NUR 3050 Research Methodologies and Evidence-Based Practice
Activities and Assignments
Assignment Criteria:
Develop a scholarly paper that addresses the following criteria:
Identify an area of clinical interest.Locate a minimum of one peer-reviewed journal article (no older than 5 years) related to your clinical topic of interest. Do not
use a meta-analysis or systematic review.Critique the journal article, fully answering the questions in the table below.The scholarly paper should be in narrative format, 4 to 5 pages excluding the title and reference page.Include an introductory paragraph, purpose statement, and a conclusion.Include level 1 and 2 headings to organize the paper.Write the paper in third person, not first person (meaning do not use ‘we’ or ‘T’) and in a scholarly manner. To clarify: I, we,
you, me, our may not be used. In addition, describing yourself as the researcher or the author should not be used.Include a minimum of one professional peer-reviewed scholarly journal references to support the paper and a second
benchmark peer reviewed source (may be textbook or other journal article) and be less than five (5) years old.APA format is required (attention to spelling/grammar, a title page, a reference page, and in-text citations).Submit the assignment to Turnitin prior to the final submission, review the originality report, and make any needed changesSubmit by the posted due date.Format the critique paper using the IMRaD format with level 1 and level 2 headings as designated in the grid below:
Introduction to the paper with purpose statement
Level 1 Heading
Level 2 Headings Content questions to address with quality benchmark citations
Introduction
Research
Problems
What is the research problem?
Does the problem build a persuasive argument for the new study?
Is the problem statement easy to locate?
What are the research questions and hypothesis?
Do the hypothesis state a predicted relationship between two or more variables?
Methods
Research
Questions and
Hypotheses
Ethical Aspects of Was the study approved and monitored by an Institutional Review Board, Research
a Study
Ethics Board or similar committee?
Were appropriate informed consent procedures used with all participants?
Research Design
Was the design experimental, quasi-experimental, or non-experimental?
5.2.19 TDO
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Was the study longitudinal or cross-sectional? What are the threats to the studies
internal validity?
Sampling
What type of sampling design was used?
Are possible sample biases or weaknesses identified?
Data Collection
What methods of data collection were utilized (Self-reports, Scales, Observation, and
Rating Scales)? If self-report methods were used, did the researchers make good
decisions about specific methods (in-person interviews, mailed questionnaires, etc.)?
If observational methods were used, did the report adequately describe what the
observations entailed?
Results
Statistical
Analysis
Identify the type of analyses undertaken to address each research question or test each
hypothesis.
Were appropriate statistical methods used, given the level of measurement of the
variables, number of groups being compared, and so on?
Results
How are important results presented?
Do the authors make causal or correlational inferences? Are the inferences justified
based on the study design and the results?
Discussion
Findings
What limitations do the authors discuss? What other limitations that may affect internal
validity do you find in the study?
Are the findings the authors present directly related to the results from the data in the
study?
Clinical Practice
Did the researchers discuss the study’s implications for clinical practice or future
research and if so, were the implications grounded in the study evidence, and in
evidence from earlier research?
Summarize the overall quality of the critiqued paper according to the benchmark quality sources cited
