Dispel the Notion That Many Students Have

¶ … dispel the notion that many students have concerning research. That particular notion is that research can answer all questions. This particular paper attempts to clarify what types of questions research is able to address and when research is useful in healthcare (Beya & Nicoll, 1998, p. 1044). There really is no formal introduction in the paper. Instead, this is a conceptual review article and does not follow the formal format of a research study.

The paper covers several considerations that should be made in deciding whether particular question is amenable to a research study and then discusses how a research study should be approached. There are no formal methodology or results sections in this paper. This paper is a conceptual paper describing the limitations of research studies and how good research studies should be constructed.

The part of the paper that best resembles a methodology has to do with the authors' recommendations regarding what should qualify as a researchable topic and how to approach developing a research study. The authors first note that research is not conducted in order to "prove" some particular point or hypothesis but that research is designed to answer specific questions. For instance, Beya and Nicoll (1998) note that a question like "should physician assistant suicide be legal" is not the type of question that could be addressed by empirical research (p. 1044).

Instead they offer the reader a series of questions to consider before deciding whether a particular issue or problem is amenable to a research study. Such questions can be helpful to potential researcher in deciding whether or not to formally address an issue with a research study. The next issue the authors discuss is the consideration of ethics in research and whether or not a particular research study is ethical. Here the authors use the example of a randomized controlled study attempting to demonstrate that smoking causes cancer.

Such a study would not be considered ethical using human participants (Beya & Nicoll, 1998). Practicality in designing research to answer particular questions is the next issue the authors address. The authors offer a list of considerations such as does the researcher have the time to perform the research are the right participants available etc. For potential researchers to consider before deciding whether their question should be investigated with the research study and whether (Beya & Nicoll, 1998, p. 1045).

The authors then discuss issues with gathering participants, making sure that participants are given informed consent, if the potential participants are right for the particular research question involved, and the site that the research will be conducted on is appropriate.

Finally, the authors discuss whether a particular question can feasibly be answered with a research study and offer suggestions as to how to determine that such as "Are the right subjects available?" Or "Can the researcher exert enough control in the study conditions in order to answer the question of interest?" (Beya & Nicoll, 1998, p. 1045). If these considerations are not met then the proposed question may not be appropriate for research study.

Other considerations include statistical consideration such as the statistical power needed to find a significant result, the costs associated with the proposed project, and alternative ways to answer the question. Research questions are often quantitative in nature and many questions did not lend themselves to quantitative measurements (Beya & Nicoll, 1998, p. 1045-1046).

Discussion/Conclusions There is no formal discussion section, but affect the entire paper is a discussion of the practicality of research in specific instances and when students should consider using research and type of questions/qualifications the need to be met in order to use research to answer particular questions. Beya and Nicoll (1998) state that for some issues, such as the notion that hospital -- laundered surgical attire is the most appropriate higher for reducing infection in the hospital, are not answer my research but instead by sound scientific principles.

There are no research studies that the authors know of to support this notion; however, it is a universal practice in hospitals. There are many important questions that can be answered by research and many that cannot. Personal Reaction I found the paper interesting and generally agree with the assumptions and conclusions of the authors. However, the authors lose a lot of credibility in the very beginning of the paper when they discuss the notion of proof. There correct in assuming that.