NURSING RESEARCH - COMMUNICATION OF RESEARCH REPORT

1. COMMUNICATION OF RESEARCH
RESULTS
MRS.V.ELIZEBETH RANI,
READER,
VHS- MACCON

2. INTRODUCTION
• Communication of research findings is the final &
one of the most important steps of research
process.
• No study is complete until the findings have been
shared with others in a research report.
• Reporting research results contributes to the base
of evidence for nursing practice, and is a
professional responsibility.
• This chapter offers guidelines for helping
researchers to disseminate their research results.

3. RESEARCH COMMUNICATION
The communication of meaningful
researchfindings through various
strategies.
RESEARCH UTILIZATION
It is the process of tranferring
specific research based knowledge into
actual practice.

4. Effective communication of the research
report helps in the following ways:
• Promotion of learning of new knowledge
among professionals.
• Expansion of the base for the evidence –
based practices.
• Improving the health care outcomes or
client care outcomes by refining the
existing body of professional knowledge.

5. CRITERIA FOR COMMUNICATING
THE RESEARCH
1) Selecting proper channel for communicating:
• Student related outlets like term papers, theses,
and dissertations.
• Professional academician’s publication of
research articles in professional journal, books,
reports to funders, conference oral research
presentations.

6. 2). Knowing the audience
• Will the audience be nurses only, or will it include
professionals from other disciplines
• Will the audience be researchers or will it include
professionals from other disciplines
• Are clients(lay people) a possible audience?
• Will the audience include people whose native
language is not Tamil?
• Will reviewers, editors and readers be expert in
the field?

7. 3 ).Developing an effective plan for writing a
research report
a) Deciding on authorship
• When a study has been completed by a team or by several
colleagues, one critical part of the plan involves division of labor and
authorship.
b) Deciding about the content
• Researchers also have to decide how many papers are required to
communicate the findings of the research effectively, as sometimes
researchers collect a huge amount of data that cannot be
communicated in a single paper.
c) Careful selection of a journal for publication of a report:
• In selecting a journal for publication, some important factors must
be kept in mind, such as the journal’s goal, audience, its prestige,
acceptance & frequency of publication.

8. d) Preparing outline of report
• It is important that if there are multiple authors of a
report, each one has responsibility for different sections of
manuscript. The advantages of having an outline are that it
can be incorporated into a timeline that sets goals for
completing the manuscript.
• Assemble the material needed to begin a draft & finally
start preparing a report with outlined timeline.
e) Careful review of the author’s manuscript guidelines:
• Researchers need to be careful to review the journal
instructions to authors because each journal has its own
guidelines for submission of the manuscript. Most of the
journals limit the manuscript to 15 – 20 double- spaced typed
pages.

9. METHODS OF COMMUNICATION OF
RESEARCH
• Research results can be presented in various
venues and types of publication.
• Student related
- Term paper
- Theses
- Dissertation
• Professionals
- Journal articles
- Books
- Report to funders
- Conference presentation

10. • ORAL PRESENTATIONS (typically at professional conferences)
can be a formal talk in front of an audience. Most conferences
also give researchers the option of presenting findings in poster
sessions in which results are summarized on a poster.
• Advantages of oral presentations
– they typically can be done soon after study completion,
– Offer opportunities for dialogue among people interested in
the same topic.
• WRITTEN REPORTS can take the form of research journal
articles published in traditional professional journals, or in a
variety of new outlets on the Internet.
• Advantage of being available to a worldwide audience of
readers—an important consideration in thinking about how a study
can contribute to evidence- based nursing practice.

11. CHACTERISTIC OF A GOOD RESEARCH
REPORT
Clear
Concise:
Well
organized
Coherent,
No
abbreviation
Grammatically
correct
Reliable
Complete
comprehensive
Self
Explanatory
& Accurate
information

12. WRITING A RESEARCH
REPORT

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CONTENT OF RESEARCH REPORT
Quantitative research report
Qualitative research report should include following
information
- Why was the study done? (I)
- How was the study done? (M)
- What was learned? (R)
- What does it mean? (D)
This conventional format is referred as IMRAD format.

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INTRODUCTION
• This section should acquaint the reader with research
problem and its significance.
- Should cover description of the existing
literature (in brief)
- The study’s conceptual framework,
- The problem,
- Objectives,
- Hypothesis,
- Assumption (if any) and the rationale for doing
the study.
• But introduction should be concise, written in a funnel
shaped structure.

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• All the materials before the method section is
considered to be the introduction.
• The literature review should make clear what is already
known, and also gaps or deficiencies in that knowledge.
• This section should also include definitions of concepts
under investigation.
• Complete operational definitions are included only in the
method section.

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THE METHOD SECTION
• This section should provide detailed description of the
research methods that another researcher could replicate
the study.
• This section is subdivided into several parts, which helps
readers to locate vital information.
• Should begin with description of the research design and
its rationale
• It is important to identify steps taken to control the
research situation in general and confounding variables in
particular
• Should also address steps taken to protect the rights of
study participants

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The method section (contd..)
• Research design,
• Sample and setting,
• Data collection instruments,
• Procedures,
• Data analyses, etc.

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THE RESULT SECTION
• In quantitative study, the results of the statistical analyses are
summarized in a factual manner.
• If both descriptive and inferential statistics are used, the
descriptive statistics is to be presented first.
• Research results are then to be ordered interms of their
overall importance.
• Researcher must report all results as accurately and completely
as possible.
• Use table, with precise headings and titles to present
statistical information and to summarize them.

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•Use figures also to summarize results. Refer
table in the text while reporting the findings
in the table.
• Remember that the report should never
claim that the data as proved, verified,
confirmed or demonstrated and that
hypotheses were correct or incorrect.
• Only you can report that the hypotheses are
supported or unsupported, accepted or
rejected.

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THE DISCUSSION SECTION
• In this section the researcher interprets the findings in the
light of current status of knowledge on that topic.
• The focus of the discussion is on making sense of (and not
merely repeating) the results.
• Researcher should justify their interpretations, explicitly
stating why alternative explanations have been ruled out.
• If the findings conflict with those of earlier studies
tentative explanations should be offered.
• The implications derived from a study are often speculative
and therefore, should be couched in tentative terms. e.g.
suggest

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OTHER ASPECTS OF THE REPORT
1.Title
Every research report should have a title
indicating the nature of the study to prospective
reader.
Title should include – the dependent and
independent variables, study populations but
briefly
2. Abstract
Abstract has brief description of the problem,
methods and findings of the study. By reading the
abstract the reader can decide whether to read
the entire report on not

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3. Key words Title
Include 5-10 key words that will be used in
indexes to help others locate your study.
4. References
Each report is concluded with a list of
references cited in the text using prescribed
reference style (APA style, Vancouver style).
5. Acknowledgement
People who helped with the research but
whose contribution does not qualify them for
authorship are acknowledged in this section.

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THE STYLE OF RESEARCH REPORTS
In quantitative reports
- Personal pronouns such “I”, “my” and “we” are
often avoided
- Passive voice and impersonal pronouns are used
which suggest greater impartiality
- Avoid subjective statement, emotionally laden
statements or exaggeration
To avoid bias

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Qualitative reports
- Often written in the first
person and in an active voice
- Allows narration with rich
description, direct quotes and
insightful interpretation

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General
- Avoid jargons and highly technical terms.
- Use simple, concise and straightforward
sentences.
- Can add elegance to the report without
interfering with clarity and accuracy.
- Avoid grammar and spelling mistakes – report
should reflect scholarship.
- Organize the report – give attention to
organization within sections and sub sections.
Themes or ideas should not be introduced
abruptly or abandoned suddenly.
- Present methods and result section in the past
tense.

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Types of research reports
Thesis and dissertation
Front matter
- Title page
- Abstract
- Copyright page
- Approval page
- Acknowledgement page
- Table of content
- List of tables
- List of figures
- List of appendices

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Dissertation - Main body
- Chapter I – Introduction
- Chapter II – Review of the literature
- Chapter III – Methods
- Chapter IV - Analysis & Findings
- Chapter V - Discussion
- Chapter VI - Summary, conclusions, implications
and recommendations
- Supplementary pages – Bibliography, Appendix

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Chapter I – Introduction
• Background of the topic ( write this without giving side
heading)
• Need for the Study
• Statement of the problem
• Objectives of the study
• Hypothesis (if any) Eg. Pregnant women who receive
prenatal instruction are less likely to experience
postpartum depression than those with no prenatal
instruction
• Operational definitions
• Assumptions
• Delimitations
• Conceptual framework

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Chapter II Review of Literature
Chapter III Methodology
• Research Design - include schematic design
also.
• Setting - can include area map (if any)
• Population / sample
• Sampling Technique
• Criteria for sample selection
• Inclusion criteria
• Exclusion criteria
• Development of the Data collection
Instrument
• Description of Data collection Instrument
• Score Interpretation of instrument (if any)
• Validity

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• Description of the Intervention(if any)
• Pilot study
• Reliability
• Sample size calculation
• Data collection procedure
• Plan for Data Analysis
Chapter IV - Analysis & Findings
Chapter V - Discussion
Chapter VI - Summary, conclusions,
implications and recommendations

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Journal article
• Selecting a journal - Query letter
• Preparing the manuscript
• Submission of a manuscript – corresponding author
• Manuscript review – Independent anonymous peer
review
- Referred journal

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Electronic publication
• On line
• One web page
• Peer reviewed electronic journals (E-
journals)

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Presentation at professional conference
• Call for abstracts - 6 to 9 weeks
• 500 – 1000 words
• Time – 10 to 15 minutes
• Poster presentation

34. Plagiarism
Finally…Avoiding Plagiarism
• What is it?
– Among other things, plagiarism refers to taking
others’ work and representing it as if it were your own.
– In academics this is bad because with plagiarism:
• One cannot assess students’ development accurately
• The person who makes his or her livelihood by scholarly
pursuit is being robbed of credit
• It masks the lineage of ideas and facts.
“Plagiarism is to academics as Enron-accounting is to
corporate America.”

35. Finally…Avoiding Plagiarism
Lineage of Ideas:
– Original sources of research are all the
proof we have for some facts. Without
the “paper trail” of academic thought:
• People could pass incorrect ideas off as facts
• We would have to keep “re-proving” things.
• The contexts that generated facts and ideas
get lost.
• Research becomes highly inefficient as it
becomes incredibly difficult to find “full
information” on a topic.

36. Finally…Avoiding Plagiarism
– To avoid plagiarism:
1. Document every source for information that
is not “general knowledge”—this includes
facts and ideas.
2. Cite every time a fact or idea is used unless
it is clear that one citation is referring to a
group of facts or ideas.
3. If you quote material, put quotation marks
around the quoted stuff and include a page
number within the citation.
4. It is alright to paraphrase material, but you
still have to cite from where the paraphrased
material came.
5. When in doubt, cite the source.
Improper citing is grounds for failure on the

37. REFERENCES
• Polit, D.F., Beck, C.T ( 2011). Nursing
Research : principles and methods ( 7th ed.).
New delhi: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
• Sudha, R.(2017). Research & Biostatistics for
Nurses (1st ed.). New Delhi : Jaypee brothers
medical publishers.
• Sharma, S.K. (2017). Nursing Research and
Statistics ( 2nd ed.). India : Elsevier
Publication.