Chapter 010revised Fall2015 Faculty

Understanding Research for
Evidence-Based Practice
Chapter 10: Background

and the Research Problem
Why Ask That QuestionWhat Do We
Already Know?
Revised by Lydia Greiner Fall 2015
Copyright 2012 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
Definition
A research problem is a knowledge gap
that warrants filling and can be
addressed through systematic study
Something we do not know
Something that has importance
Something that potentially can be
answered
Sources of research problems:

PRACTICE
Questions about our clients and their health
May be specific practice questions
Best technique for trach care?
May be broader contextual questions
What personal factors impact response to
analgesics?
Sources of research problems

(cont.):
THEORY = an abstract explanation
describing how different factors or
phenomena relate
Research may test one or more of the
relationships proposed in a theory
Research may serve as the basis for
development of a theory
Theoretical knowledge development

Inductive knowledge
Use observations and facts generated
through research to generate theory
Deductive knowledge
Proposing a theory regarding a
phenomenon of interest and seeking
observations and facts to support the
relationships proposed
Research, Theory, and Practice
From problem to purpose

The background and literature review
should provide a trail of thought that leads
us from the general research problem to
the more specific research purpose.

(cont.)
Three purposes for the background and
literature review
1. Provide context and rationale for the
problem
2. Define the problem
3. Summarize existing knowledge about
the problem
Providing the context

for a problem
The background section should give a
general description of the health
concern derived from theory or
practice.
The context for the problem often
establishes why we, as nurses, care
about it.
Background sections
Include reference to existing literature
about the problem such as scholarly
papers, research studies, or clinical
case studies
May include a description of the

theoretical basis for the problem
Application of theory to a problem

Theoretical framework = an
underlying structure that describes
how aspects of a problem interrelate
based on developed theories
Conceptual framework = underlying
structure made up of concepts and
indicating the relationships among the
concepts
REMEMBER
Theory, theoretical framework, and
conceptual framework are all terms
referring to something that
provides a description of proposed
relationships among abstract
components that are aspects of the
research problem.

After refining and establishing the context
we arrive at the RESEARCH PURPOSE.
Research purpose = a clear statement
of factors that are going to be studied
to shed knowledge on the research
problem
Example
Research problem = Low-birth-weight infants
Refinement = Maternal factors affecting birth weight

smoking
nutrition
age
Research purpose = to describe the nutritional
patterns of pregnant
adolescents
Other language used in reports

Specific aims
Research questions
Research objectives
All refer to a statement of the variables
related to the broad research question
that is to be studied.
From problem to purpose to

literature review
The literature review is a synthesis of
the literature that describes what is
known or has been studied regarding
the particular research purpose or
question.
The literature review

Is more than a simple listing of
relevant research
Includes a synthesis of what has been
done to provide a different or new
focus on the research problem
A literature review
Should provide current and up-to-date
knowledge about the variables to be
studied
Literature should be:
From primary sources = sources of
information as originally written
Why? Because secondary sources are
someone elses description and are more
prone to error in presentation
Question
Tell whether the following statement is True or False.
Primary sources include information from an article that is
the authors own work and ideas.
Answer
True
Primary sources are sources of information that are
originally written, whereas secondary sources are based
on interpretation or insights by another author.
A literature review
Should provide references from peerreviewed journals
Peer review = the information or
manuscript is read and critiqued by two or
more qualified peers of the researcher to
ensure the quality of
the work
From problem to purpose to

literature review to hypotheses
The hypothesis is a prediction
regarding relationships or effects of
selected variables.
Hypotheses are appropriate only in
quantitative methods.
Research problem to hypothesis
Types of hypotheses
Null hypothesis = a prediction of the absence of
a relationship or effect
H0: there will be NO relationship between
stress and sleep
Research hypothesis = a prediction of the
presence of a relationship or effect
H1: as stress increases, a patients sleep will
decrease
Types of hypotheses
Nondirectional hypothesis = a prediction
of a relationship without any prediction of
how that relationship will be related
i.e., there will be a relationship between
stress and sleep
Directional hypothesis = a prediction of a
relationship that includes the nature of that
relationship
i.e., as stress increases, a patients sleep
will decrease
Question
Which one of the following is a nondirectional hypothesis?
A. As height increases, weight will increase.
B. There is a relationship between health and well-being.
C. If income is low, poverty is high.
D. As spirituality decreases, healing decreases.
Answer
B. There is a relationship between health and well-being.
This nondirectional hypothesis relates two
concepts/variables of interest together without specifying
the direction of the relationship. A directional hypothesis
does specify the relationship.
What direction is the relationship?

Positive relationship
Stress
Anger
Negative relationship
Stress
Sleep
Literature review leads to

Support for the study design and
sample
What is known and has been
studied affects the type of design
we can use.
Who has been studied affects the
sample we will want to use.
What to look for in the background

and literature review
Context of the problem
Current theory and knowledge about
the problem
Current, peer-reviewed, primary
sources of information about the
variables to be studied
Support for the proposed research
design and sample
Questions?

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Understanding Research for

Chapter 10: Background

Sources of research problems:

Sources of research problems

Theoretical knowledge development

Research, Theory, and Practice

Copyright 2012 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

From problem to purpose

Copyright 2012 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

From problem to purpose

Providing the context

May include a description of the

Application of theory to a problem

From problem to purpose

Copyright 2012 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Refinement = Maternal factors affecting birth weight

Other language used in reports

From problem to purpose to

Copyright 2012 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

The literature review

Copyright 2012 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Copyright 2012 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Copyright 2012 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Copyright 2012 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

From problem to purpose to

Research problem to hypothesis

Copyright 2012 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Copyright 2012 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Copyright 2012 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

What direction is the relationship?

Literature review leads to

What to look for in the background

Copyright 2012 Wolters Kluwer Health | Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

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