Articles and Papers
This page provides links to papers and articles which were too large to blog, did not fully qualify as blog material, or would have lost the essence of the content had it been broken into several blogs. The papers and articles are broken up into groupings to make searching for specific material easier. Along with the groupings, each paper or article has a brief synopsis of what the material is about. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to contact me using the contacts link at the bottom of the page; the email icon. As usual, if you cite any content on any of the pages of www.feelgoodnurse.org please give proper credit for using my work: Francella Smoker, Ph.D., RN.
Category: Nurse Educator
The Nurse Educator: Sculpturing the Future
Short description: This paper examines situations in a hypothetical surgical unit and how nurse educators can break down barriers and pave the way to implement programs which focus on the needs of patients, staff, and the organization; and, facilitate changes for redefining processes and improving systems for a better workflow.
Category: Hypothetical
MiNurse: The Future
Short description: America spends more than $2 trillion annually on healthcare and, despite spending more on healthcare than any other nation, the United States only ranks 43rd in the world in life expectancy. What if we could reduce costs while improving patient care and reduce workload through technology that mostly exists today?
Introduction to Case Study Research
Merriam defined a case study as “an in-depth description and analysis of a bounded system” (Merriam, 2009, p. 40). According to Merriam (2009) a case study investigates modern phenomenon with real-life contexts, especially when the boundary between a phenomenon and context are blurred. The case study approach is best utilized when a holistic, in-depth investigation is needed and when how and why questions must be answered.
An ethnographic study is one that focuses on human society and culture. The product of ethnographic research usually is a rich and holistic description of the culture under study (Polit & Beck, 2004). Cultural background serves as an essential component as the knowledge people have acquired structures their worldview and behavior. This means much of what we believe, think, and do; both consciously and unconsciously is determined by a person’s cultural background (Spector, 2009). Participant observation is based on living among the people under study for a lengthy period, usually a year, and gathering data through continuous involvement in their lives and activities.
Category: Article & Study Reviews
Peer-Reviewed Journal Article Critique
Short description: Critiqued article by Yost (2006) which reported a qualitative research study of enhancing the retention of qualified teachers. The four sections follow Merriam and Associates (2002) template for assessing the quality of qualitative research. In the final section, I provided my overall evaluation rating of the article’s quality along with a justification for that rating and a discussion of three indicators of quality drawn from Merten’s (2010) questions for critically analyzing qualitative research.
Critically Appraising Quantitative Studies
Every researcher has a responsibility to protect the participants in an investigation. As part of their investigation researchers ask specific questions then use their intuition, curiosity, training, and statistics to answer the research question. Good scientists do not simply make decisions; instead, they use tools to determine the best course of action to make informed decisions. This paper will identify a research article, use a decision tree to map three decision points that informed the data collection process, and focus on the feasibility and ethical dimension of the study.
Applying The Principles Of Quantitative Data Collection
I can identify with novice researchers or scholarly consumers of quantitative research literature who are learning to recognized and interpret quantitative research studies. Learning the language of quantitative research for some is like learning a new language. Staying committed to learning by all means necessary for successfully obtaining that understanding that you seek is a pearl in your lifelong learning toolbox.
The Basic Design Qualitative Study
Quantitative and qualitative research methods differ in their investigative objectives, types of questions they pose, types of data collection instruments they use, the forms of data they produce, and the degree of flexibility built into the study designs.
Introduction to Grounded Theory Designs
According to Creswell (2009), grounded theory is a qualitative strategy in which the researcher can extract a general theory from the processes, actions, and interactions of participants in a study that is grounded in the participant’s point of view. What differentiates grounded theory from other types of qualitative research is its focus on building theory. The goal of the grounded theory approach is to generate a comprehensive explanation of phenomena that are grounded in reality. A procedure referred to as constant comparative is used to develop and refine theoretically relevant categories (Merriam, 2009). In other words, grounded theory suggests that theory emerges inductively from data.
Introduction to Phenomenological Research Designs
Phenomenology is a study of people’s conscious experience of their life world, that is, the lived experience that gives meaning to each person’s perception of a particular phenomenon (Polit & Beck, 2004). The goal of the phenomenological inquiry is to fully describe lived experience and to depict the essence or basic structure of the experience (Merriam, 2009). In order to get to the essence of the basic underlying structure of the experience in a phenomenological study, the main data source is in-depth conversations, with researchers and informants as full coparticipants. Through this in-depth conversation, the researcher tries to gain entrance into the participant’s world to have full access to their experience as lived (Polit & Beck, 2004).