Quantitative Research Design and Sampling

Quantitative Research Design and Sampling

Quantitative Research Design and Sampling

The focus of the Week 3 discussion is on two important elements of quantitative research studies- design and sampling. The approach or design, quantitative or qualitative, also applies to EBP projects. Both quantitative and qualitative have different designs or traditions that fall under these two broad categories.

Select a single-study quantitative research study article related to your specialty track and provide the permalink to the article. Then discuss each of the following items.

• Identify whether the research study design is experimental, quasiexperimental, or nonexperimental. Provide the rationale for your answer.
• Identify the appropriate representation for the research study article you selected using the nomenclature of X for intervention, O for observation and data collection, and R for random a assignment to a research study group.
• Identify the type of sampling (probability vs. nonprobability) that was used in the research study article you selected.
• Identify one advantage and one disadvantage to the sampling type used (probability vs. nonprobability).
• Identify whether there was random assignment to research study groups in the research study article you have selected.
• If random assignment to groups was used, how does this strengthen the research study design?

Quantitative Research Design and Sampling

UNDERSTANDING NURSING MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONS

T oday, all nurses are managers. Whether you work in a freestanding clinic, an ambula-tory surgical center, a critical unit in an acute care hospital, or in hospice care for a home care agency, you must deal with staff, including other nurses and unlicensed as- sistive personnel, who work with you and for you. At the same time, you must be vigilant about costs. To manage well, you must understand the health care system and the organizations where you work. You need to recognize what external forces affect your work and how to influence those forces. You need to know what motivates people and how you can help create an environ- ment that inspires and sustains the individuals who work in it. You must be able to collaborate with others, as a leader, a follower, and a team member, in order to become confident in your ability to be a leader and a manager.

This book is designed to provide new graduates or novice managers with the information they need to become effective managers and leaders in health care. More than ever before, today’s rapidly changing health care environment demands highly refined management skills and superb leadership.

Changes in Health Care Today’s health care system is continuing to undergo significant changes. Costly lifesaving medi- cines, robotics, virtual care, and innovations in imaging technologies, noninvasive treatments, and surgical procedures have combined to produce the most sophisticated and effective health care ever—and the most expensive. Skyrocketing costs and inaccessibility to health care are ongoing concerns for employers, health care providers, policy makers, and the public at large. A number of factors are forcing change on the health care system.

Paying for Health Care

How America Pays for Health Care The United States spends more money on health care than any other country, and health care spending continues to rise with costs of $2.5 trillion in 2009, consuming more than 17 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) (CMS, 2011). With the goal of providing access to health care to most U.S. citizens and containing costs, Congress passed a health care reform bill known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) that was signed into law March 23, 2010. While implementation of the bill is pending court challenges, the promise of providing adequate and affordable care to more Americans is on the horizon.