NURS 8201 Week 4 Discussion Levels of Measurement ANSWERS
NURS 8201 Week 4 Discussion Levels of Measurement ANSWERS
Week 4: Quantitative Methods: Analyzing Quantitative Data
Research allows us to learn more. It allows us to go beyond simple questioning and curiosity. It provides us the opportunity to dig deeper, search for outcomes, and explore meaning. Throughout your practice, you will experience the need for research. Whether it is in your educational journey or within your career, research is an integral skill set for your role as a DNP-prepared nurse.
Research begins as a question which leads to the study and collection of data. Through understanding and examining variables, determining levels of measurement, and analyzing outcomes, the question presented comes into clearer focus. This week, you consider the role of research in the field of nursing. You will explore variables in research and analyze data to develop understanding and meaning.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
• Analyze independent and dependent variables for research questions
• Identify levels of measurement for independent and dependent variables
• Analyze approaches for addressing advantages and challenges in the data analysis for variables and levels of measurement
• Evaluate frequency and descriptive statistics
• Summarize descriptive statistics
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Learning Resources
Required Readings (click to expand/reduce)
Gray, J. R., & Grove, S. K. (2020). Burns and Grove’s the practice of nursing research: Appraisal, synthesis, and generation of evidence (9th ed.). Elsevier.
• Chapter 21, “Introduction to Statistical Analysis” (pp. 635–651)
• Chapter 22, “Using Statistics to Describe Variables” (pp. 652–662)
• Chapter 26, “Interpreting Research Outcomes” (pp. 699–716)
Gholami, S., Mojen, L. K., Rassouli, M., Pahlavanzade, B., & Farahani, A. S. (2020). The predictors of postoperative pain among children based on the theory of unpleasant symptoms: A descriptive-correlational study. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 55, 141–146. doi:10.1016/j.pedn.2020.08.006
Huang, J., Qi, H., Lv, K., Chen, X., Zhuang, Y., & Yang, L. (2020). Emergence delirium in elderly patients as a potential predictor of subsequent postoperative delirium: A descriptive correlational study. Journal of PeriAnesthesia Nursing, 35(5), 478–483. doi:10.1016/j.jopan.2019.11.009
Document: Week 4 Descriptive Statistics SPSS Output (PDF)
Document: CITI Program Learner Registration Guide (PDF)
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Discussion: Levels of Measurement
What is the incidence of blood clots from COVID-19 in females over the age of 35?
The above question is an example of a research question. A research question consists of three parts and guides the methods and approaches in which you will study the question to find answers. The research question includes: the question, the topic, and the population or variables. In the example provided above, the question is examining the prevalence of blood clots from severe COVID-19 in a selected population. From this question, the variables can be assessed, considerations can be analyzed, and populations can be sampled in order to guide the research.
Photo Credit: Socha, A. (n.d.). Scale question, balance [Photograph]. pixabay.com. https://pixabay.com/photos/puzzle-last-part-joining-together-3223922/
During Week 2, you developed a research problem statement based on a topic of interest to you or your specific area of practice. Using this research problem statement, you will develop a research question. “A research question is a concise, interrogative statement that is worded in the present tense and includes one or more of a study’s principal concepts or variables” (Gray & Grove, 2020). These questions typically point to the type of study that will be conducted and serves as a guide for the research.
For this Discussion, reflect on your research problem statement. Consider the independent and dependent variables of your research problem through the construction of a research question. Reflect on the potential levels of measurement for your variables and the rationale for the labels, as well as consider the advantages and challenges that you might experience in the statistical analysis of your proposed variables.
Reference: Gray, J. R., & Grove, S. K. (2020). Burns and Grove’s the practice of nursing research: Appraisal, synthesis, and generation of evidence (9th ed.). Elsevier.
To Prepare:
• Review your research problem statement from Week 2 to develop your research question.
• Review the Learning Resources on how to describe variables.
• Consider the levels of measurement for your variables: nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio.
• After reviewing your research question and considering the levels of measurement, analyze your classification for each variable. What was behind your reasoning for labeling the variables? How might the data be analyzed based on these labels?
• Consider advantages and challenges that you might encounter in the statistical analysis of your proposed variables.
By Day 3 of Week 4
Post your research question and describe the independent and dependent variables. Then, identify the level of measurement of both your independent and dependent variables. Provide a brief rationale for your classification of each variable. Be specific. Explain considerations of analyzing data related to each variable based on its level of measurement. Be sure to include any advantages or challenges that you might encounter in your statistical analysis of each variable and explain why.
By Day 6 of Week 4
Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses and respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days by noting any discrepancies and/or suggesting alternatives in the levels of measurement and statistical analyses described.
Submission and Grading Information
Grading Criteria
To access your rubric:
Week 4 Discussion Rubric
Post by Day 3 of Week 4 and Respond by Day 6 of Week 4
To Participate in this Discussion:
Week 4 Discussion
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Assignment: Frequency and Descriptive Statistics
Imagine that you have collected data from 100 patients. You have carefully compiled vitals, pain scores, and medications for each of the patients. However, what does all of this data mean? Is your work now done?
How do we make data meaningful? Why must we move beyond the raw data to ensure that data is purposeful?
Descriptive analysis is the analysis of the data to develop meaning. Descriptive analysis provides meaning through showing, describing, and summarizing the data compiled to “reveal characteristics of the sample and to describe study variables” (Gray & Grove, 2020). This allows the researcher to present data in a more meaningful and simplified way.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
For this Assignment, summarize your interpretation of the descriptive statistics provided to you in the Week 4 Descriptive Statistics SPSS Output document. You will evaluate each variable in your analysis.
Reference: Gray, J. R., & Grove, S. K. (2020). Burns and Grove’s the practice of nursing research: Appraisal, synthesis, and generation of evidence (9th ed.). Elsevier.
To Prepare:
• Review the Week 4 Descriptive Statistics SPSS Output provided in this week’s Learning Resources.
• Review the Learning Resources on how to interpret descriptive statistics, including how to interpret research outcomes.
• Consider the results presented in the SPSS output and reflect on how you might interpret the frequency distributions and the descriptive statistics presented.
The Assignment: (2–3 pages)
• Summarize your interpretation of the frequency data provided in the output for respondent’s age, highest school grade completed, and family income from prior month.
• Note: A frequency analysis is way of summarizing data by depicting the number of times a data value occurs in the data table or output. It is used to analyze the data set including where the data are concentrated or clustered, the range of values, observation of extreme values, and to determine intervals for analysis that could make sense in categorizing your variable values.
• Summarize your interpretation of the descriptive statistics provided in the output for respondent’s age, highest school grade completed, race and ethnicity, currently employed, and family income from prior month.
• Note: The descriptive analysis includes N (size of your sample), the mean, the median, the standard deviation, the size and spread of your data to determine the variability/variance in your data.
Reminder: The College of Nursing requires that all papers submitted include a title page, introduction, summary, and references. The Sample Paper provided at the Walden Writing Center provides an example of those required elements (available at https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/templates/general#s-lg-box-20293632). All papers submitted must use this formatting.
By Day 7
Submit your Assignment by Day 7 of Week 4.
Submission and Grading Information
To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:
• Please save your Assignment using the naming convention “WK4Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” as the name.
• Click the Week 4 Assignment Rubric to review the Grading Criteria for the Assignment.
• Click the Week 4 Assignment link. You will also be able to “View Rubric” for grading criteria from this area.
• Next, from the Attach File area, click on the Browse My Computer button. Find the document you saved as “WK4Assgn+last name+first initial.(extension)” and click Open.
• If applicable: From the Plagiarism Tools area, click the checkbox for I agree to submit my paper(s) to the Global
Reference Database.
• Click on the Submit button to complete your submission.
Grading Criteria
To access your rubric:
Week 4 Assignment Rubric
Check Your Assignment Draft for Authenticity
To check your Assignment draft for authenticity:
Submit your Week 4 Assignment draft and review the originality report.
Submit Your Assignment by Day 7 of Week 4
To participate in this Assignment:
Week 4 Assignment
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What’s Coming Up in Module 3?
Photo Credit: [BrianAJackson]/[iStock / Getty Images Plus]/Getty Images
In the next module, you will continue your exploration of quantitative research and data analysis. You will look more closely at additional techniques and methods of conducting quantitative data analysis and interpretation.
Looking Ahead: Assignment: CITI Program Training
As a doctorally-prepared nurse, you may have opportunities to collaborate in research activities in your practice. The Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI Program) provides education on protection of human subjects. In the United States, the CITI Program is the training module that most research institutions use. Therefore, as a part of this course, you are required to successfully complete the CITI Program training by Day 7 of Week 9.
Photo Credit: Андрей Яланский / Adobe Stock
This online course may take up to 8 hours to complete. You will receive an electronic Certificate of Completion upon successfully passing the training. You will submit this Certificate of Completion to the Walden University Institutional Review Board office when you submit an application to conduct research.
To Prepare
• Follow the instructions on the CITI Program Learner Registration webpage to create your account (https://www.citiprogram.org/index.cfm?pageID=154&icat=0&clear=1).
o Review the CITI Program Learner Registration Guide for step-by-step instructions on completing the registration process.
o Be sure to select Walden University under the “Select Your Organization Affiliation” section. If you do not select Walden University, you will not be able to access the training at no cost.
• Create and record your CITI Program User Name and Password for future reference.
To complete:
By Day 7 of Week 9
• Complete the five required Citi Program training modules as well as the two elective modules.
• Copy and paste the Certificate of Completion into a Word document and save the file as a “.doc” or “.rtf” file.
You are not required to submit this Assignment this week.
Note: This Assignment must be completed by Day 7 of Week 9 in order for you to successfully complete this course.
Next Module
To go to the next module:
Module 3
4 months ago
RE: Discussion – Week 4
COLLAPSE
Week 4 Post
My research question which has been adjusted is “Does the level of prenatal care in African American women ages 18-40 influence the maternal mortality rate?” The variables involved which are the independent variable and dependent variable play an essential part in the prospective research study. These study variables can take on different values and vary which makes it a part of an empirical phenomenon.
The purpose of independent and dependent variables is to be used as tools to formulate and design the research study (Flannelly, Flannelly, Jankwoski, 2014). The independent variable from the research question is the level of prenatal care. The dependent variable from the research question is the maternal mortality rate. The independent variable is the variable that will have the presumed effect on the dependent variable.
The independent variable will be displayed as a nominal measurement which implies numbers that aim to categorize reactions into discreet, jointly, and selected categories. The basis for these categories will serve to identify and separate information using numbers (Prion,2013). In this case, African American women would be the known nominal variable in this research study. The dependent variable is demonstrated as the ordinal measurement which is known as rankings that are prioritized based on the criterion. The maternal mortality rate will be evaluated based on a chart, score, or survey data system.
Factors to consider when analyzing each variable based on the level of measurement includes the purpose of the study, hypotheses, questions, or objectives, research design, level of measurement, previous experience in statistical analysis, statistical knowledge level, availability of statistical consultation, financial resources; and access to statistical software (Gray, Grove, & Sutherland, 2017). Out of
these factors, I would say the hypothesis is one of the most important elements because it clearly determines what statistics are needed to test the variables. A decision tree is also imperative to put together when analyzing data based on the variables because it can guide your decisions by narrowing alternatives presented. A challenge in making a decision tree, however, is that if you make an incorrect or uninformed decision (guess), you can be led down a path where you might select an inappropriate statistical procedure for your study (Gray, Grove, & Sutherland, 2017).
References
Flannelly, L.T., Flannelly, K.J., & Jankwoski, K.R. (2014). Independent, Dependent, and Other Variables in Healthcare and Chaplaincy Research, Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy, 20(4), 161-170.
Gray, J.R., Grove, S.K., & Sutherland, S. (2017). Burn’s and Grove’s the practice of nursing research: Appraisal, synthesis, and generation of evidence (8th ed.), St. Louis, MO: Saunders Elsevier
Prion, S. (2013). Making Sense of Methods and Measurement: Levels of Measurement for Quantitative Research. Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 9(1), 35-36.

NURS 8201 Week 4 Discussion Levels of Measurement ANSWERS Grading Rubric Guidelines
Performance Category | 10 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 0 |
Scholarliness
Demonstrates achievement of scholarly inquiry for professional and academic decisions. |
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Performance Category | 10 | 9 | 8 | 4 | 0 |
Application of Course Knowledge –
Demonstrate the ability to analyze, synthesize, and/or apply principles and concepts learned in the course lesson and outside readings and relate them to real-life professional situations |
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Performance Category | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
Interactive Dialogue
Replies to each graded thread topic posted by the course instructor, by Wednesday, 11:59 p.m. MT, of each week, and posts a minimum of two times in each graded thread, on separate days. (5 points possible per graded thread) |
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Summarizes what was learned from the lesson, readings, and other student posts for the week. |
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Minus 1 Point | Minus 2 Point | Minus 3 Point | Minus 4 Point | Minus 5 Point | |
Grammar, Syntax, APA
Note: if there are only a few errors in these criteria, please note this for the student in as an area for improvement. If the student does not make the needed corrections in upcoming weeks, then points should be deducted. Points deducted for improper grammar, syntax and APA style of writing. The source of information is the APA Manual 6th Edition |
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0 points lost | -5 points lost | ||||
Total Participation Requirements
per discussion thread |
The student answers the threaded discussion question or topic on one day and posts a second response on another day. | The student does not meet the minimum requirement of two postings on two different days | |||
Early Participation Requirement
per discussion thread |
The student must provide a substantive answer to the graded discussion question(s) or topic(s), posted by the course instructor (not a response to a peer), by Wednesday, 11:59 p.m. MT of each week. | The student does not meet the requirement of a substantive response to the stated question or topic by Wednesday at 11:59 pm MT. |