Navigating the Maze of Nursing Research , livre ebook

Navigating the Maze of Nursing Research
An Interactive Learning Adventure
Second Edition

Sally Borbasi, RN PhD
Professor of Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Griffith University, Queensland

Debra Jackson, RN PhD
Professorial Fellow, School of Nursing, College of Health and Science, University of Western Sydney, New South Wales

Rae W. Langford, EdD RN MS
Associate Professor, Texas Woman’s University College of Nursing, Houston, Texas
Mosby is an imprint of Elsevier
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National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Borbasi, Sally. Navigating the maze of nursing research : an interactive learning adventure. 2nd ed. Bibliography. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-7295-3828-2 (pbk.). Nursing - Research - Methodology. 2. Nursing - Research. Jackson, Debra. II. Langford, Rae. III. Title. 610.73072
Publisher: Luisa Cecotti
Developmental Editor: Elinor Heard
Publishing Services Manager: Helena Klijn
Editorial Coordinator: Eleanor Cant
Edited by Brigid James, Writers Reign
Proofread by Tim Learner
Design and typesetting by Modern Art Production
Index by Puddingburn
Printed by China Translation and Printing Services
Acknowledgments
As colleagues who have experienced much together in the evolution of nursing scholarship, we are proud to convey to you, our students and future nurses, an appreciation and understanding of nursing research in the exciting context of this interactive learning resource. We couldn’t have done it without the assistance of some very talented people and we’d like to acknowledge that. So we say a big thank you to our contributors for the excellent work they have put into their chapters, the peer reviewers for their thoughtful and helpful critique, our publisher, Debbie Lee, and developmental editor, Elinor Heard, for their support and encouragement, and finally to you, the reader. We salute you, for wanting to better understand what research can bring to your nursing practice. We wish you the very best for your future careers in the nursing profession, whether as researchers or consumers of nursing research.
Foreword
Research is a word that can evoke a range of responses in students and others, from anticipation and excitement through to fear and loathing. Regardless of these reactions it is undeniable that high-quality research and scholarship improves health outcomes for individuals, families and communities, and lays the foundation for evidence-based practice. To inform their practice, all care health care professionals need to understand the core principles of the research process, regardless whether they are active researchers or consumers of research findings. The initial reaction of students to the research process is often dependent on the clarity of information they receive and the inspiration and motivation instilled by their initial exposure to theoretical perspectives and methods.
Many of the misconceptions and fears expressed by students surrounding the research process emanate from confusion in terminology, heterogeneous research approaches and a failure to appreciate the relevance of research to everyday clinical practice. In Navigating the Maze 2e , Borbasi and Jackson and their contributors have built upon the book’s impressive first issue to compile a wealth of knowledge from experts that provides the reader with a road map for navigating the beginnings, processes and outcomes of research, particularly as these apply to the nursing profession. The authors of this wonderfully pragmatic text are to be congratulated on the clarity and relevance of this information to clinical practice. This text will be a practical resource for nursing students and their teachers to use to find their way through the labyrinth of research methods, which often appear as a complex and torturous process.
Becoming both an effective researcher and consumer of research is dependent on appreciating the unique aspects of nursing knowledge, exploring, validating and clarifying perspectives from existing knowledge, and planning strategies to engage in methodologically rigorous, conceptually congruent and ethical research processes. Regardless of whether research uses a quantitative, qualitative or mixed method approach, a range of accepted standards are expected to ensure methodological rigour. Navigating the Maze 2e provides the reader with an understanding of these principles and their relevance to clinical practice.
A key strength of this text is that it applies the principles of nursing research and scholarship to the real world . Nursing research more commonly takes place in complex social environments, rather than in rarefied laboratories. Developing an appreciation of the complex social, political, economic and regulatory factors impacting on research is equally as important as understanding data analysis methods. In addition, introspection and appreciating individual values and beliefs are important in engaging the research process. This text lays the foundations for applying a critical and reflective approach to research and appreciating the impact of these processes on care in both illness and health.
Globally, trends such as population ageing, the increasing burden of chronic conditions and rising health inequalities compel the development and implementation of innovative health solutions. Navigating the Maze 2e will prime a generation of nurses to meet these challenges as both active researchers and consumers of research findings.

Patricia M. Davidson, RN, ITC, BA, Med, PhD, FRCNA, Professor of Cardiovascular and Chronic Care, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Curtin University of Technology
From the authors

Sally Borbasi, Debra Jackson
Let us introduce ourselves. We are Sally Borbasi and Debra Jackson, both Registered Nurses, both long standing nursing academics, and both proud to be Professors of Nursing within our respective institutions. Although we have worked across different states in Australia our paths crossed at the University of Sydney way back in the early nineties when we were both emerging academics; still practicing and highly experienced specialist nurses, PhD students and mothers of young children!
We survived! And what is more, over the ensuing years we have had the pleasure of teaching research and evidence-based practice to nursing students at the baccalaureate, masters and doctoral levels. We have also worked to varying degrees with practising nurses to make research less mystifying and more readily applicable to clinical practice. We have experimented with a number of ways to more clearly distinguish and optimise learning experiences for students at various levels and to make research come alive for students and practitioners alike.
This learning package is in part a result of that experimentation stemming as it did from the original edition of Rae Langford’s book published first in the USA. In this new edition, we have further adapted Rae’s original work, and we have adapted our first Australian edition of this book by inviting contributions from a range of highly experienced leading nursing academics and scholars. Many of these contributors have been using the first Australian edition with their students and therefore have first-hand knowledge of how the book could be further developed and enhanced. They have produced a collection to inform, challenge and stimulate. As a result of their input, we believe we bring to you a body of work that is even better geared to making you, the student, understand and navigate the maze we call nursing research. We make it accessible!
Many of the games, puzzles and challenges included in this edition have been tested with undergraduate students, who have found them fun and challenging. Students have commented that this approach makes research seem more real and relevant, and helps them to feel more confident in reading and making sense of research articles. Academics have given us positive feedback, claiming that their students are increasingly discussing and applying research findings to clinical situations and classroom activities.
The goal of this book is to equip students and beginning researcher consumers with the skills to enable them to quickly find, critically read and readily identify possible uses for relevant clinical research. The book aims to introduce students to the research process and give them insight into how research is conducted and why. Importantly this book highlights that not all nurses will actually conduct or do research but that all nurses need to be able to utilise the findings from research in practice. In order to do this, clinicians need to understand the basic tenets of research and be able to critica