Research article questions and rationale

Vasopressin vs. Norepinephrine Infusion in Patients with Septic Shock

Understanding septic shock is critical to patient care because of the possible terminal outcomes. Additionally, septic shock is the most common cause of death of patients in intensive care units (ICUs). Russel et.al (2008) examines the relationship between the use of vasopressin and mortality in ICU patients. The research hypothesizes that low-dose vasopressin is more effective at reducing ICU mortality than norepinephrine. The study determined that vasopressin was not more effective than norepinephrine.

The data for this study was collected at the ratio level of measurement. The ratio level of measurement contains all the characteristics of the lower levels of measurement. Additionally, it provides a true zero point. For a true zero point zero actually means none of the drug. Consequently, it would not be possible to improve the level of measurement for the study. The drug was measured in micrograms per minute. The nature of the phenomenon directed the level of measurement of the study. The research question invited the comparison between different doses of drugs.

The criteria established for the study provided the possibility of creating type II errors. Type two errors occur when the researcher fails to reject a true null. This is highly possible because of the interaction of the variant conditions producing an environment where the drug has a small effect but it is not discernable. Since two groups were being compared where the medical conditions were the same and there was no control group, this error is a possibility.

The study used simple random sample of patients. The participants for the study were drawn from 27 different institutions based on their medical conditions. These persons were later separated randomly into two different groups, each group receiving a different treatment condition. The type of sampling ensures that bias is eliminated from the study because any systematized error is eliminated. This ensures that the results of the study could be considered to be valid and containing known error.

Probability sampling methods utilize randomization in the selection of the sample elements. With a probability sampling method the researcher is aware of the probability of each member of the sample being chosen. In essence each member has the same probability of selection. There are times however where sampling is done without replacement and while each member does not have the same probability the difference is negligible so that it does not influence the study negatively. When a researcher uses non-probability sampling methods the researcher is unaware of the chance of selection of each member of the sample. Consequently the researcher is unable to determine the quantum of error within the sample to expect by chance.