Assignment : Final Project Part III: Designing a Study

You are the hospital administrator in a medium-sized, urban, for-profit hospital that caters to middle-income groups. You wonder if patients' satisfaction with the hospital stay will increase significantly if they are given better and more flexible meal options. You decide to conduct a research study to find the answer. The first step is to design the study.

Design a descriptive study to investigate if better meal options will increase patient satisfaction. Include the following elements of design:

1. Develop a research question or purpose of the study

2. Selection of subjects for study (what is the sample)

3. Assignment of subjects to experimental or control groups

4. Study time period

5. Type of data to be gathered

6. Measures of meal options and of patient satisfaction

7. Method of data collection

8. Guidelines for data interpretation

After you complete building the study design, list three design elements you considered in your study that were not readily obvious in the one you read last week "Diagnosed with Breast Cancer While on a Family History Screening Programme: An Exploratory Qualitative Study."

Research Evaluation Checklist

Complete the checklist below for the study/article you are to evaluate.

Definetopicandneed.

• What phenomenon does the study investigate?

• Is the phenomenon a problem, an opportunity, or a dilemma?

• What symptoms (easily observable signs) indicate that it is a problem, opportunityor a dilemma?

• How do people who know this organization explain these symptoms? Whatdo administrators wanttoknow about the phenomenon?

• How can it be expressed in manageable terms?

Assessrelevantknowledge.

• How much is already known?

• Isadditional background information necessary? Should thisresearch be conducted?

• Isthe topic a special case ofa broader, more fundamental and important problem?

Identify variablesandmeasures,andresearchquestionsandhypotheses.

• Whatvariables associated with the phenomenon areinvestigated? How are the variables measured?

• Whatare the research questions?

• Whatspecific hypotheses are formulated?

Identify andanalyzetheresearchdesign.

• Whatis the research design-exploratory,descriptive, or causal research? Isthis non-experimental, quasi-experimental, or experimental research? Whatis the nature ofdata-primary or secondary?

• Whatis the source ofdata-interviews,questionnaires,existing databases? Are answers obtained through interviews and questionnaires objective?

Analyzethesample.

• Whatis the population from which the respondents have been selected? How large is the sample?

• Isit random, stratified,or other sample?

Gather data.

• How are data gathered?

• Does the procedure ofgathering data ensure objectivity?

Analyzedata.

• Are the data words (qualitativedata) or numbers (quantitative)? How are qualitative data analyzed?

• How are quantitative data recorded and checked foraccuracy? Whatstatistical methods are used toanalyze data?

Assessresults.

• Whatare the answerstoresearch questions? Are hypotheses supported?

• Whatevidence did the study produce thathelps answer research questions or support/refute hypotheses?

Evaluaterecommendations.

Whatrecommendations can be made on the basis ofresults?

Whatrecommendations are made thatcannot be supported with results?

Evaluatethestudy.

• Whatlimitations does the study have?

• Whatimprovements in research design can be recommended?

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