A Nursing Research Critique Essay

McGrath, M., Lyng, C., & Hourican, S. (2012, September). From the simulation lab to the ward: Preparing 4th year nursing students for the role of staff nurse. Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 8(7), e265-e272. The length of the title of the study is important. According to Connell Meehan (1999), the title should be between 10 and 15 words long and should clearly identify for the reader the purpose of the study (Coughlan, M., Cronin, P., Ryan, F. 2007). Parahoo (2006) said that titles that are too long or too short can be confusing or misleading (Coughlan et. al. 2007). The title of the study â€Å"From the simulation lab to the ward: Preparing 4th year nursing students for the role of staff nurse† is consist of 18 words. The title maybe too long and does not clearly reflect or represent the variables used in the study. A research problem is often first presented to the reader in the introduction to the study (Bassett and Bassett, 2003). The problem was not stated clearly in the introduction of the study. However, the authors have referred to it as the purpose of the study. In either case the statement should at least broadly indicate to the reader what is to be studied (Polit and Beck, 2006). The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between management styles and nurses’ retention at private hospitals using the Likert’s Profile of Organizational Characteristics to: (1) measure the nurses’ perception of management styles in their work unit; (2) to allow nurses to briefly describe the management system as they perceived being practiced in the organization; (3) and to give them an opportunity to indicate which management system do they desire in the future, all of which were given to staff nurses in in-patient units in different hospitals. It is significant in the nursing practice and administration since it is focused on the management styles and retention of staff nurses. The researchers presumably stated that Managers who retain staff start by communicating clear expectations to the nurse. It is said that they share their picture of what constitutes success for the nurse with regard to both the expected  deliverables and the perform ance of their job. These managers provide frequent feedback and make the nurse feel valued. When a nurse completes an exchange with a manager who retains staff, he or she feels empowered, enabled, and confident in his or her ability to get the job done. A research hypothesis is the statement created by researchers when they speculate upon the outcome of a research or experiment (Shuttleworth, 2008). It must be a specific, testable prediction about what you expect to happen in your study (Cherry, 2012). However, there was no mention of a hypothesis in the study. Also, its absence was not justified. A literature review is a process of reading, analyzing, evaluating, and summarizing scholarly materials about a specific topic (Sage, 1998). There should be clear links between the aims of the research study and the literature review, the choice of research designs and means used to collect data, the discussion of the issues, and its conclusions and recommendations (Nordquist, 2009). In terms of this, the study has various references that can reinforce their research statement. Before the study was conducted in three private hospitals, permission to conduct the study was obtained from the ethical committee of the Faculty of Nursing, as well as directors of the studied hospitals to collect necessary data. However, it is not indicated in the study if they followed the principle of confidentiality and full disclosure during the data gathering. Complete confidentiality of information provided by the subjects will not be publicly reported or accessible to others (Polit & Beck, 2008). The design used in the study is correlation-descriptive. A correlational study is a method designed to determine if two or more variables are associated with each other. Descriptive method is used to describe the present behavior or characteristics of a particular population. The population and sample were described sufficiently. In addition, Roscoe (1975) suggested some simple â€Å"rules of thumb† for selecting appropriate sample sizes based on an analysis of acceptable confidence levels in behavioral research studies (Alreck & Settle, 2010). The general recommendation is that sample sizes be at least 30 and need not be larger than 500 (at 500, sample error will not exceed 10 percent of the standard deviation about 98 percent of the time). Furthermore, within this range of 30 to 500, it is appropriate to sample 10 percent of a population (Alreck  & Settle, 2010). The population size of the study is 228 which are within the limit of Roscoe’s Rule of Thumb. The instrument utilized was the Profile of Organizational Characteristics (POC), which was in an 8-point likert scale. According to Chomeya (2010), an 8-point Likert Scale is appropriate to research that has several variables because it will make the test as a whole. An 8-point likert scale prevents bias present in a 5-point scale (Chomeya et. al. 2010. The questionnaire was translated into Arabic and was tested for relevance and reliability. Cronbach’s alpha was used and it yielded 0.89, which indicates good reliability. After obtaining consent, the data collection was done which included three phases. During the first phase, the researchers obtained a list of number and names of all nurses. All of those that are obtained are interviewed and oriented with regard to the study and the concern of the instrument to be used. The second phase commenced 9 months after the first phase. Data were collected from director of nursing and head nurses about the numbers and name of nurses who had quit and reasons for leaving their units. The reasons are then classified into obligatory and non-obligatory reasons. Nurses’ retention was calculated in the last phase by subtracting the number of nurses who had quit the hospitals from the total number of nurses available during data collection, divided by the total number of nurses and then multiplied by 100. A rule of thumb is that studies that are descriptive in design only use descriptive statistics (Polit and Beck, 2006). Inferential statistical tests are used to identify if a relationship or difference between variables is statistically significant. Inferential statistics, which are based on the laws of probability, provide a means for drawing conclusions about a population, given data from a sample. In the study, the researchers performed data analysis using SPSS version 11.5 for Windows using descriptive and inferential statistics. The researchers clearly defined what statistical tests were undertaken and why these tests  were used. To enhance readability researchers frequently present their findings and data analysis section in tabulated forms of data by categories. This can help the reviewer determine if the results that are presented clearly answer the research questions. The flow in the discussion of findings is also logical and it is related to the literature review thus placing the study in context. The significance of the findings should be stated but these should be considered within the overall strengths and limitations of the study (Polit and Beck, 2006). The researchers have explored the clinical significance and relevance of the study and the implications of the study are well stated, and the researchers impose recommendations with regard to their conclusion.