Module 14 Discussion: Specialty Research Articles This week, we will be exploring articles that are not quantitative or qualitative

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Module 14 Discussion: Specialty Research Articles

This week, we will be exploring articles that are not quantitative or qualitative. We will use the phrase "specialty" as a catch all for all other types of research you might encounter. This might be a meta-synthesis or meta-analysis (a collection of qualitative or quantitative articles, respectively), mixed method research (combines quantitative or qualitative) or process improvement articles.

Find a "specialty" article that matches your research focus. I would not suggest using "specialty" as a search term. You might find it helpful to use "meta-synthesis" or "meta-analysis."

Draw on our previous critiquing discussions and assignments and also on readings from your book. How would you critique this article? What are the findings? Do you trust the findings? Why or why not? Do you want to include this article in your final research synthesis? Why or why not?

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON SYSTEMATIC REVIEWS

In your library search, you can also select the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and then search for your topic (this will retrieve any systematic reviews on your topic). Remember that a systematic review is the highest level of evidence when we are considering article types (Review our level of evidence pyramid on page 123). Think about it this way, if we have a systematic review of 10 articles versus a single study, that is like having 10 experts recommend an intervention versus 1 expert recommending an intervention.

One last note on systematic reviews (both meta-synthesis and meta-analysis). If you are using this article type in your final exam synthesis project, remember that the review is a collection of other studies. There is high value in including a systematic review of the highest level of evidence in your research project. While a systematic review is considered a "good find" when doing a change project on your unit and in the community, you may not use a single study AND a systematic review if the single study is part of that review. For example, if you have a systematic review, written by author Fritz (2021), where five studies are included (Anderson (2020); Baker (2019); Charles (2021); Davis (2020); and Erickson (2020), you may not use any of the single studies as an additional resource. This is considered "double-dipping" and would be misleading to your audience. You have already gotten the expert opinions from these studies. If the author has a different article on the same topic (for example, Baker (2021)), then you could use the different article for your synthesis project.

It is important to mention that when performing a literature review for publication (maybe in grad school :), it is not appropriate to use systematic reviews at all and only primary sources should be included. This is because writing a literature review for publication is, in fact, creating your own systematic review. Further, these two examples on the use of systematic reviews correlate to the differences in the DNP (Doctor of Nursing Practice) degree and the PhD in Nursing degree (Philosophy in Nursing), where DNPs want to use the highest levels of evidence to improve clinical practice and PhDs create new evidence to expand the body of knowledge of nursing.