Readings and Overview Topic 1 Importance to Nursing Topic 2 Defining the terms Topic 3 The research setting Topic 4 The research process Topic 5 Pilot study Topic 6 Research reports Topic 7 Research critique Topic 8 Critique phases Web Assignment References Feedback	TOPIC 5: The pilot study Objective 5: Explain the purposes of a pilot study. The pilot study is a type of research design. It is usually a smaller version of a proposed study that is undertaken for a variety of reasons, some of which are: To assess feasibility of the study. This can include subject availability and researcher time and money To develop or refine an intervention, treatment or protocol for implementing the intervention To identify problems with the design To determine representativeness of the sample and effectiveness of the sampling technique To evaluate reliability and validity of the measurement methods To develop or refine instruments used for data collection To refine plans for data collection and analysis To provide a researcher with experience conducting all facets of the study design To try out data analysis techniques Conducting research is expensive, so, by conducting a pilot study, a researcher can identify and fix potential problems with any elements of the research design. Activity This is a group activity. All members of each group are expected to participate and contribute. The purpose of this discussion group activity is to give you the opportunity to apply the content you have learned this week to understanding and identifying the organization and steps of a quantitative research article. In your groups discuss the Houston and Jesurum (1999) article. The questions below are provided to guide the discussion but not all questions need to be addressed. And, no one individual should feel the need to answer all of the questions. Using the Houston and Jesurum (1999) article, identify the authors' efforts to provide control for the study. What type of sampling did they use? What extraneous variables did they control for? How did they control for these extraneous variables? Can you think of any other extraneous variables they might have considered controlling? What extraneous variables were controlled through the inclusion criteria for the sample? What was the setting for the study? The article states that this is a pilot study. Do the authors identify any of the reasons, discussed in Topic #5, for conducting a pilot study? Are you able to infer any reasons from reading the article? What number of primary sources do the authors cite in the reference list, secondary sources? Are the references from research journals or clinical journals? How did you decide what type of journal is cited? Identify the steps of the research process in this article. If you are unable to identify a step, note that. Under what subheadings were the steps found? Were the steps easy or difficult to identify? What is the identified research problem? What is the study purpose? Where were these found? Did the problem follow the purpose? Were they stated more than once, if so where?
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