What is evidence-based practice? How does it relate to research? What is the significance of

evidence-based practice and research in nursing and health care in general? These are questions

you may have asked yourself as you prepared for this course.

 

Evidence-based practice is a term used to describe the integration of individual clinician

experience and knowledge with external information from reputable studies and data sets.

Research is an integral component of evidence-based practice; it can support or offer other

options for the opinions of clinicians (including doctors, nurses, specialists, and other health care

professionals) regarding patient care, and it allows clinicians to make informed decisions.

In order to utilize evidence for practice, health care professionals need to be familiar with key

research concepts and statistical principles necessary to evaluate data. The first week of this

course introduces you to the fundamental concepts of research as they relate to nursing and

evidence-based practice. You explore the two major methods of research, quantitative and

qualitative, and consider the characteristics of each method. You also consider how each method

can be applied to evidence-based nursing practice.NURS 8200 Week 1 Discussion: Quantitative

and Qualitative Research in Clinical Settings

Learning Resources

Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course

Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.

Required Media

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011). Research methods for evidence-based

practice: Introduction to research and analysis. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 10 minutes.

In this week’s video, the presenters discuss the use of research in health care and how health care

professionals can select appropriate research topics. The video also discusses how to identify

organizational sources of data for health care research.

Accessible player

Tutorials

Walden University. (n.d.). Overview of quantitative research methods. Retrieved August 1, 2011,

from http://streaming.waldenu.edu/hdp/researchtutorials/qualitative/index.html

This tutorial provides an overview of qualitative research design and methods, including the key

questions to consider when using a qualitative methodology.