Workshop on research writing for student nurses

1. WORKSHOP
ON
Demystifying Research Writing
Among Student Nurses
BALOGU KENNETH EZENWO

2. Content:
• DATA
• VARIABLES: WHAT ARE THEY?
DEPENDENT VARIABLES
INDEPENDENT VARIABLES
EXTRANEOUS VARIABLES
DELIMITATION
LIMITATION
HYPOTHESIS

3. Data (Statistics)
 Facts or figures to be processed; evidence, records, etc. from which
conclusions can be inferred; information.
 Data is a collection of facts, such as numbers, words, measurements,
observations or just descriptions of things.
 data are the outcomes or the observations which occur in scientific
experiments or an investigation.
 data is a collection of values that convey information, describing
quantity, quality, fact, etc.
 data is any set of characters that is gathered and translated for some
purpose, usually analysis.

4. What is Data Collection?
 Data collection is the procedure of collecting, measuring and
analyzing accurate insights for research using standard validated
techniques.
 A researcher can evaluate their hypothesis on the basis of
collected data. In most cases, data collection is the primary and
most important step for research, irrespective of the field of
research.
 The approach of data collection is different for different fields of
study, depending on the required information.

5. Data Collection Methods
 There are many ways to collect information when doing
research.
 The data collection methods that the researcher chooses
will depend on the research question posed.
 Some data collection methods include surveys, interviews,
tests, physiological evaluations, observations, reviews of
existing records, and biological samples.

6.  In research, variables are any characteristics that can take on
different values, number, or quantity that can be measured or
counted.
A variable may also be called a data item, such as Age, sex,
temperature, or test scores.
Height of patient, weight of patient, eye color are also examples of
variables.
It is called a variable because the value may vary between data units
in a population, and may change in value over time.
WHAT ARE VARIABLES

8. Independent Variable
An independent variable is the variable you manipulate or vary in
an experimental study to explore its effects. It’s called
“independent” because it’s not influenced by any other variables
in the study.
There are two main types of independent variables.
Experimental independent variables can be directly manipulated
by researchers.
Subject variables cannot be manipulated by researchers, but they
can be used to group research subjects categorically.

9. Dependent Variables
A dependent variable is the variable that changes as a
result of the independent variable manipulation.
It’s the outcome you’re interested in measuring, and
it “depends” on your independent variable.
In statistics, dependent variables are also called:
Response variables (they respond to a change in
another variable)

10. Independent and dependent variables in research

12.  Recognizing independent variables
Use this list of questions to check whether you’re dealing with an
independent variable:
Is the variable manipulated, controlled, or used as a subject
grouping method by the researcher?
Does this variable come before the other variable in time?
Is the researcher trying to understand whether or how this
variable affects another variable?
 Recognizing dependent variables
 Check whether you’re dealing with a dependent variable:
 Is this variable measured as an outcome of the study?
 Is this variable dependent on another variable in the study?
 Does this variable get measured only after other variables are
altered?

13.  The type of test is determined by:
your variable types
level of measurement
number of independent variable levels.
You’ll often use t tests or ANOVAs to analyze your data and
answer your research questions.
For experimental data, you analyze your results by generating descriptive
statistics and visualizing your findings.
Then, you select an appropriate statistical test to test your hypothesis

14. Visualizing independent and dependent
variables
In quantitative research, it’s good practice to use charts or graphs to
visualize the results of studies. Generally, the independent variable
goes on the x-axis (horizontal) and the dependent variable on the y-
axis (vertical).
The type of visualization you use depends on the variable types in
your research questions:
A bar chart is ideal when you have a categorical independent
variable.
A scatter plot or line graph is best when your independent and
dependent variables are both quantitative.

15. Example: Results visualization
 You collect data on blood pressure before and after treatment for
all participants over a period of 2 months.
 To inspect your data, you place your independent variable of
treatment level on the x-axis and the dependent variable of blood
pressure on the y-axis.
 You plot bars for each treatment group before and after the
treatment to show the difference in blood pressure.
 Based on your results, you note that the placebo and low-dose
groups show little difference in blood pressure, while the high-
dose group sees substantial improvements.

17. Extraneous Variables
In an experiment, an Extraneous variable is any variable that
you’re not investigating that can potentially affect the outcomes
of your research study.
If left uncontrolled, extraneous variables can lead to inaccurate
conclusions about the relationship between independent and
dependent variables.
They can also introduce a variety of research biases to your work,
particularly selection bias

19. Why do Extraneous variables matter?
 Extraneous variables can threaten the internal validity of your study by providing
alternative explanations for your results.
 When not accounted for, this type of variable can also introduce many biases to
your research, particularly types of selection bias such as:
 Sampling bias or ascertainment bias: when some members of the intended
population are less likely to be included than others.
 Attrition bias: when participants who drop out of a study
are systematically different from those who stay.
 Survivorship bias : when researchers draw conclusions by only focusing on
examples of successful individuals (the “survivors”) rather than the group as a
whole.
 Nonresponse bias: when people who don’t respond to a survey are different in
significant ways from those who do.
 Undercoverage bias: when some members of your population are not
represented in the sample.

20. What are delimitations in a research
paper?
We cannot talk about delimitations without emphasis on
scope (limitations)
Simply put, the scope is the domain of your research. It
describes the extent to which the research question will be
explored in your study.

21. Scope example
Your research question can be, “What is the impact of bullying on
the mental health of adolescents?”
The scope, for example, could encompass:
Variables: “bullying”, “mental health” and ways of defining or
measuring them
Bullying type: Both face-to-face and cyberbullying
Target population: Adolescents aged 12–17
Geographical coverage: Abia state or only one specific town in Abia
(Aba)

22. What is Delimitation
Delimitations are those factors or aspects of the research
area that you’ll exclude from your research. The scope and
delimitations of the study are intimately linked.
The delimitations explain what was (intentionally) not
considered within the given piece of research.

23. DELIMITATION (CONTD)
We can see that every choice you make in planning and conducting
your research inevitably excludes other possible options.
The limitations (scope) of a study are its flaws or shortcomings
which could be the result of unavailability of resources, small
sample size, flawed methodology, etc.
No study is completely flawless or inclusive of all possible aspects.
Therefore, listing the limitations of your study reflects honesty and
transparency and also shows that you have a complete
understanding.
Generally speaking, the limitations are added in the Discussion
section, just before the concluding paragraph

24. Delimitations Example
Look back at the previous example.
Exploring the adverse effects of bullying on adolescents’ mental
health is a preliminary delimitation. Delimiting factors could
include:
Timeframe: Data collection to run for 3 months
Population size: 100 survey participants; 15 interviewees
Recruitment of participants: Quota sampling (aiming for specific
portions of men, women, ethnic minority students etc.)

25. HYPOTHESIS
 What is a hypothesis? A hypothesis states your predictions about
what your research will find.
 It is a tentative answer to your research question that has not yet
been tested.
 For some research projects, you might have to write several
hypotheses that address different aspects of your research question.
 A hypothesis is not just a guess – it should be based on existing
theories and knowledge.
 It also has to be testable, which means you can support or refute it
through scientific research methods (such as
experiments, observations and statistical analysis of data).

26. Developing a Hypothesis (Example)
Step 1. Ask a question
Writing a hypothesis that begins with a research question that you want to
answer. The question should be focused, specific, and researchable within the
constraints of your project.
Example: Research question: Do students who attend more lectures get better
exam results?
Step 2. Do some preliminary research
Your initial answer to the question should be based on what is already known
about the topic. Look for theories and previous studies to help you form
educated assumptions about what your research will find (hypothesis).
This can also help you identify which variables you will study and what you
think the relationships are between them.

27. Write a null hypothesis
If your research involves statistical hypothesis testing, you will also
have to write a null hypothesis.
The null hypothesis is the default position that there is no
association between the variables.
The null hypothesis is written as H0, while the alternative
hypothesis is H1 or Ha.

29. MORE ON
HYPOTHESIS
(NEXT CLASS)

30. THANK
YOU!