Understanding research findings

CHAPTER 17


Understanding research findings


Geri LoBiondo-Wood



Learning outcomes


After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following:


• Discuss the difference between the “Results” and the “Discussion” sections of a research article.


• Identify the format and components of the “Results” section.


• Determine if both statistically supported and statistically unsupported findings are appropriately discussed.


• Determine whether the results are objectively reported.


• Describe how tables and figures are used in a research report.


• List the criteria of a meaningful table.


• Identify the format and components of the “Discussion” section.


• Determine the purpose of the “Discussion” section.


• Discuss the importance of including generalizability and limitations of a study in the report.


• Determine the purpose of including recommendations in the study report.


• Discuss how the strength, quality, and consistency of evidence provided by the findings are related to a study’s results, limitations, generalizability, and applicability to practice.




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Go to Evolve at http://evolve.elsevier.com/LoBiondo/ for review questions, critiquing exercises, and additional research articles for practice in reviewing and critiquing.


The ultimate goal of nursing research is to develop nursing knowledge that advances evidence-based nursing practice and quality patient care. From a clinical application perspective, analysis, interpretation, discussion, and generalizability of the results of a study become highly important pieces of the research study. After the analysis of the data, the researcher puts the final pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together to view the total picture with a critical eye. This process is analogous to evaluation, the last step in the nursing process. You may view these last sections as an easier step for the investigator, but it is here that a most critical and creative process comes to the forefront. In the final sections of the report, after the statistical procedures have been applied, the researcher relates the findings to the research question, hypotheses, theoretical framework, literature, methods, and analyses; reviews the study and its findings for any potential bias; and makes an evidence-informed decision about the application of the study’s findings to practice.


The final sections of published research studies are generally titled “Results” and “Discussion,” but other topics, such as conclusions, limitations of findings, recommendations, and implications for future research and nursing practice, may be separately addressed or subsumed within these sections. The presentation format of these areas is a function of the author’s and the journal’s stylistic considerations. The function of these final sections is to integrate all aspects of the research process, as well as to discuss, interpret, and identify the limitations, the threats related to bias, and generalizability relevant to the investigation, thereby furthering evidence-based practice. The process that both an investigator and you use to assess the results of a study is depicted in the Critical Thinking Decision Path.



CRITICAL THINKING DECISION PATH


Assessing Study Results



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The goal of this chapter is to introduce the purpose and content of the final sections of a research study where data are presented, interpreted, discussed, and generalized. An understanding of what an investigator presents in these sections will help you to critically analyze an investigator’s findings.




Findings


The findings of a study are the results, conclusions, interpretations, recommendations, and implications for future research and nursing practice, which are addressed by separating the presentation into two major areas. These two areas are the results and the discussion of the results. The “Results” section focuses on the results or statistical findings of a study, and the “Discussion” section focuses on the remaining topics. For both sections, the rule applies—as it does to all other sections of a report—that the content must be presented clearly, concisely, and logically.



EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE TIP


Evidence-based practice is an active process that requires you to consider how, and if, research findings are applicable to your patient population and practice setting.




Results


The “Results” section of a research study is considered to be the data-bound section of the report and is where the quantitative data or numbers generated by the descriptive and inferential statistical tests are presented. Other headings that may be used for the results section are “Statistical Analyses,” “Data Analysis,” or “Analysis.” The results of the data analysis set the stage for the interpretations or discussion and the limitations sections that follows the results. The “Results” section should reflect analysis of each research question and/or hypothesis tested. The information from each hypothesis or research question should be sequentially presented. The tests used to analyze the data should be identified. If the exact test that was used is not explicitly stated, the values obtained should be noted. The researcher does this by providing the numerical values of the statistics and stating the specific test value and probability level achieved (see Chapter 16). Examples of these statistical results can be found in Table 17-1. These numbers and their signs should not frighten you. The numbers are important, but there is much more to the research process than the numbers. They are one piece of the whole. Chapter 16 conceptually presents the meanings of the numbers found in studies. Whether you only superficially understand statistics or have an in-depth knowledge of statistics, it should be obvious that the results are clearly stated, and the presence or lack of statistically significant results should be noted.




HELPFUL HINT


In the “Results” section of a research report, the descriptive statistics results are generally presented first; then the inferential results of each hypothesis or research question that was tested are presented.



At times the researchers will begin the “Results” or “Data Analysis” section by identifying the name of the statistical software program they used to analyze the data. This is not a statistical test but a computer program specifically designed to analyze a variety of statistical tests. For example, Alhusen and colleagues (2012; Appendix B) state that “data were analyzed using PASW Statistics 18, Release Version 18.00.” PASW Statistics 18 was the statistical program, and the statistical tests used were Pearson correlations and point biserial coefficient and logistic regression (see Chapter 16).


The researcher will present the data for all of the hypotheses tested or research questions asked (e.g., whether the hypotheses were accepted, rejected, supported, or partially supported). If the data supported the hypotheses, you may be tempted to assume that the hypotheses were proven; however, this is not true. It only means that the hypotheses were supported and the results suggest that the relationships or differences tested, which were derived from the theoretical framework, were statistically significant and probably logical in that study’s sample. You may think that if a researcher’s results are not supported statistically or are only partially supported, the study is irrelevant or possibly should not have been published, but this also is not true. If the data are not supported, you should not expect the researcher to bury the work in a file. It is as important for you to review and understand unsupported studies as it is for the researcher. Information obtained from unsupported studies can often be as useful as data obtained from studies with supported hypotheses and research questions.


Studies that have findings that do not support one or more hypotheses or research questions can be used to suggest limitations (problems with the study’s validity, bias, or study weaknesses) of particular aspects of a study’s design and procedures. Findings from studies with data that do not support the hypotheses or research questions may suggest that current modes of practice or current theory in an area may not be supported by research evidence and therefore must be reexamined, researched further, and not be used at this time to support changes in practice. Data help generate new knowledge and evidence, as well as prevent knowledge stagnation. Generally, the results are interpreted in a separate section of the report. At times, you may find that the “Results” section contains the results and the researcher’s interpretations, which are generally found in the “Discussion” section. Integrating the results with the discussion in a report is the author’s or journal editor’s decision. Both sections may be integrated when a study contains several segments that may be viewed as fairly separate subproblems of a major overall problem.


The investigator should also demonstrate objectivity in the presentation of the results. For example, the following quote by Alhusen and colleagues (2012; Appendix B) is an appropriate way to express results: “As hypothesized, there was a significant negative relationship between MFA and adverse neonatal outcomes supporting our first hypothesis.” The investigators would be accused of lacking objectivity if they had stated the results in the following manner: “The results were not surprising as we found that the mean scores were significantly different in the comparison group, as we expected.” Opinions or reactionary statements about the data in the “Results” section are therefore avoided. Box 17-1 provides examples of objectively stated results. As you appraise a study, you should consider the following points when reading the “Results” section:



BOX 17-1      EXAMPLES OF RESULTS SECTION





• Investigators responded objectively to the results in the discussion of the findings.


• The investigator interpreted the evidence provided by the results, with a careful reflection on all aspects of the study that preceded the results.


• The data presented are summarized. Much data are generated, but only the critical summary numbers for each test are presented. Examples of summarized demographic data are the means and standard deviations of age, education, and income. Including all data is too cumbersome. The results can be viewed as a summary.


• The reduction of data is in both the written text and through the use of tables and figures. Tables and figures facilitate the presentation of large amounts of data.


• Results for the descriptive and inferential statistics for each hypothesis or research question are presented. No data should be omitted even if they are not significant.


• Any untoward events during the course of the study should be reported.


In their study, Alhusen and colleagues (2012) developed tables to present the results visually. Table 17-2 provides a portion of the descriptive results about the subjects’ demographics. Table 17-3 provides the correlations among the study’s variables. Tables allow researchers to provide a more visually thorough explanation and discussion of the results. If tables and figures are used, they must be concise. Although the article’s text is the major mode of communicating the results, the tables and figures serve a supplementary but independent role. The role of tables and figures is to report results with some detail that the investigator does not explore in the text. This does not mean that tables and figures should not be mentioned in the text. The amount of detail that an author uses in the text to describe the specific tabled data varies according to the needs of the author. A good table is one that meets the following criteria:


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Feb 15, 2017 | Posted by in NURSING | Comments Off on Understanding research findings

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