Question 1

What is the foundation for evidence-based practice?

Accepted Answer

The research critique process is the very foundation of evidence-based practice, and nurses who read the research literature to inform their practice need to be competent and efficient in conducting research critiques. Having a medical librarian to assist with the literature review process is helpful, but not always an affordable resource for an organization. Having nurses who read articles is a start in building an evidence-based culture, but nurses need to know how to search for the best evidence and critique the literature search to determine applicability.

Question 2

A scrutiny that is an objective, thoughtful, and balanced assessment of a study's merits, as well as its flaws, is known as a(n)

Accepted Answer

A critique is a scrutiny or critical appraisal: an objective, thoughtful, and balanced assessment of a study's merits, as well as its flaws. Analysis of various stages of a study is a step in the critique process. Even though the word critique often is associated with criticism and negative feedback, in the case of research the end-product of the critique process is a written report about the value of a study-its meaning, significance, usefulness, and credibility.

Question 3

Which of the following would be an example of a nursing journal that is refereed?

Accepted Answer

The peer review process is a blinded or anonymous critique that helps an editor decide whether to publish a study. Editorial review and PhD publications do not necessarily provide the rigorous critique that prepublication critiques by peer reviewers offer in terms of functioning as a screening strategy. This strategy influences which studies become publicly available for consideration and inclusion as pieces of evidence for clinical practice guidelines and decisions.

Question 4

During a research critique, a series of cognitive activities or thinking skills (comprehension, comparison, analysis, and evaluation) must occur in sequence and build on one another. This requires the nurse, as research consumer, to do which of the following?

Accepted Answer

A higher-level thinking skill cannot be successfully accomplished until the skills preceding it have been mastered. This means that a research article must be read several times in order to complete the critique process. Reading and re-reading the results and discussion sections is necessary to determine if they hold up in light of any limitations that have been identified in the study's methodology. Scanning the report from start to finish in order to become familiar with its focus and methods are keys to a strategy for critiquing a research report.

Question 5

Razors versus clippers: A randomized controlled trial (Taylor & Tanner, 2005) is an example of a study title that conveys which of the following pieces of information?

Accepted Answer

The title states this is a randomized controlled trial, which is a truly experimental design. The dependent variable, outcome of interest, and population of interest cannot be determined from this title; only the independent variable is identified (method of hair removal).

Question 6

Review of the research abstract should clue in the reader as to the study's

Accepted Answer

The abstract of a research article should preview or highlight the study's purpose, methods, findings, and implications for practice and should be consistent with any clues about the study that were given in its title. The type of research process might be alluded to in the abstract; however, the data collection and analysis procedures may not be detailed in the article at all. The introduction to the article is the usual place to find a summary of the literature review.

Question 7

The second stage of the critique process requires the two thinking skills of comparison and analysis, which means the reader will

Accepted Answer

During this stage you dissect the study and examine each element and decision made by the researcher using the cognitive activity of comparison. This entails comparing the researcher's operationalization of each element to the ideal and analysis. This involves examining how the study's elements fit together. Construction of a concise descriptive overview takes place in stage one of the critique process, whereas determining the cost-benefit ratio of the innovation takes place during the comparative evaluation phase.

Question 8

"Is there fit between the implications for practice and further research that have been identified in the study's findings?" is an example of a question that can guide the reviewer during which stage of the critique process?

Accepted Answer

The second stage of the critique process constitutes the guts of conducting a critique. The thinking skill of analysis focuses on the linkages between study elements. Asking if there is a fit between implications for practice and further research identified in the findings is an example of linking study elements. Comparative evaluation is a phase of the research utilization process. The focus during synthesis and judgment is synthesizing assessment findings from stage two (critical appraisal) and developing a summary judgment about the quality, credibility, and utility of its findings.

Question 9

Once you have completed the synthesis and judgment stage of the critique process, you should be able to construct a

Accepted Answer

Completing the synthesis and judgment stage requires reading the results, discussion, and conclusion sections of the article one last time to determine if they still hold up in light of your scrutiny and critical appraisal of the study's methodological elements. You are then ready to write your narrative report of your critique. Stage two is when you will consider whether the journal in which the study was published was the most appropriate choice for informing potential users of the study's findings and determine if there is congruence between the research problem and the study's purpose and sub-problems.

Question 10

Differences in critiquing qualitative and quantitative studies becomes more apparent in the synthesis and judgment stage because this is the stage where the focus is on

Accepted Answer

Credibility is established differently in quantitative and qualitative research. Stage two focuses on reliability and consistency issues for both types of studies.

Question 11

The most important reason why it is essential that nurses critique-not just read-research literature is

Accepted Answer

A professional role requires evidence-based theory and knowledge for decision making. The major job of the professional nurse is to make decisions about the medical and nursing plan of care. Increasing personal understanding and building a higher level of thinking are also reasons for nurses to learn to critique research literature. However, they are not the most important reason, because these are personal reasons to embrace the need to be evidence based and not the professional responsibility that is required of the RN.

Question 12

Writing a letter to the editor of the journal in which the study was published is an important method of communicating research critiques because

Accepted Answer

Submitting a critique as a letter to the editor can reach other readers and stimulate dialogue and debate. On a more local level, journal clubs and posters can be used to communicate a critique in work settings. Rarely does communication of research critiques result in direct income sources and recognition for research efforts is often not received.

Quiz 14: The Research Critique Process