Selecting Appropriate Analysis Techniques for Studies

1: A researcher surveyed two groups of professionals, nurse practitioners and physicians, and asked them whether or not they supported expanding the role of nurse practitioners’ (NPs) prescribing privileges, answered as either “yes” or “no.” Her research question is: Is there a difference between NPs and physicians on proportions of support for expanded prescription privileges? What is the appropriate statistic to address the research question?

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2: What statistic would be appropriate for an associational research question involving the correlation between two non-normally distributed, skewed continuous variables?

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3: A researcher is interested in the extent to which years of practice among NPs predicts level of support for expanded prescription privileges, measured on a 10-point Likert scale. She finds that both variables, years of practice and level of support, are normally distributed. Her research question is: Does years of practice among NPs predict level of support for expanded prescription privileges? What is the appropriate statistic to address the research question?

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4: What statistic would be appropriate for a difference research question involving the comparison of two independent groups on a normally distributed continuous dependent variable?

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5: A statistics professor tests her students’ level of knowledge at the beginning of the semester and administers the same test at the end of the semester. She compares the two sets of continuous scores. Her research question is: Is there a difference in statistics knowledge from the beginning to the end of the semester? What is the appropriate statistic to address the research question, if the scores are normally distributed?

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6: What is the appropriate statistic to address the research question in Question 5 if the scores are NOT normally distributed?

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7: What is the appropriate statistic to identify the association between two dichotomous variables, where the researcher is interested in identifying the odds of an outcome occurring?

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8: What statistic would be appropriate for a difference research question involving the comparison of two independent groups on a non-normally distributed, skewed continuous dependent variable?

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9: A nurse educator is interested in the difference between traditional clinical instruction in pediatrics and simulated pediatrics instruction in a BSN (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) program. She randomizes students to receiving 50 hours of either traditional clinical rotations in a pediatrics department or 50 hours of simulated instruction in pediatrics. At the end of the 50 hours, the students are assessed for clinical competency in pediatrics using a standardized instrument that yields a pass/fail result. Her research question is: Is there a difference in between the traditional clinical group and the simulation group on rates of passing the competency assessment? What is the appropriate statistic to address the research question?

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10: What statistic would be appropriate for an associational research question involving the extent to which a set of variables predict a continuous, normally distributed dependent variable?

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.