Syllabus for NUR-418

RESEARCH IN NURSING

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The course is designed to increase the professional nurse’s knowledge and use of the research process. Emphasis is placed on reading, interpreting and evaluating research findings, including considering ethical and practical aspects, as a basis for evidence-based nursing practice.

COURSE TOPICS

1. Assurances for quality research reports
2. Background and literature review
3. Barriers to using research in nursing
4. Bivariate and multivariate tests: correlational tests, ANOVA and regression
5. Clinical question development
6. Components and language of research reports
7. Conclusions and changing practice
8. Connecting research results to conclusions
9. Connecting research results to conclusions
10. Content analysis, categorization schemes, coding and data saturation toward thematic analysis in qualitative research.
11. Convenience, purposive, snowball, probability and nonprobability sampling
12. Critically reading discussion and conclusion report sections
13. Data collection in quantitative and qualitative research and study results
14. Data saturation in qualitative research
15. Designs and research results
16. Factors that drive design choice
17. Frequency and skewed distributions
18. Hypotheses
19. Implications for practice  
20. Informed consent
21. Institutional Review Board (IRB)
22. Introduction to research and evidence-based practice
23. Knowledge gained for EBP and EBP in nursing
24. Language of quantitative and qualitative results for sample characteristics
25. Mean, mode, median, range, standard deviation
26. Parametric and nonparametric inferential statistics and study results
27. Principles of human subject protection
28. Probability, significance, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing
29. Purpose of inferential statistics in quantitative research
30. "Putting Research into Practice” course projects
31. Qualitative designs
32. Quantitative designs
33. Reliability and validity in quantitative research; instruments, scales, and surveys
34. Research reports and the research process
35. Rigor in qualitative research
36. Role of EBP and research in nursing
37. Samples and populations
38. Sampling problems and minimizing sampling bias
39. Sampling process in quantitative and qualitative research
40. Sources of nursing research problems
41. Student Introductions
42. Theoretical and operational definitions
43. Threats to rigor in quantitative research

COURSE OBJECTIVES

After successfully completing this course, the student will be able to:

1. analyze the relationship between theory, practice, and research in nursing; (CO1)
2. examine the core concepts of the research process; (CO2)
3. discuss the impact of socio-political, cultural, economic, and ethical implications on the conduct of research in healthcare; (CO3)
4. evaluate research findings for application to clinical decision-making and evidence-based nursing practice; and (CO4)
5. identify strategies to disseminate research findings in nursing. (CO5)

COURSE MATERIAL

You will need the following materials to do the work of the course. The required textbook(s) is/are available from the College’s textbook supplier, MBS Direct.

Required Textbooks

1. Rebar, C. R., Gersch, C. J., Macnee, C. L., & McCabe, S. (2011). Understanding Nursing Research: Using research in Evidence-based Practice (3rd ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott. (ISBN-10: 1605477303, ISBN-13: 978-1605477305)

1. American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: Author. (ISBN-10: 1433805618, ISBN-13: 978-1433805615)

COURSE STRUCTURE

Research in Nursing (NUR-418) is a three-credit online course, consisting of twelve (12) modules. Modules include an overview, topics, learning objectives, study materials, and activities. Module titles are listed below.

1. Module 1: Introductions and Round Table Discussion on Research Experiences
   
2. Module 2: Evidence-based Nursing Using Research in Practice
   
3. Module 3: The Research Process — Components and Language of Research Reports
   
4. Module 4: Discussions and Conclusions
   
5. Module 5: Descriptive Results
   
6. Module 6: Inferential Results
   
7. Module 7: Samples
   
8. Module 8: Ethics
   
9. Module 9: Data Collection Methods
   
10. Module 10: Research Designs
    
11. Module 11: Background Literature and Related Research Questions
    
12. Module 12: Round Table Discussions

Consult the course Calendar for assignment due dates.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

For your formal work in the course, you are required to participate in online discussion forums and complete written assignments. See below for details.

Consult the course Calendar for assignment due dates.

Online Discussion Forums

You are required to participate in 12 graded discussion forums. Discussion forums are on a variety of topics associated with the course modules. There is also an ungraded but required introduction forum in module 1.

Located within the Evaluation Rubrics section of the course website is the online discussion forum rubric used to aid in the grading of all online discussion assignments.

Written Assignments

You are required to complete four written assignments. Three of the assignments are papers that are part of a “Putting Research into Practice” project. The fourth is a quantitative research critique paper.  

1. The first written assignment, WA #1, is a paper called “Putting Research into Practice - Paper 1” that is worth 10% of your grade.
2. The second written assignment, WA #2, is a paper called “Putting Research into Practice - Paper 2” that is worth 10% of your final grade.
3. The third written assignment, WA #3, is a paper called “Putting Research into Practice - Paper 3” that is  worth 20% of your grade.
4. The fourth written assignment, WA #4, is a paper called “Quantitative Research Critique Paper” that is worth 30% of your final grade.

Located within the Evaluation Rubrics section of the course website are the written assignment rubrics used to aid in the grading of each written assignment.

See course Calendar for due dates.

GRADING AND EVALUATION

Your grade in the course will be determined as follows:

1. Online discussions (12) — 30 percent
2. Putting Research into Practice - Paper 1 - 10%
3. Putting Research into Practice - Paper 2 - 10%
4. Putting Research into Practice - Paper 3 - 20%
5. Quantitative Research Critique Paper — 30 percent

All assignment will receive a numerical grade of 0 – 100. You will receive a score of 0 for any work not submitted. Your final grade in the course will be a letter grade. Letter grade equivalents for numerical grades are as follows:

To receive credit for the course, you must earn a letter grade of D or higher on the weighted average of all assigned course work (e.g., exams, assignments, discussion postings, etc.).

STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS

First Steps to Success

To succeed in this course, take the following first steps:

1. Read carefully the entire Syllabus, making sure that all aspects of the course are clear to you and that you have all the materials required for the course.
   
2. Take the time to read the entire Online Student Handbook and the School of Nursing Student Handbook. These handbooks, which can be found under "Student Support" within the General Information course section, answer many questions about how to proceed through the course and how to get the most from your educational experience at Thomas Edison State College.

1. All assignments, including the Online Discussion Forums, are graded using a rubric. Be sure to consult the appropriate rubric in the Evaluation Rubrics section of each course for the specific requirements of each assignment.

1. Utilize the writing resources for APA, listed in the "Educational Resources - Writing Style Guides" within the General Information course section, to help you use this format correctly.

3. Online tutoring assistance is available through “Smarthinking.com” located in the "Educational Resources - Online Tutoring Resources" within the General Information course section.
   
4. Familiarize yourself with the learning management systems environment—how to navigate it and what the various course areas contain. If you know what to expect as you navigate the course, you can better pace yourself and complete the work on time.
   
5. If you are not familiar with Web-based learning be sure to review the processes for posting responses online and submitting assignments before class begins.

Study Tips

Consider the following study tips for success:

1. To stay on track throughout the course, begin each week by consulting the course Calendar. The Calendar provides an overview of the course and indicates due dates for submitting assignments, posting discussions, and scheduling and taking examinations, if any.
   
2. Check Announcements regularly for new course information.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Students at Thomas Edison State College are expected to exhibit the highest level of academic citizenship. In particular, students are expected to read and follow all policies, procedures, and program information guidelines contained in publications; pursue their learning goals with honesty and integrity; demonstrate that they are progressing satisfactorily and in a timely fashion by meeting course deadlines and following outlines procedures; observe a code of mutual respect in dealing with mentors, staff, and other students; behave in a manner consistent with the standards and codes of the profession in which they are practicing; keep official records updated regarding changes in name, address, telephone number, or e-mail address; and meet financial obligations in a timely manner. Students not practicing good academic citizenship may be subject to disciplinary action including suspension, dismissal, or financial holds on records.

Academic Dishonesty

Thomas Edison State College expects all of its students to approach their education with academic integrity—the pursuit of scholarly activity free from fraud and deception. All mentors and administrative staff members at the College insist on strict standards of academic honesty in all courses. Academic dishonesty undermines this objective. Academic dishonesty takes the following forms:

1. Cheating
2. Plagiarizing (including copying and pasting from the Internet without using quotation marks and without acknowledging sources)
3. Fabricating information or citations
4. Facilitating acts of dishonesty by others
5. Unauthorized access to examinations or the use of unauthorized materials during exam administration
6. Submitting the work of another person or work previously used without informing the mentor
7. Tampering with the academic work of other students

Academic dishonesty will result in disciplinary action and possible dismissal from the College. Students who submit papers that are found to be plagiarized will receive an F on the plagiarized assignment, may receive a grade of F for the course, and may face dismissal from the College.

A student who is charged with academic dishonesty will be given oral or written notice of the charge. If a mentor or the College official believes the infraction is serious enough to warrant referral of the case to the academic dean, or if the mentor awards a final grade of F in the course because of the infraction, the student and the mentor will be afforded formal due process.

If a student is found cheating or using unauthorized materials on an examination, he or she will automatically receive a grade of F on that examination. Students who believe they have been falsely accused of academic dishonesty should seek redress through informal discussions with the mentor, through the office of the dean, or through an executive officer of Thomas Edison State College.

Plagiarism

Using someone else’s work as your own is plagiarism. Although it may seem like simple dishonesty, plagiarism is against the law. Thomas Edison State College takes a strong stance against plagiarism, and students found to be plagiarizing will be severely penalized. If you copy phrases, sentences, paragraphs, or whole documents word-for-word—or if you paraphrase by changing a word here and there—without identifying the author, then you are plagiarizing. Please keep in mind that this type of identification applies to Internet sources as well as to print-based sources. Copying and pasting from the Internet, without using quotation marks and without acknowledging sources, constitutes plagiarism. (For information about how to cite Internet sources, see Online Student Handbook > Academic Standards > “Citing Sources.”)

Accidentally copying the words and ideas of another writer does not excuse the charge of plagiarism. It is easy to jot down notes and ideas from many sources and then write your own paper without knowing which words are your own and which are someone else’s. It is more difficult to keep track of each and every source. However, the conscientious writer who wishes to avoid plagiarizing never fails to keep careful track of sources.

Always be aware that if you write without acknowledging the sources of your ideas, you run the risk of being charged with plagiarism.

Clearly, plagiarism, no matter the degree of the intent to deceive, defeats the purpose of education. If you plagiarize deliberately, you are not educating yourself, and you are wasting your time on courses meant to improve your skills. if you plagiarize through carelessness, you are deceiving yourself.