PBC Research Methods & Evidence-Based Practice 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A nurse researcher conducting a phenomenological study of NICU loss sends member checks to participants. The purpose of member checking is to:
- Increase the sample size for generalizability
- Enhance the credibility of qualitative findings by verifying interpretations with participants (Correct answer)
- Replace peer debriefing in the audit trail
- Quantify themes into numeric codes
Correct answer: Enhance the credibility of qualitative findings by verifying interpretations with participants
Member checking enhances credibility (trustworthiness) in qualitative research by returning findings to participants to confirm accuracy of interpretation.
Question 2: Which measure of central tendency is MOST appropriate when reporting grief scores in a sample with extreme outliers?
- Mean
- Mode
- Median (Correct answer)
- Standard deviation
Correct answer: Median
The median is resistant to extreme values and provides a better representation of central tendency in skewed distributions.
Question 3: A bereavement researcher wants to study whether type of pregnancy loss (miscarriage vs. stillbirth vs. neonatal death) predicts grief intensity at 6 months. The MOST appropriate design is:
- A single-group longitudinal cohort with repeated measures (Correct answer)
- A cross-sectional survey administered at one time point
- A randomized controlled trial with blinded allocation
- An ethnographic study with participant observation
Correct answer: A single-group longitudinal cohort with repeated measures
A longitudinal cohort design allows comparison of groups over time, which is necessary to assess grief intensity at 6 months by loss type.
Question 4: In bereavement research, the concept of 'transferability' in qualitative studies is analogous to which concept in quantitative research?
- Reliability
- External validity / generalizability (Correct answer)
- Internal validity
- Statistical significance
Correct answer: External validity / generalizability
Transferability—whether findings apply to other contexts—parallels external validity or generalizability in quantitative research.
Question 5: A grief scale used in a bereavement program shows the same scores when administered by two different clinicians. This property is best described as:
- Content validity
- Inter-rater reliability (Correct answer)
- Construct validity
- Test-retest reliability
Correct answer: Inter-rater reliability
Inter-rater reliability measures consistency of scores when the same instrument is used by different raters or administrators.
Question 6: A systematic review on perinatal bereavement interventions finds high statistical heterogeneity (I² = 82%) across studies. This result MOST suggests:
- The studies can be safely pooled into a single effect estimate
- Substantial variation in outcomes across studies, cautioning against simple pooling (Correct answer)
- The intervention is highly effective across all settings
- The sample sizes in included studies were too small
Correct answer: Substantial variation in outcomes across studies, cautioning against simple pooling
High I² (>75%) indicates substantial heterogeneity, meaning study results vary considerably and pooled estimates must be interpreted cautiously.
Question 7: When appraising a clinical practice guideline on perinatal bereavement care, which element is MOST important to evaluate for evidence quality?
- The number of authors who contributed to the guideline
- The grading system used to link recommendations to strength of evidence (Correct answer)
- The journal impact factor where the guideline was published
- The date the guideline was posted online
Correct answer: The grading system used to link recommendations to strength of evidence
A transparent grading system (e.g., GRADE) that links each recommendation to its supporting evidence quality is the cornerstone of guideline appraisal.
PBC Research Methods & Evidence-Based Practice 3
A nurse researcher conducting a phenomenological study of NICU loss sends member checks to participants.
The purpose of member checking is to: