1. Reflect on your practice and identify a significant clinical issue that you would like to search for evidence in online sources. This issue will be the basis for the Research Database Assignment that you will submit Week 4. Describe what makes your issue significant, for example, the seriousness, the number of people affected, the gaps in knowledge, and so forth. Remember to integrate references.

2. Read the assigned case study and formulate searchable, clinical questions in the PICO(T) format. There are several potential questions that could be asked. Identify if the focus of your question is assessment, etiology, treatment, or prognosis. Remember to integrate references.

3. Using your Significant Clinical Issue from Week 2, describe the knowledge gap that research could fill. Identify the PICO(T) elements that might be found in a research question related to the problem.

4. Review the guidelines, grading rubric, and brief video (link found in guidelines) that explain the Research Database Assignment due in Week 4. Search for one research database that is relevant to this assignment, and briefly describe the issue you are investigating, the name of the research database, and where it may be found, that is, the URL.
Briefly describe your process for locating databases that contain relevant research studies. Did you have any difficulties or face any challenges?

5. The most common sampling method is the convenience sample; therefore, many of the studies that you find for evidence use this sampling method. What are the implications for using a convenience sample on the way you interpret and use the findings?

6. Read one of the case studies from Your Genes, Your Choices: Exploring the Issues Raised by Genetics Research (a PDF of this may be downloaded from Doc Sharing). Consider the legal and ethical issues that may occur as the result of genetics research. Identify the name of the case and explain something new that you learned about ethical and legal issues regarding research by completing this statement, "I didn't know _____."

The legal/ethical dilemmas discussed in these cases are timeless, but the details of the case studies may be dated. If you would prefer, you may discuss a legal/ethical issue issue you have faced at your facility instead of analyzing a case.

7. Describe what reliability means in terms of research and why it is important. How does a researcher ensure that reliability is maintained in instruments and between raters?

8. Download the Class Survey from Doc Sharing and answer the questions. You are not to submit your answers, nor is the survey graded. This experience is to provide you with insight into being a human subject. What was your impression of this data collection tool and the type of questions it asked?

9. Consider a policy or procedure at your facility that you believe may be not following best practices. Search for at least two research reports (preferably systematic reviews) that address the policy or procedure. Cite your sources. After reading the results sections of the reports, would you recommend to keep or change your current policy or procedure? Defend your decision based on the strength of the evidence.

10. Earlier in the course you were asked to complete the Class Survey. The results are in! Findings from students who have taken NR439 can be found in Doc Sharing. Review these and describe what the results say about this sample of students.

11. How does a nurse know what (if any) knowledge in a research study is useable for clinical practice? What would a critical thinker look for in the evidence before deciding to change? What influence do credibility and significance have on your decisions to integrate research-based evidence into your practice?

12. Discuss the research databases that you discovered related to the clinical issue that you chose for the Research Databases Assignment. Summarize the evidence you found in your Research Database Assignment. Explain how you would share this with your clinical practice area.

13. How has your thinking changed about nursing research and evidence-based practice as the result of this course?