Nurse Research Decision Theory Describes the Rules

Nurse Research

Decision theory describes the rules and standards that are used to make some specific form of decision or judgment. With respect to data analysis, decision theory describes the rules and procedures that should be used to interpret the results of the findings in the data. Such rules include hypothesis testing, qualitative data interpretation, and other types of inferential procedures. Probability theory is used in quantitative data analysis and provides the basis for interpretation of data using statistical procedures. Probability theory relates to the understanding of how frequent a particular result or observation is as well as how often the result could occur by chance alone. Probability theory is very important in determining the relevance of any findings; in particular if the findings are significant (meaningful) or if the results are more likely due to chance or random effects. Inference is the process of taking the data and deducing what the relationships between the descriptive statistics (see below) actually mean in quantitative data analyses or identifying themes and processes in qualitative analysis. Generalization describes the ability to extend these inferences beyond the current sample to a broader relevant group or population. Inferences are made on the basis of how the data is analyzed or interpreted (the statistics or methods used), whereas generalizations are made with respect to how the data is collected (what type of sampling method was used).

Descriptive statistics simply provide simple numerical summarizations of the many observations in the data. The mean, median, and mode are descriptive statistics and are all measures of central tendency. Central tendency describes the trend for the majority scores or observations in a data set to bunch around the middle values of the distribution. The mode represents the most frequently occurring score or value in the data. A given distribution of data can have more than one mode. The median represents the one observation or score in the data that cuts the distribution in half (the 50th percentile); 50% of the scores lie above and below the median, whereas the mean is the arithmetical average of all the values in the data. In a normal distribution the values of the mean, mode, and median are the same; in non-normal distributions these values will differ. The standard deviation is a measure of dispersion of a measure of how far the scores in the distribution are spread out. The standard deviation represents the average amount of variability or spread scores are from the mean of the distribution. The larger the standard deviation the greater the scores in the distribution are spread around the mean (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994).

Nurses often play important roles in making sure that confidentiality and other research participant rights are maintained during research protocols. The nature of medical research often deals with private and sensitive issues. Therefore nurses, who often engage in the data collection and recording that will later go into the data analysis, must first assure that the confidentiality of the participants is maintained throughout the process by maintaining a thorough and efficient coding system. Nurses must record data efficiently and properly while at the same time protect the patient's rights of privacy. Secondly, the integrity research protocols that utilize treatment and placebo conditions must be maintained by the nurse, who even in the case of double-blind conditions will often be aware of which group a participant falls in. Third, nurses may often have to notify researchers in cases where participants may want to withdraw from a protocol or in cases where a participant in a research condition is at risk for harm. Nurses need to be vigilant to the participants' standing and reactions to any potentially harmful situations such as the effects of a new medication, the risks of being in a placebo condition, and any adverse effects of participation that are occurring on the subject (LoBiondo-Wood & Haber, 2006). Nurse researchers' major ethical considerations in these situations are informed consent (participants are informed of all benefits and risks of participation and give their consent before they participate), patient confidentiality, patient safety, and the patient's right to withdraw from the research protocol at any time and for any reason without fear of sanction by the researcher (LoBiondo-Wood & Haber, 2006).

There are several methods that allow nurse researchers to collect data. Sampling methods will vary depending on the nature of the research. Random samples are most often preferred; however, many research samples are often convenience-based (that is they are taken from a clinic or a specific hospital population) and are not random, whereas community-based samples may have a random sampling approach. For purposes of control samples can often be stratified by demographic variables such as age, gender, education, etc. If these variables are believed to have a moderating effect on the outcome of interest (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994).