Critique of research article
Instructions
Week 10: Summative Assignment: Critique of Research Article
A research critique demonstrates your ability to critically read an investigative study. For this assignment, choose a research article related to nursing.
- Articles used for this assignment cannot be used for the other assignments (students should find new research articles for each new assignment).
- The selected articles should be original research articles. Review articles, concept analysis, meta-analysis, meta-synthesis, integrative review, and systemic review should not be used.
- Mixed-methods studies should not be used.
- Dissertations should not be used.
Your critique should include the following:
Research Problem/Purpose
- State the problem clearly as it is presented in the report.
- Have the investigators placed the study problem within the context of existing knowledge?
- Will the study solve a problem relevant to nursing?
- State the purpose of the research.
Review of the Literature
- Identify the concepts explored in the literature review.
- Were the references current? If not, what do you think the reasons are?
- Was there evidence of reflexivity in the design (qualitative)?
Theoretical Framework
- Are the theoretical concepts defined and related to the research?
- Does the research draw solely on nursing theory or does it draw on theory from other disciplines?
- Is a theoretical framework stated in this research piece?
- If not, suggest one that might be suitable for the study.
Variables/Hypotheses/Questions/Assumptions (Quantitative)
- What are the independent and dependent variables in this study?
- Are the operational definitions of the variables given? If so, are they concrete and measurable?
- Is the research question or the hypothesis stated? What is it?
Conceptual Underpinnings, Research Questions (Qualitative)
- Are key concepts defined conceptually?
- Is the philoosoophical basis, underlying tradition, conoceptual framework, or ideological orientation made explicit and is it appropriate for the problem?
- Are research questions explicitly stated? Are the questions consistent with the study\’s philosophical basis, underlying tradition, conceptual framework, or ideological orientation?
Methodology
- What type of design (quantitative, qualitative, and type) was used in this study?
- Was inductive or deductive reasoning used in this study?
- State the sample size and study population, sampling method, and study setting.
- Did the investigator choose a probability or non-probability sample?
- State the type of reliability and the validity of the measurement tools (quantitative only)
Qualitative studies (answer the following questions in addition to those above except the last bulleted item)
- Were the methods of gathering data appropriate?
- Were data gathered through two or more methods to achieve triangulation?
- Did the researcher ask the right questions or make the right observations and were they recorded in an appropriate fashion?
- Was a sufficient amount of data gathered?
- Was the data of sufficient depth and richness?
Were ethical considerations addressed? Were appropriate procedures used to safeguard the rights of study participants?
Data Analysis
- What data analysis tool was used?
- Was saturation achieved? (qualitative)
- How were the results presented in the study?
- Were the data management (e.g., coding) and data analysis methods sufficiently described? (qualitative)
- Identify at least one (1) finding.
Summary/Conclusions, Implications, and Recommendations
- Do the themes adequately capture the meaning of the data?
- Did the analysis yield an insightful, provocative and meaningful picture of the phenomenon under investigation?
- Were methods used to enhance the trustworthiness of the data (and analysis) and was the description of those methods adequate?
- Are there clear explanation of the boundaries/limitations, thick description, audit trail?
- What are the strengths and limitations of the study?
- In terms of the findings, can the researcher generalize to other populations? Explain.
- Evaluate the findings and conclusions as to their significance for nursing (both qualitative and quantitative).
The body of your paper should be 4–6 double-spaced pages plus a cover page and a reference page. The critique must be attached to the article and follow APA guidelines.
Need APA Help?
You must submit the research study articles along with your assignment.
Visit the Student Resources tab or the WCU Library tab at the top of this page.
Review the rubric for further information on how your assignment will be graded
SAMPLE STUDENT ANSWER
Critique of Research Article
Critique of a research article can help evaluate the quality of an article, its clinical relevance, and whether the findings reached can also be used as a basis for further research. In this paper, I will critique an article on risk factors for injurious falls in patients hospitalized for acute care by Aryee et al. (2017).
Research Problem/Purpose
In the article by Aryee et al. (2017), the main focus was identifying protective and risk factors associated with injurious falls in patients hospitalized for acute care settings. According to the authors, falls in acute care settings are associated with several negative health outcomes, including increased cost of care, morbidity, and mortality. However, there are only a few articles that talk about the associated risk factors which could help in mitigating such adverse events, thus forming the basis of the study.
There are several studies focusing on this issue, and the researchers did a good job in using them as a basis to justify their study problem. Some of the points captured by the investigators from existing k knowledge in justifying their problem statement include the existence of adverse outcomes connected with patient falls. The investigators have also explained that there is existing knowledge on risk factors associated with falls, however, these studies are not focused on acute care settings. Likewise, the researchers also pointed out, citing various studies on some of the inadequacies on the research topic, including inadequate sampling size, poor methodologies used, to list a few.
When selecting a clinical research topic, one has to consider the clinical relevance of the research and not just statistical significance (Armijo-Olivo, 2018). Patient falls in acute care settings are among the main causes associated with significant adverse effects in admitted patients. Therefore, coming up with preventive interventions that help reduce these events by understanding the risk factors will help to improve patient outcomes. As such, the findings obtained from this research will be relevant to nursing. The identified purpose of the research was to identify factors associated with the risk of or protection against patient falls in acute care settings.
Review of the Literature
Concepts are important elements in research. Concepts introduce new ideas and help the reader view problems and solutions to those problems in a new way (Ivey, 2015). In the research article by Aryee et al. (2017), one of the concepts explored was injurious falls. I found this concept important in distinguishing the type of falls the researchers were targeting. It is important to note that not all falls are injurious to the patient. Likewise, the extent of injury varies from one patient to another.
This concept was important to capture to identify those risk factors that cause a significant impact on the patient’s wellbeing. Another concept is post-fall outcomes. This is a concept associated with injurious falls; however, it goes a step further to evaluate if the extent to which the injurious falls have affected the patient. Another concept noted is falling circumstances, which evaluates the significant reasons and causes of patient falls in acute care settings. I found these three concepts useful in understanding the essence of the study.
Not all references were current. Some of the reasons I believe this to be the case include inadequate research on the topic, as the authors had earlier suggested. Another reason could be that some of the topics sought by the research had already extensive research done on them, thereby reducing the need to have more research on them. These two reasons could explain why some of the references used were not current.
Theoretical Framework
Aryee et al., in their study, came up with a theoretical model to describe some of the risk factors associated with falls in acute care settings, i.e., the ABCsmnemonic. The mnemonic stands for Age > 85, Bones-orthopedic conditions, anti-Coagulation, and recent surgery. This model seemed ideal and relevant in explaining some of the major risk factors associated with falls. They also have scientific backing making them relevant to the study. For example, age is a significant factor associated with increased risk of falls as indicated in the study by Smith et al. (2017). There are also several studies conducted on the other two concepts in the theoretical model used by Aryee et al. and their association with increased risk of patient falls.
In my analysis of the research article, there is no evident nursing theory employed or any other theory from any other discipline. Similarly, no theoretical framework was explicitly noted. Instead, I would consider Betty Neuman Systems Model as an ideal theory to apply in the research (Ahmadi & Sadeghi, 2017).
Variables/Hypotheses/Questions/Assumptions (Quantitative)
The dependent variable in the study was patients’ risk of falling, while the dependent variables were the various predictors of falls, some of which include age, existing morbidities, medication, to list a few. These variables were appropriate and helped to answer the research question posed by the authors. The investigators also went a step further to explain and operationalize the variables identified and how they were related to the topic, which I found to be quite helpful in understanding what the research entailed.
The variables were measurable, for example, the prevalence of risks was easily measured by recording the number of incidents it occurred in patients from different age groups There was no explicit statement on either the research question or hypothesis. However, one can deduce what the researchers wanted to measure from the purpose statement. This is an important element in research that is needed to assess the relevance of the research findings (Schmidt & Brown, 2019)
Methodology
This research was a quantitative study, which employed a retrospective case-control design. Retrospective case-control design is an appropriate research design specifically for this research because it can easily compare the risk of an event between one group to the other, including identification of epidemiological rationale of a disease (Schmidt & Brown, 2019).
The sample size was collected using what is likely to be prospective sampling. As such, the sampling technique falls under non-probabilistic sampling. The problem with non-probabilistic sampling is that it is susceptible to research bias (Schmidt & Brown, 2019). The sample size entailed 117 injured fallers and 320 controls out of the 100 injured fallers and 300 control patients that the researchers wanted this shows that the researchers met their target sample size. However, to further increase the level of generalizability of study findings, a larger sample size from more settings is advisable (Gianattasio et al., 2021). The study setting was in a tertiary-care center in northern New England.
Ethical Considerations
Informed consent was given to patients before participating in the study this is a crucial consideration when performing research concerning human subjects, especially in studies that have attached risks (Burks & Keim-Malpass, 2019)
Data Analysis
The researchers performed both univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis using Stata as the data analysis tool. These two methods were considered appropriate given the diverse nature of the variables measured (Schmidt & Brown, 2019). Univariate analysis would have been ideal; however, I noticed that the researchers wanted to find further clarity from the analysis on how variables differed between injured fallers and the control group. One of the findings from the research was that “there were no differences in age, anti-coagulation use or fragility fractures between cases and controls.”
Summary/Conclusions, Implications, and Recommendations
From the research findings, one could identify an insightful link between various risk factors associated with injurious falls. These factors can be effectively applied when developing a comprehensive risk assessment tool to be used in acute care settings. The researchers applied reliable and valid methods which are adequate to measure the variable interrelationships intended in the study. This further enhanced the quality of the research. However, one of the noted limitations was on sample size, where the researchers gave valid reasons.
In case future studies are conducted on a similar topic, I would be wise to have a more expanded sample population, selected from diverse acute care settings to improve the level of generalizability as noted by Schmidt and Brown (2019). However, as the findings are they can still be generalized since the setting did not have a significant influence on the results identified. Therefore, the findings reached by Aryee et al. (2017) are quite relevant and applicable in creating a risk assessment tool and falls-prevention interventions in acute care settings
References
Ahmadi, Z., & Sadeghi, T. (2017). Application of the Betty Neuman systems model in the nursing care of patients/clients with multiple sclerosis. Multiple sclerosis journal – experimental, translational and clinical, 3(3), 2055217317726798. https://doi.org/10.1177/2055217317726798
Armijo-Olivo S. (2018). The importance of determining the clinical significance of research results in physical therapy clinical research. Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy, 22(3), 175–176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bjpt.2018.02.001
Aryee, E., James, S. L., Hunt, G. M., & Ryder, H. F. (2017). Identifying protective and risk factors for injurious falls in patients hospitalized for acute care: a retrospective case-control study. BMC Geriatrics, 17(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-017-0627-9
Burks, A. C., & Keim-Malpass, J. (2019). Health literacy and informed consent for clinical trials: a systematic review and implications for nurses. Nursing: Research and Reviews, 9, 31-40. https://doi.org/10.2147/NRR.S207497
Gianattasio, K. Z., Bennett, E. E., Wei, J., Mehrotra, M. L., Mosley, T., Gottesman, R. F., … & Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. (2021). Generalizability of findings from a clinical sample to a community‐based sample: A comparison of ADNI and ARIC. Alzheimer’s & Dementia. https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.12293
Ivey, J. (2015). How important is a conceptual framework? Pediatric Nursing, 41(3), 145+. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A419926066/AONE?u=anon~f26720ef&sid=googleScholar&xid=9d632e03
Schmidt, N. A., & Brown, J. M. (2019). Evidence-based practice for nurses: Appraisal and application of research (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett.
Smith, A. D. A., Silva, A. O., Rodrigues, R. A. P., Moreira, M. A. S. P., Nogueira, J. D. A., & Tura, L. F. R. (2017). Assessment of risk of falls in elderly living at home1. Revista latino-americana de enfermagem, 25. https://doi.org/10.1590/1518-8345.0671.2754
Jermaine Byrant
Nicole Johnson
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