» By analyzing words, qualitative research focuses on the meanings individuals give to their
experiences. Quantitative research views the world as objective and focuses on obtaining
precise measurements that are later analyzed.
» Most research articles include an abstract, introduction, review of literature, theoretical
framework, and methods, results, and discussion sections, and they conclude with a list of
references.
» The cycle of scientific development involves theory, research, dissemination, and application.
Social and political factors are central to the cycle.
» The cycle of scientific development can be seen operating in each historical era.
» Social and political factors will continue to influence nursing research.
» For nurses to use EBP to improve patient care, they must be committed to being early
adopters of innovations.
» NDNQI is a national database that involves measurement and reporting of nursing-sensitive
outcomes.
» Four studies are recognized for their gross violation of human rights: Nazi medical experiments,
the Tuskegee study, the Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital study, and the Willowbrook studies.
A fifth study, known as the “red wine researcher,” involved falsification or fabrication of data.
Apply What You Have Learned
Sign into a nursing database for nursing literature (i.e., CINAHL, Nursing and Allied Health
Database, PubMed). For this chapter, you will need to obtain the following two articles:
» Chhapola, V., & Brar, R. (2015). Impact of an educational intervention on hand hygiene compli-
ance and infection rate in a developing country neonatal intensive care unit. International
Journal of Nursing Practice, 21, 486–492.» Salmon, S., & McLaws, M. (2015). Qualitative findings from focus group discussion on hand
hygiene compliance among healthcare workers in Vietnam. American Journal of Infection
Control, 43, 1086–1091.Identify the various sections of each of these articles. Look for similarities and differences
between the quantitative and qualitative articles. After you have done that, you may want to
share these articles with nurses during your next clinical experience and consider ways the
recommendations can be incorporated into practice.
1.5 Keeping It Ethical 37