When examining nursing research problems and its examples, understanding what constitutes a valid research question is essential. A nursing research topic differs from a general healthcare concern by presenting a specific, investigatable problem that can contribute to evidence-based practice. For nursing students to choose appropriate research topics, they must first understand these fundamental elements.
How to Identify a Research Problems?
Identifying a research problems involves several steps:
Clinical Observations: Nurses can identify problems based on recurring challenges or inefficiencies experienced in their daily practice.
Literature Review: Thorough reviews can reveal gaps in existing research or highlight inconsistencies that need further exploration.
Stakeholder Input: Engaging with patients, families, and other healthcare professionals can uncover areas needing improvement.
Theoretical Frameworks: Applying theories can help identify underlying issues that have not been adequately addressed.
Common Research Problems
1. Methodological Problems
- Poor Research Design
- Inadequate control groups, lack of randomization, or inappropriate sampling methods.
- Measurement Errors
- Using unreliable or non-validated tools.
- Small Sample Sizes
- Limits statistical power and generalizability.
- Bias
- Selection bias, recall bias, and observer bias affecting results.
2. Ethical Challenges
- Informed Consent Issues
- Difficulty ensuring participants fully understand risks and rights.
- Confidentiality Risks
- Handling sensitive patient or community data.
- Vulnerable Populations
- Extra care needed when researching with children, elderly, or marginalized groups.
3. Practical & Resource Constraints
- Limited Funding
- Restricts the scope and quality of research projects.
- Time Constraints
- Clinicians balancing research with heavy patient care workloads.
- Access to Participants
- Difficulty recruiting or retaining participants in longitudinal studies.
4. Data Management Issues
- Incomplete Data
- Missing responses or dropout in follow-up phases.
- Data Analysis Skills
- Researchers may lack statistical expertise.
- Technology Limitations
- Inadequate data collection software or analytical tools.
5. Contextual & Cultural Barriers
- Cultural Sensitivity
- Inappropriate framing of questions for certain populations.
- Language Barriers
- Misinterpretation or mistranslation of research tools.
- Policy & System Barriers
- Institutional restrictions and bureaucratic delays.
6. Interdisciplinary Research Challenges
- Coordination Difficulties
- Different disciplines may have conflicting priorities or terminology.
- Integration of Findings
- Synthesizing results from diverse methodologies is complex.
7. Application of Findings
- Research-to-Practice Gap
- Difficulty translating findings into clinical guidelines or policies.
- Resistance to Change
- Practitioners or institutions may resist adopting new evidence-based practices.
How to Solve Research Problems
- Handling multiple variables: Most of the research studies in the field of nursing and health and social sciences usually focus on the measurements of multiple variables in a single attempt. This attempt of handling multiple data in a single instance not only causes data collection, analysis and interpretation of nursing problems but also needs lots of time, energy and money to handle these multiple non-numerical data.
- Difficulty in control on external variables: Research in nursing, health and social sciences is usually conducted in natural settings. Therefore, it becomes very difficult to exert control over external variables while measuring the effect of independent yariable on dependent variable. For instance, a researcher wants to assess the efficacy of an antibiotic in treatment of an infection where patient’s biochemical parameters, diet, lifestyle, consumption of other drugs, etc., are the external variables, which are ethically difficult to control.
- Minimal possibility of laboratory research: Research in nursing, health and social sciences usually deals with phenomena related to humans, where ethically as well as practically it becomes very difficult to conduct research studies in the laboratory. Most of the researches in these disciplines are conducted outside the laboratory, in natural settings.
- Lack of standardized tools: Research in nursing, health and social sciences deals with natural phenomena where valid and reliable standardized tools are needed to generate empirical evidence. However, it is evident that there is significant lack of valid and reliable tools to measure variables in nursing, health and social science disciplines.
- Measuring qualitative phenomenon through quantitative means: It is usually observed that several phenomena in the field of nursing, health and social sciences are qualitative in nature. However, it can be commonly seen that these disciplines usually measure these qualitative phenomena by using quantitative means where effectiveness of evidence get distorted. It is assumed that this usually happens because of the superficial knowledge of qualitative research among professionals of nursing, health and social sciences.
- Lack of interest among researchers: It is generally observed hat people inthe field of nursing , health and social sciences conduct research studies only for specific purposes, such as a partial fulfilment of a particular degree or due to a specific compulsion as part of their job. However, it is generally observed that professionals in the field of nursing, health and social sciences experience lack of interest because of several reasons, like lack of government funding, research training and motivation.
- Ethical constraints: Research studies in nursing, health and social sciences deal with human beings wherem safeguarding their rights become an important issue. Moreover, several problems cannot be studied only because of ethical constraints.
- Lack of qualitative research expertise: Qualitative research methods_ are considered to be best to study phenomena in the field of nursing, health and social sciences, but there is a significant dearth of experts equipped with the knowledge of qualitative research.
REFERENCES
- Al Maqbali, M. (2024). Introduction to Nursing Research. In: Essential Research for Evidence-Based Practice in Nursing Care. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-78298-5_1
- Suresh Sharma, Nursing Research & Statistics, 4th Edition – December 27, 2022, Elsevier India Pulblishers, ISBN: 9788131264478
- Pearson, nursing Research and Statistics, Nursing Research Society of India, 2013 Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd, ISBN 9788131775707
- Kreuter MW, Thompson T, McQueen A, Garg R. Addressing Social Needs in Health Care Settings: Evidence, Challenges, and Opportunities for Public Health. Annu Rev Public Health. 2021 Apr 1;42:329-344. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8240195/
- Barría P RM. Use of Research in the Nursing Practice: from Statistical Significance to Clinical Significance. Invest Educ Enferm. 2023 Nov;41(3):e12. doi: 10.17533/udea.iee.v41n3e12. PMID: 38589312; PMCID: PMC10990586.
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