DEVELOPING RESEARCH

QUESTIONS AND
HYPOTHESES
Chapter 3

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 Learning Outcomes
• Describe how the research question and hypothesis relate to the
other components of the research process.
• Describe the process of identifying and refining a research question.
• Identify the criteria for determining the significance of a research
question.
• Discuss the purpose of developing a clinical question.
• Identify the characteristics of research questions and hypotheses.
• Discuss the appropriate use of the purpose, aim, or objective of a
research study.
• Discuss how the purpose, research question, and hypothesis
suggest the level of evidence to be obtained from the findings of a
research study.

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 Learning Outcomes (cont’d)
• Describe the advantages and disadvantages of
directional and nondirectional hypotheses.
• Compare and contrast the use of statistical vs. research
hypotheses.
• Discuss the appropriate use of research questions vs.
hypotheses in a research study.
• Discuss the differences between a research question
and a clinical question in relation to evidence-based
practice.
• Identify the criteria used for critiquing a research
question and hypothesis.
• Apply the critiquing criteria to the evaluation of a
research question and hypothesis in a research report.

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 Research Question

• A concise, interrogative statement

written in the present tense and
including one or more
variables/concepts
• Research questions focus on:
– Describing variables
– Specifying the population being studied
– Examining testable relationships among
variables
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 Research Questions
Research questions should:
• Define specific question area
• Reflect a review of the literature
• Identify the potential significance to
nursing
• Reflect the feasibility of studying the
research question

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 Variables

• A variable is an attribute or property in

which organisms vary (people, events,
objects).

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 Variables—The X Factor
• Independent variable (IV)—the variable
that has the presumed effect on the
dependent variable (DV)
– It is manipulated or not manipulated

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 Variables—The Y Factor
• Dependent variable (DV)—the presumed
effect that varies with a change in the
independent variable (IV)
– Not manipulated

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 Variables—X and Y
• Is X related to Y?
• What is the effect of X on Y?
• How are X and X2 related to Y?

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 Definitions

• Conceptual definitions
• Operational definitions

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 Research Question Examples
• Do self-management educational interventions
improve lung function and decrease morbidity
and health care use in children and adolescents
with asthma? (Cochrane Database Systematic
Review, 2003)
• How do women with ovarian cancer experience
cancer recurrence? (Howell, Fitch, & Deane,
2003)

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 Research Question Examples
(cont’d)
• Do patients with head and neck cancer
who perceive active involvement in
treatment decision making have less
uncertainty about the future and a better
quality of life? (Suzuki, 2005)

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 Developing a Research Question:
A Consumer Perspective
• Search for information from practice is
converted into focused clinical questions.
• Used as a basis for searching the
literature to identify supporting evidence
from research.
• Significance of the question becomes
apparent as the literature is critiqued.

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 Framing a Clinical Question:
Three Key Elements:
2. The situation (patient, patient population)
3. The intervention
4. The outcome (effect of treatment/
intervention): Does it make a difference?

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 Clinical Question
Does the use of pain diaries in the palliative care
of patients with cancer lead to improved pain
control?
2. The situation (cancer patients receiving
palliative care)
3. The intervention (pain diaries)
4. The quality and cost-effectiveness outcome
(decreased pain perception/low cost)

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 Study Purpose
• Aim or goal the researcher hopes to
achieve
• Suggests the type of design to be used
• Implies the level of evidence to be
obtained (discover, explore, or describe
vs. compare, test the effectiveness of…)

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 Purpose Statement Examples
• The purpose of this study was to examine outcomes of
the existing brief psychiatric treatment program. (Tucker,
Moore, and Luedtke, 2000)
• The aim of this study was to describe the scientific basis
of the Polydipsia Screening Tool and evaluate its
scientific properties. (Reynold, Schmid & Broome, 2004)
• The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of
therapeutic back massage (TBM) to reduce stress in
spouses of patients with cancer. (Goodfellow, 2003)

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 Purpose Statement Examples
(cont’d)
• The purpose of this study was to determine whether
providing individualized information to men who were
newly diagnosed with prostate cancer and their partners
would lower their levels of psychological distress and
enable them to be more actively involved in treatment
decision making. (Davison et al., 2003)
• The purpose of this study was to evaluate the 2-year
postbirth infant health and maternal outcomes of an early
intervention program (EIP) of home visitation by public
health nurses (PHNs). (Koniak-Griffin, Verzemnieks,
Anderson, Brecht, Lesser, Kim, & Turner-Pluta, 2003)

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 Hypothesis
• Formal statement of the expected
relationship(s) between two or more
variables in a specified population that
suggests an answer to the research
question. Statement that predicts the
outcomes of a study

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 Wording the Hypothesis

• Variables to be tested
• Population to be studied
• Design to be used
• Outcomes predicted

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 Hypothesis
• Causal: Cause and effect vs. associative
• Simple: Relationship between 2 variables
• Complex: Relationship between 3 or more
variables

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 Hypothesis
• Directional: States which way the
relationship should exist
• Nondirectional: States the relationship
exists, but not the direction
• Null (Ho): Statistical hypothesis
• Research: Alternative hypothesis (H1 or Ha)

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 Feasibility
• Time
• Money
• Expertise
• Access to subjects
• Facilities and equipment
• Is it ethical?

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 Hypothesis Examples
1. There will be a difference in fatigue between two
groups of caregivers of preterm infants (i.e., on vs. not
on apnea monitors) during three time periods (i.e.,
prior to discharge, 1 week post-discharge, and 1
month post-discharge).
2. There will be a significant difference in menopausal hot
flashes between conditions of fasting and
experimentally sustained (130-140 mg/dl) blood
glucose concentrations.
3. There will be a positive relationship between phase-
specific telephone counseling and emotional
adjustment in women with breast cancer and their
partners.

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 Hypothesis Examples (cont’d)
1. There will be a greater decrease in stated anxiety
scores for patients receiving structured informational
videos prior to abdominal or chest tube removal than
for patients receiving standard information.
2. The incidence and degree of severity of subject
discomfort will be less after administration of
medications by the Z-track intramuscular injection
technique than after administration of medications by
the standard intramuscular injection technique.
3. Therapeutic back massage (TBM) will reduce the
effects of stress experienced by spouses of patients
with cancer as measured by a positive change in
mood, a decrease in perceived stress, heart rate, and
blood pressure at two post-intervention time points
compared to a control group of spouses of patients
with cancer.
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 Critical Thinking Decision Path:
Determining the Type of Hypothesis or
Readiness for Hypothesis Testing

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