Research is derived from the old French word cerchier, meaning to “seek or search” and re meaning “again”.

 A formal, systematic and intensive process of carrying on a scientific analysis for the purpose of discovery
and development of an organized body of knowledge.

Purposes/Goals
 Discover new facts of known phenomena
 To develop, refine and expand a body of knowledge.
 Provide basis for decision making in any undertaking
 Satisfy the researcher’s curiosity
 Improve educational practices by raising the quality of school products.
 Improve health and prolong life
 Enhance man’s basic life

Nursing Research
 A scientific process that validates and refines existing knowledge and generates new knowledge that
directly influences nursing practice.
 Concerned with the systematic study and assessment of nursing problem or phenomena, finding ways to
improve nursing practice and patient care through creative studies; initiating and evaluating change; and
taking action to make new knowledge useful in nursing.

Primary Goal
 To develop scientific knowledge base for nursing practice; to answer question or solve problems of
relevance to the nursing profession.

Specific Purposes
 Identification
 Description
 Exploration
 Prediction
 Control

Ethical Principles in Research

1. The principle of Beneficence
 Freedom from harm
 Freedom from exploitation

2. The principle of Respect for Human Dignity

 Right to self determination
 Right to full disclosure

3. The principle of Justice

a. Right to fair treatment
b. Right to privacy

Informed Consent
 Means that participants have adequate information regarding the research , are capable of comprehending
the information, and have the power of free choice, enabling them to consent to or decline participation
voluntarily.

SCIENTIFIC METHODS OF RESEARCH:

1. Determine (recognize) the problem - TITLE
2. Forming the hypotheses
3. Doing the library search
4. Designing the study
 5. Developing the instrument for collecting data
6. Collecting the data
7. Analyzing the data
8. Determining implications and conclusions from the findings
9. Making the recommendation

RESEARCH PROBLEM:
 Is any significant and challenging situation
 A perplexing situation after it has been translated into a questions
 S - specific
 M – measurable
 A – attainable
 R – realistic
 T – time bounded

ELEMENTS OF A RESEARCH PROBLEM:

1. Why – aim or purpose
2. What – subject matter/ topic
3. Where – place/locale
4. When – period of time which the data will be collected
5. Who – population/respondents

Example:

“LEVEL OF KNOWLEDGE ON NEWBORN SCREENING AMONG POSTPARTUM MOTHERS OF GEN. EMILIO

AGUINALDO MEMORIAL HOSPITAL”

1. Aim: To assess the level of knowledge

2. Topic: Newborn screening
3. Locale: GEAMH
4. Time: no specified time; include it in the scope & delimitation
5. Population: post partum mothers

GUIDELINES IN SELECTING YOUR RESEARCH PROBLEM (Sources):

1. Must be chosen by the researcher himself
2. Within the interest of the researcher
3. Within the specialization of the researchers
4. Within the competence of the researcher to tackle
5. Within the ability of the researcher to finance
6. Researchable and manageable
 Data are available & accessible
 Data must meet the standards of accuracy, objectivity & verifiability ( not biased)
 Answers to the specific problem
 Testable hypothesis (it can be accepted & rejected)

Criteria of a Good Research problem:

1. Enthusiastic
2. Relevant to the government’s thrust
3. Relevant to the needs of the patients and people
4. Innovative
5. Inventive
6. Cost effective
7. Return of investments
8. Measurable
9. Time bound
GUIDELINES IN WRITING THE TITLE:
1. Generally, the title is formulated before the start of the study. It may be revised and refined later if there is
a need.
2. It must contain the subject matter of the study, the locale, the population involved and the period when
the data were gathered or will be gathered.
3. It must be as brief and concise as possible.
4. Avoid using the terms :An Analysis of”, “A Study of”, “An Investigation of’
5. If possible, it should not contain more than 15 words.
6. If the title contains more than one line, it must be written like an inverted pyramid, all words in capital
letter.

HOW TO WRITE CHAPTER 1: THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

THE INTRODUCTION (Guidelines in writing the introduction)

The introduction of a thesis should contain a discussion of any or all of the following:
1. Presentation of the problem
2. The existence of an unsatisfactory condition, a felt problem that needs solution.
3. Rationale of the study.
4. Historical background of the problem
5. A desire to have a deeper and clearer understanding of a situation, circumstances or phenomenon.
6. A desire to find a better way of doing something or of improving a product.
7. A desire to discover something.
8. Geographical conditions of the study locale.
9. A link between the introduction and the statement of the problem.

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

 THE GEOGRAPHICAL CONDITIONS OF THE STUDY LOCALE

 the historical background of your research problem/topic

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

 written by stating the General problem then followed by the specific questions or subproblems ( where
the gen. problem is broken up)

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK:

THEORY – from the Greek word “theoria” which means a beholding spectacle or speculation.
 is a set of interrelated constructs, definitions, and prepositions that present a systematic view of
phenomena by specifying relations among variables with the purpose of explaining and predicting
the phenomena. (Kerlinger, 1973)

 Any statement that attempts to describe, explain, predict or shed light on some puzzle, problem or
phenomenon of interest.

Relation of theory to the research process

A theory, conceptual model or theoretical framework identifies parameters for the study, guides data
collection and provides a perspective in the interpretation of data to enable the researcher to structure facts into an
orderly syatem.

CONCEPTS – are abstractions that categorize observations based on commonalities and differences.
 Are the building blocks of theories and they vary in level of abstraction.

CONSTRUCTS – is a group of concepts that are directly or indirectly observable.

  They are derived from a combination of academic and clinical knowledge and add meaning and
scope to a theory.

PROPOSITION – are statements that describe the relationship of two or more concepts.

CONCEPTUAL MODEL or PARADIGM:

 Is a diagram or a picture that represents the structure and parts of the theory.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK – represents a less formal attempt at organizing phenomena. It is

assembled by virtue of its relevance to a common theme.
 A tentative explanation or theoretical explanation of the phenomenon or problem and serves as the
basis for the manipulation of the research hypotheses.
 It consists of the investigator’s own position on a problem after his exposure to various theories
that have bearing on the problem.
 It becomes the central theme, the focus, the main thrust of the study.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK - is derived from one or more theories or paradigms through the
processes of induction and deduction. It postulates relationships among concepts and permits empirical
testing.

Criteria for judging a theory:

1. What is the significance of the theory? Does it address a problem of particular interest to nurses or society?
2. Does the theory offer the possibility of explaining or systematically describing some phenomena?
3. Is the theory testable? Can the concepts be observed and measured, and can hypothesis be deduced?

Research Paradigm – is the diagrammatic representation of a conceptual framework

 It depicts a more vivid way what the conceptual framework wants to convey.
 It can take different diagrammatic forms

Statement of the Problem

 Must be clearly stated
 Must be expressed in precise terms as the subject of inquiry
 It indicates the population and the major variables of the study
 It is consists of the major ot main problem and the specific or sub- problems

WAYS OF STATING THE PROBLEM

 a question and/or several question
Example:
- Does smoking causes lung cancer among adults? ( single question)
- Is the selection of a particular method influenced by religion, socioeconomic status or education?
( single question followed by a series of questions)

 Problems stated in the form of a declarative sentence

Example:
- To identify common problems of Chief Nurses in some government emergency hospitals?? (single
declarative sentence)
- The study attempts to determine: ( Series of declarative sentence)
o The general food patterns and food intake
o The food groups
o How adequate
 A declarative sentence followed by a series of questions

Hypotheses

 “wise guess”, or inference, an “intellectual proposition” formulated to explain observed facts or

conditions in order to guide the investigation further.
  It must be empirically testable and verifiable
 Are statements of the researcher’s expectations regarding the relationship between and among the
variables under investigation
 Are speculations of how variables in the study will work out
 It provide predicted answers to research questions
 It translates problem statements into predictions of expected outcomes and is thus a technique in
answering a problem
 It is tested and, if found to be true, accepted. If not, rejected.

PURPOSE OF HYPOTHESES:
1. Unify theory and reality
2. Give direction to research by determining research design, data collection procedures, analysis and
interpretation of data
3. Enhance knowledge by inducing critical thinking and deepening insights

CHARACTERISTICS OF HYPOTHESES:
1. Testability
2. It state anticipated relationship between two or more variables
3. They are logical and justifiable, and consistent with an existing body of knowledge or research
findings.
4. Relate directly to the research problem.
5. Factually and theoretically based.
6. Set the limits of the study.
7. Stated in such a way that they are either accepted ot rejected.

TYPES OF HYPOTHESIS:
1. Simple Hypothesis – predicts the relationship between 1 independent and 1 dependent variable.
Example:
Performance in the College of Nursing is related to success in the nurses’ licensure examination.

2. Complex Hypothesis – predicts the relationship between 2 or more independent variables and 2 or more
dependent variables.
Example:
Heredity, home environment, and quality of instruction are related to intelligence, motivation, and
performance in school.

3. Directional/Predictive Hypothesis – specifies the direction of the relationship between the variables being
studied.
Example:
People who smoke are more prone to lung cancer than those who do not smoke.

4. Non Directional Hypothesis – predicts only that there is a relationship between variables being studied but
does not specify what it is.
Example:
There is a difference in the level of anxiety of pre-surgical patients who received pre-operative instruction
than those who do not receive such instruction.

5. Null hypothesis – is an assumption that there is no difference between studied variables.

 Researcher’s hopes to reject the statement of no difference
 With psychological advantage in stating a hypotheisi in the null or no relationship format since
objectivity appears to pervade it
Example:
There is no difference between liberalization of attitudes and completion of a course in human sexuality.

SCOPE AND DELIMITATIONS:

 Includes the coverage of the study area, the subjects, the research apparatus, equipments or
instrument
 GUIDELINES IN WRITING THE SCOPE & DELIMITATIONS:
1. A brief statement of the general purpose of the study.
2. The subject matter and topics studied and discussed.
3. The locale of the study, where the data were gathered or the entity to which that data belong.
4. The population or universe from which the respondents were selected. This must be large enough to
make generalizations significant.
5. The period of time of the study.

LIMITATIONS of the STUDY:

 Researcher issues and concerns, the duration of the study, and the constraints that have direct
bearing
 Weaknesses of the study beyond the control of the researcher

Importance or Significance of the Study:

 Is stated either in the deductive or the inductive form
 DEDUCTIVE FORM – the presentation is from general to particular; it starts from the country down
to the target beneficiaries
 INDUCTIVE FORM - starts from the beneficiaries to the country.

GUIDELINES IN EXPLAINING THE IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY. It must contain explanations or

discussions of any or all of the following:
1. The rationale, timeliness, and/or relevance of the study,
2. Possible solutions to existing problems or improvement to unsatisfactory conditions.
3. Who are to be benefitted and how they are going to be benefitted.
4. Possible contribution to the fund of knowledge.
5. Possible implications.
Relevance to:
a. Solving the problem and need
b. Linking a knowledge gap
c. Improving social, economic and health conditions of the people
d. Enriching/improving research instruments, approaches, methods and strategies
e. Supporting government thrusts

Definition of Terms
Two ways of defining terms:
1. Conceptual definition – based on the dictionary, encyclopedia, and unpublished journals
2. Operational definition – based o observable characteristics and how it is used in the study.

GUIDELINES IN DEFINING TERMS:

a. Only terms, words or phrases which have special or unique meanings in the study are defined.
b. Terms should be defined operationally, that is, how they are used in the study.
c. Based from the characteristics of the term.
d. Can be taken from encyclopedias, books, magazines and newspaper articles, dictionaries, and other
publication.
e. Brief, clear and unequivocal as possible.
f. Acronyms should be spelled out fully especially if it is not commonly known ot used for the first time.