You learn about statistical conclusion errors in every basic nursing research class and are expected to understand what these errors mean. Wait! Did I learn about this, you ask? Yes, yes, you did. Remember Type I and Type II errors? Those are statistical conclusion errors. But I’ll tell you that
When reviewing a clinical practice guideline (CPG) or systematic review (SR) with practice recommendations, you’ll notice two scales that are used in conjunction with each practice recommendation offered: a levels of evidence scale and a grading scale. I talked about levels of evidence (LOE) hierarchies in last week’s post. This
In evidence-based practice (EBP), we talk a lot about “Levels of Evidence.” You will see levels of evidence (LOE) ratings on critically appraised topics or synopses of original research, or in the methodology section or evidence table of a clinical practice guideline or systematic review. But what does an LOE
Whether you’ve got a research paper to write or you are looking for best evidence for a specific intervention, you’ve got to search for the evidence to make or back up your arguments, right? Presumably, you’ve answered your background questions and have your foreground question in a PICO format.
When looking for evidence – where should you start? Well at the top of course! At the top of the hierarchy of evidence quality is pre-appraised evidence (Haynes, 2007). If you go through your university or medical library, there are multiple databases to search, such as MEDLINE or CINAHL. You
One of the questions I’ve been asked recently is around finding free online resources for evidence-based practice (EBP). (Of course, I think you are already on the best website for clarifying your questions and really understanding how to be an evidence-based practitioner!) 🙂 I have been obsessed with finding good
P-values and Confidence Intervals In a previous post, I talked about p-values – what they tell you and what they don’t tell you. Quick recap since talking about confidence intervals is related to p-values: p-values ONLY tell you whether a research result is statistically significant or not based on the
This month’s blog theme is nursing research, so I’m discussing the meaning of some statistical concepts to help you interpret the research studies you are reading. I’m going to talk about several concepts this month that I have found both undergraduate and graduate students struggle to really understand. Last week
There are two types of significance used to interpret research studies – statistical significance and clinical significance. They are not the same thing. One answers the question, Are the statistical results due to random chance? and the other answers the question, So what? Will the results matter to our patients?
At some point in your graduate nursing program, you will most likely have to write a literature review about an assigned topic or a self-selected topic (e.g., your thesis, dissertation, or capstone project topic). Undergraduate students don’t typically have to write a full-blown literature review; however, the tips in this post
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