Help me with my research for my Senior Thesis, please!

Libby1987 · Jan 5, 2015

Bummer, I have strong opinions on this topic but though I perform patient care FT and teaching is a major reimbursable aspect of our skilled services, I don't work in the hospital setting.

emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Jan 5, 2015

Lost me with the open ended questions.

Luckyyou, BSN, RN · Jan 5, 2015

Started doing the survey, but I'm a NICU nurse so.... I could teach my patients about a healthy lifestyle all I want but they don't speak my language :dummy1:

BrieanneMarie · Jan 5, 2015

Haha well thank you for trying!

BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN · Jan 5, 2015

I do education every day with my patients, but some would say I'm not a REAL RN because I don't work in a hospital setting!

BrieanneMarie · Jan 5, 2015

I'm not trying to discredit you or any other RNs not working in a hospital, I just wanted to use the most extreme case for my research! I'm sorry if I offended you in any way!

nurseprnRN, BSN, RN · Jan 5, 2015

How do you know that the people who respond to your request are actually nurses? That's a real challenge to validity of doing any kind of survey via social media. Hint: You don't. This isn't "research," it's a opinion poll, and you can't really hang your hat on it. Hate to throw cold water, but you might want to think this through a little more, perhaps with the advice of your faculty, before you proceed further. You could consider printing out your poll, attaching SASEs, and handing them to actual nurses at your clinical site, faculty members, or others (see below). At least you'd have a valid sample then.

This is what we usually post when we get requests to "interview a nurse" from students. I think the same points apply to your request.

We get these requests a lot, so if there are any other students out there who might get this kind of assignment, listen up:

Part of your faculty's reason for giving you this assignment is to get you to go out there and speak to an RN face to face. A big email blast is not a substitute for shoe leather. AN is not Google.

See, in nursing, you have to learn to speak to a lot of people you would not otherwise encounter; you might find yourself out of your comfort zone. (OP, This applies to interviewing other nurses about a potentially uncomfortable topic.) This is part of nursing, a huge part. An anonymous respondent online, well, you don't really know who we are, do you? We could be the truck driving guy living next door for all you know.

So if all you do about learning new things is "Go to the keyboard and hit send," then you are limiting your chances of actual learning a valuable skill you will need all your working life. Also, your faculty will not be impressed by your citation of an anonymous person who may or may not be a nurse on the internet.

That said: Where will you find a nurse? Think outside the (computer) box.

Local hospital: go to the staff development/inservice education office and ask one of them. They value education and will be happy to chat or to hook you up with someone who is.

Go to the public health department downtown. Ditto.

Go to the local school and ask to speak to a school nurse. Ditto.

Go to a local clinic / physician/NP office. Ditto.

Go to the local jail and ask to speak to the nurse there. Ditto.

Notice all of these say, "Go to..." and not "Email..." Remember that part about meeting new people face to face and comfort zone.

Go!

BrieanneMarie · Jan 6, 2015

My professor was fine with this type of surveying format, since we were having issues going through the IRB at the hospital I currently work for. This is not a cop-out for doing the hard work. I've done it all, believe me. We understand the issue of validity, and that is mentioned in my thesis. Thank you for your input though.

Tenebrae, BSN, RN · Jan 6, 2015

My professor was fine with this type of surveying format, since we were having issues going through the IRB at the hospital I currently work for. This is not a cop-out for doing the hard work. I've done it all, believe me. We understand the issue of validity, and that is mentioned in my thesis. Thank you for your input though.

I find that very odd that an academic professor would be ok with data from such a dodgy source. All of our professors were very negative about many online sources.

Also, if you are having troubles getting through your ethics review board it suggests you may want to work on your proposal

As an example I was reading a thread on all nurses from a family member of a patient who was wondering if their parents nurse might want to date him. There are lots of nursing students, pre nursing students, CNAs, a doctor or 2 Yes this is all nurses however not all members are nurses.

It essentially invalidates any conclusions your research may find because you have no way of ascertaining whether participants in your research are actually members of the target audience. Also no one in the educational field would hold much stock in the results of a study that couldnt make it through the ethics review process.

Best advice I can offer is "get off the internet" and come up with a more robust study based on the conclusions of people who you can confirm are nurses working in your target group"

sallyrnrrt, ADN, RN · Jan 6, 2015

no way to validate

poor choice

BrieanneMarie · Jan 6, 2015

I thank you all for your input, but I am just a novice "researcher" trying to collect research to pass a class. I, in no way, plan on using this data to compose a scientific article of any sort. It is just your opinions. You do not have to take my survey, especially if you don't agree with it or what I am doing. I did not have trouble going through the ethics board. They accepted my research proposal and wanted to use my research in their own data for the hospital. It just would not be able to be done in the timeline that I am allotted for the class. My professor is fine with what I am doing, and that is all that matters to me. Again, thank you to those who have taken my survey already, I appreciate your help!