Key Concepts in
Quantitative Research
Dr. Nidal F. Eshah
RN, CNS, PhD
Faces and Places of Research
Study, investigation or research project.
Subjects, study participants or respondents.
Researcher, investigator or scientist.
Project director or principal investigator (PI).
Co-investigators.
Collaborative research.
Consultants.
Funder or sponsor.
Reviewers (peer reviewers).
Mentors.
Research Settings
Site
Multisite studies
Naturalistic settings
Laboratory settings
Quasi-natural
Building Blocks of a Study
Variables are the central building
blocks of quantitative studies.
A characteristic or quality that takes on
different values, i.e., that varies from
one person to the next.
Examples:
Blood type
Weight
Length of stay in hospital
Research focuses on abstract rather
than tangible phenomena. (e.g. pain,
coping, grief, and resilience are all
abstractions of particular aspects of
human behavior and characteristics).
These abstractions are referred to as
concepts.
Construct refers to an abstraction or
mental representation inferred from
situations or behaviors.
The terms construct and concept are
sometimes used interchangeably.
Although by convention, a construct often
refers to a more complex abstraction than a
concept.
Types of Variables
Continuous (e.g., height, weight)
Discrete Variables
Categorical (e.g., marital status,
gender)
Dichotomous variables
** Attribute variable vs. Active variable
Types of Variables (cont.)
Independent variable —the presumed
cause (of a dependent variable)
Dependent variable —the presumed effect
(of an independent variable)
Variability in the dependent variable is presumed to
depend on variability in the independent variable.
Example: Smoking (IV) Lung cancer (DV)
Does a nursing intervention cause more rapid
recovery?
Definitions of Concepts and
Variables
Conceptual definition:
the abstract or theoretical meaning of
a concept being studied.
Operational definition:
the operations (measurements) a
researcher must perform to collect
the desired information.
Variability
Homogeneous
Heterogeneous
Data
Are the pieces of information obtained in the course
of the investigation.
In quantitative studies, researchers identify the
variables of interest, develop operational definitions
of those variables, and then collect relevant data
from subjects.
The actual values of the study variables constitute
the data for the project.
Quantitative researchers collect primarily
quantitative data—information in numeric form.
Box 2.1 Example of Quantitative Data
Box 2.2 Example of Qualitative Data
Relationships
A bond or connection between variables.
Cause-and-effect
(causal) relationship (e.g., cigarette
smoking and lung cancer)
Functional
(associative) relationship (e.g., gender
and life expectancy)
Key Challenges of Doing Research
Conceptual
Financial
Practical
Ethical
Clinical
Methodologic
Major Methodologic Challenges
Designing studies that are:
Reliable and valid (quantitative
studies)
Criteria for Evaluating Quantitative
Research
Reliability
The accuracy and consistency of obtained
information.
Validity
The soundness of the evidence—whether
findings are convincing, well-grounded.
Bias
Bias is a major concern in designing a study
because it can threaten the study’s validity.
Bias: an influence producing a distortion in
study results.
Examples of factors creating bias:
Lack of participant candor
Faulty methods of data collection
Researcher’s preconceptions
Faulty study design
Types of Bias
Random bias: a handful of study participants
might fail to provide totally accurate information
as a result of extreme fatigue at the time the
data were collected.
Systematic bias: results when the bias is
consistent or uniform.
* Quantitative researchers use various methods to
combat the effects of bias, and many of these
entail research control.
Research
Control in Quantitative Studies
Achieved by holding constant factors (extraneous
variables) that influence the dependent variable, to
better understand its relationship with the
independent variable.
Example:
1. Mother’s age infant birth weight
2. Mother’s age prenatal care infant birth weight
3. Mother’s age nutrition infant birth weight
Randomness—An important tool for achieving
control over extraneous variables.
Replication
Virtually every study has flaws or limitations.
Nursing practice is almost never changed on the
basis of a single study, no matter how sound.
Evidence-based practice generally builds on
accumulated evidence.
Replication: are attempts to validate the
findings from one study in an independent
inquiry.
Generalizability
Generalizability:
The extent to which study findings
are valid for other groups not in the
study
