therefore making the study results unreliable.The results showed that 64% of the nurses expressed a positive attitude towards evidence based practice. 64% is not a large enough percentage to conclude the study.. Majid, et al. (2011) assessed the reliability and content validity of their questions using Cronbach alpha. Questionnaires in general have a low validity as the questions do not explore the topic in depth or detail. Majid et al, 2011 conducted a pilot study to test the survey questions. The feedback authorized showed that the participants wanted the language and the format of the questions changed.By conducting a pilot study this ensures that the study is reliable and valid. Conclusion and clinical implications The conclusions made from Majid et al, (2011) study were that nurses had a positive attitude towards evidence based practice. However they found adopting eviden ce based practice difficult due to barriers which effect adaptation of evidence based practice. Majid, et al . (2011) suggest that hospital management arrange evidence based practice training and providing time off from work to learn and deposit into practice new techniques.To summarise the study was a conducted well, the study is tardily replicable, although to further the study Majid, et al. (2011) should have considered using a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods. Majid,et al. 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