SIGNIFICANCE OF THE

STUDY
 The significance of the study determines its
importance to the agency; to the nursing
service, to its administrators and staff; to
the nursing education, to the college, dean,
faculty members and students; to the
clients; to the community; and to nursing in
general.
 Example: This study may provide empirical
data to be used by hospital administrators
as basis for the formulation of guidelines,
organizational plans and evaluation
techniques, particularly in line with the
Department of Health’s Quality Assurance
 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE
STUDY
 Is the problem an important one?
 Will patients, nurses or the broader
health care community or society
benefit by the knowledge that will be
produced?
 Will the results lead to practical
applications?
 Will the results have theoretical
relevance?
 Will the findings challenge (or lend
support to) untested assumption?
 Will the study help to formulate or
alter nursing practices or policies?
 STATEMENT OF
PURPOSE
 Ina quantitative study a
statement of purpose should
identify the key study variables
and their possible
interrelationships as well as the
nature of the population of
interest.
 STATEMENT OF
PURPOSE
 Example (Quantitative Study): The
purpose of this research was to
investigate the effect of renal
transplant patients’ dependency
level on their rate of recovery. This
statement indicates the population
of interest (renal transplant
patients), the independent variable
(the patient’s dependency level),
and the dependent variable (rate of
recovery).
 STATEMENT OF
PURPOSE
 Inqualitative studies, the
statement of purpose indicates
the nature of inquiry, the key
concept or phenomenon under
investigation and the nature of
the group, community, or
setting under study.
 STATEMENT OF
PURPOSE
 Example (Qualitative Study): The
purpose of this study is to describe
the decision-making process of
adult children with regard to the
placement of elderly parents in
nursing homes.
 This statement indicates that the
central phenomenon of interest is
the decision-making process
relating to nursing home
placement, and the group under
study is adult children with parents
 STATEMENT OF
PURPOSE
 The statement of purpose
communicates more than just
the nature of the problem.
Through the researcher’s
selection of verbs, a statement of
purpose suggests the manner in
which the researcher seeks to
solve the problem or the state of
knowledge on the topic.
 STATEMENT OF
PURPOSE
 A study whose purpose is to explore
or describe some phenomenon is
likely to be an investigation of a little-
researched topic such a study often
involves a qualitative approach.
 A statement of purpose for a
qualitative study may also imply a
flexible design through the use of
verbs such as understand, discover
and develop.
 STATEMENT OF
PURPOSE
 A purpose statement indicating
that the purpose is to test the
effectiveness of some
intervention or to compare two
alternative nursing strategies
suggests a study with a better
established knowledge base,
using a quantitative approach
and perhaps a design with tight
scientific controls.
 STATEMENT OF
PURPOSE
 Note that the researcher’s choice
of verbs in a statement of
purpose should connote a certain
degree of objectivity. A
statement of purpose indicating
that the intent of the study was
to [prove, demonstrate or show]
something suggests a bias on
the part of the researcher.
 QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
 Qualitative research is a field of
inquiry that crosscuts disciplines and
subject matters. Qualitative
researchers aim to gather an in-depth
understanding of human behavior and
the reasons that govern such
behavior. The discipline investigates
the why and how of decision making,
not just what, where, when. Hence,
smaller but focused samples are more
often needed rather than large
random samples.
 QUANTITATIVE
RESEARCH
 Quantitative research is the
systematic scientific investigation of
quantitative properties and
phenomena and their relationships.
 The objective of quantitative research
is to develop and employ
mathematical models, theories and/or
hypotheses pertaining to natural
phenomena. The process of
measurement is central to
quantitative research because it
provides the fundamental connection
between empirical observation and
mathematical expression of
 QUANTITATIVE
RESEARCH
 EXAMPLES:
 Survey that concludes that the
average patient has to wait two hours
in the waiting room of a certain doctor
before being selected.
 An experiment in which group x was
given two tablets of Aspirin a day and
Group y was given two tablets of a
placebo a day where each participant
is randomly assigned to one or other
of the groups.
QUALITATIVE VS
QUANTITATIVE
 QUALITATIVE VS
QUANTITATIVE
 Quantitative and qualitative
methods can work well together.
For example, quantitative
methods can show, by before
and after tests, what change has
occurred; and, by surveys, how
generally and frequently it
occurred. Qualitative methods
can reveal in fine detail just how
change occurred in day-to-day
activities, negotiations and
DEFINITION OF TERMS
 To define terms, the researcher must
first look at his statement of purpose.
This will delineate the phenomena
about which information may be
sought, along with the subjects to be
studied and usually, the setting. The
statement of purpose identifies these
entities in general terms. By defining
the terms, however, each of them
becomes specific and pertinent to the
particular investigation.