National Child Rights Research Fellowship 2015-16 (NCRRF Year 9)

National Child Rights Research Fellowship 2015-16 (NCRRF Year 9)

Child Rights and You (CRY) announced the Awardees for the National Child Rights Research Fellowship 2015-16 (NCRRF Year 9). They selected five researchers for the award of an individual research fellowship at the national level. I was selected to conduct the research on "Determinants of health and vulnerabilities among children in suburban areas in Chennai”.

Other research fellows were;

1. Taruna Jain who will be studying “Deconstruction and construction of Self and Identity amongst Adolescents in Mohallas”.
2. Hemlata Kansotia who will be looking for keen insights into “Is the `Best Interest Principle’, a value, a constitutional right, an interpretative advocacy instrument or a rule of law?”
3. Tanya Anne Pinto to undertake research on “The Onus of Orphanhood: A Qualitative Study to assess discrimination and vulnerability of orphan students in Public schools”.
4. Baba Mayaram, who will do a study on “The Nutrition, Health And Education Status Of Children Of The Rajjhar Community Of Madhya Pradesh”.

Editorial: Choosing the Right Qualitative Approach: Is Phenomenographya Design for my Study?

Editorial: Choosing the Right Qualitative Approach: Is Phenomenographya Design for my Study?

Published in: Pacific Rim International Journal of Nursing Research [Internet]. 16Sep.2019 [cited 21Oct.2019];23(4):314-9. Available from: https://www.tcithaijo.org/index.php/PRIJNR/article/view/216447

Introduction

The Pacific Rim Journal of International NursingResearch has published a wide range of studies utilizing different research approaches, as well as introducing to readers’ descriptions of research approaches they may not have considered before. In this short methodology paper, our aim is two-fold.  We begin by encouraging you as the researcher or the would-be researcher to think carefully about the qualitative approach that you choose for your study.  Then we outline phenomenography so that you can decide whether this would be a useful approach for you to explore and use in the future.  Phenomenography is not well known or utilized much in the Asia-Pacific region in nursing research, apart from in Australia. It has been used in the west, particularly in Scandinavia, but also in the  USA, and UK and a few other countries to study different experiences of the people and their perceptions towards certain phenomena. 

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The nutritional intake, dietary pattern, and health outcomes among the adolescent girls in suburban areas of Chennai

The nutritional intake, dietary pattern, and health outcomes among the adolescent girls in suburban areas of Chennai

Published in: International Journal of Nursing and Education and Research, 2019;7(2):01-05.

Abstract:

The adolescent girls in Suburban areas are getting confused between the tradition of the village and modernization of the city due to the transition effect. They will be in a hurry to run fastly with the modern trends and thus, result in nutritional deficiencies, which don’t produce any signs or symptoms during the adolescence period, but the symptoms may worsen later in the pregnancy period. Based on the assumption, the researcher decided to design a project on the nutritional status of the adolescent girls as part of the National Child Rights Research Fellowship (NCRRF). The researcher conducted a study to assess the nutritional intake, dietary pattern, and health outcomes among adolescent girls in suburban areas of Chennai. The researcher used the cross-sectional descriptive design to assess the nutritional outcomes among the adolescent girls, who were in the age group of 10-18 years from the four suburban areas. The total sample size for the study was 200 and the duration of the study was one year. The data collection instrument has two sections: Socio-demographic data and 24 hours recall method. The majority of the adolescent girls take deficit amount of protein 96 (48.0%), iron 198 (99.0%), calcium 195 (97.5%) and vitamin A 152 (76.0%). The subjects who belong to 16-18 years of age demonstrate excess in calorie 42(50.0%) and fat intake 76 (90.48%), and deficit in protein 40(47.62%), iron (84(100%), calcium 82(97.62%) and vitamin A 65(77.38%). The author concludes the paper by suggesting the recommendations from the individual level to the national level to promote adolescent health.

Keywords: Adolescent girls, nutritional intake, dietary pattern, health outcomes, adolescence, adolescent health

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Social determinants of adolescent girls’ dietary pattern in suburban areas in Chennai: A qualitative approach

Social determinants of adolescent girls’ dietary pattern in suburban areas in Chennai: A qualitative approach

Published in: Manipal Journal of Nursing and Health Sciences, 5(1), 5-11

Abstract

Background: The idea of adolescent well-being is getting importance all around the world and thus there is a lack of national investigations to survey the factors on the dietary pattern of young girls in suburban regions. 

Aim: The objective of the study is to explore the social determinants of adolescent girls’ dietary patterns in suburban areas of Chennai. 

Design: The phenomenological design was used to explore the social determinants of adolescent girl’s nutritional intake. The study population consisted of adolescent girls, who were in the age group of 15-18 years in suburban areas of Chennai. The tool had two sections: Areas of exploration and indicative questions. The total sample size was 19 with three focus group discussions (FGDs). Thematic analysis was used to explore social determinants. 

Results: The four main categories were identified from the adolescent girl’s point of view in terms of social determinants. It consisted of father and mother (as individual determinants), family (merged determinants of father and mother) and related society. The major themes were knowledge and interest in cooking, tiredness, and lack of time of mother, alcoholism, ill health of a family member, the purchasing power of the family, friends circle, agriculture, seasonal variation, and urbanization.

Conclusion: Closing the gaps, both in research and inaction, would profit the society in general, resulting in enhanced wellbeing and health of adolescent girls and help in harnessing their full physical and mental potential for the overall improvement of the population.

Keywords: Adolescent girls, dietary pattern, phenomenology, qualitative approach, social determinants, suburban areas 

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Why have I been touched badly? A 22 years follow-up research study on factors influencing child sex abuse and solutions to stop it.

Why have I been touched badly? A 22 years follow-up research study on factors influencing child sex abuse and solutions to stop it.

Published in: Asian J. Nursing Education and Research. 2019; 9(1):09-16

Abstract

The technology and democracy have helped us to forward the world fastly, without giving an ultimate solution to many social problems which makes the lives nightmare. Among these, the incidence of child sex abuse has become an unresolved issue and is increasing dramatically nowadays. The author has conducted a 22-years prospective and inquisitive search to explore the factors influencing the sex abuse from offender’s and victim/target’s point of view and to find a solution to eradicate this crime towards children. The researcher has selected a personalized cum case study qualitative approach to explore the factors and solution, introduced the paper with a title of ‘Why have I been touched badly’? and masked the title of the study, statement of the problem, research questions, inclusion and exclusion criteria purposefully to ensure confidentiality, anonymity and trust of the participants at cent percent as it is a highly sensitive issue in the society. The researcher has used triangulation method to evolve results bias-free. The researcher has used diary notes, discussions, observations and case studies. It is seen that there are 11 factors contributing to infant sex abuse, 9 & 6 factors for preschooler and schooler sex abuse respectively. The current research identified 6 phases of child sex abuse; observation phase, introduction phase, Samaritan phase, isolation phase, execution phase and termination phase. The existing body of literature regarding this issue is very limited. The researcher decided to discuss the evolved facts with reported cases of child sex abuse and studied on ‘how could it have been prevented?’ The researcher randomly picked five recent reported cases by media with the detailed explanation of the situational factors except the case study VI, which the researcher has purposefully selected this incident to justify the suggested solution to eradicate the child sex abuse in the society. The researcher concludes the paper with a request for revising POCSO act based on the results of the study, thus hopefully be able to stop the child sex abuse forever.

Keywords: Child sex abuse, Pocso act, bad touch, sex offenders, sex abuse victims, a solution to sex abuse

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Lived experience of disaster victims of South Indian floods 2015: To develop a Concatenated Disaster Crisis model using phenomenographical framework analysis

Lived experience of disaster victims of South Indian floods 2015: To develop a Concatenated Disaster Crisis model using phenomenographical  framework analysis

Published in: Indian Journal of continuing nursing education, 2018, 19(2), 44-53.

Abstract:

The 2015 South Indian floods resulted from heavy rain fall in November-December 2015. The South Indian states of Tamil Nadu, particularly Chennai and Andhra Pradesh were badly affected. The aim of the study was to investigate the lived experience of disaster victims of South Indian floods; developing a Concatenated Disaster Crisis model using phenomenographical framework analysis. A qualitative design with phenomenographic approach was used. This study focuses on investigating ‘how do people experience towards the natural phenomenon?’. The results are emerged from three phases of data collection after flooding: within 4 days, 4 months and 3 months subsequently with a total number of 22 samples. The steps followed are familiarization, compilation, condensation, preliminary grouping, preliminary comparison of categories, naming the categories and final outcome space. The results of the study are presented as categories of description and outcome space. Categories of description are typically expressed in the form of 10 categories named as ‘phases’ and description as ‘views’. Ten categories emerged: Disaster ‘expected, but not expected’, pseudo relief ‘save only life’, indolent ‘disaster victims’, reluctant ‘not willing to go back to reality’, empty nest ‘lost everything’, horn bill ‘look at help’, saturation ‘saturated with donated materials’, life initiation ‘start a life from zero point’, recovery ‘disaster becomes a nightmare’ and normal life phase ‘disaster becomes an anecdote’. The Concatenated Disaster Crisis model facilitates the nurses to identify the chain of experiences of victims with variations therein, plan the allocation of resources carefully and provide what the victims are in need. 

Read full article:Lived experience of disaster victims of South Indian floods 2015

Human senses- Identification of six senses in the human

Six human senses

I would like to share my immense happiness on the publication of research "Identification of sixth sense" and getting attention in other countries too. 

Aristotle (390 BCE-350 BCE), the Greek philosopher has viewed that human has five senses-vision, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. In our current research project (2014-2018), we were able to draw that human has six senses. 

(How to cite this article: Jobin, P., Siva, R., Sudha, R., & Hema, V.H. (2018). Intersensory Perception Model: Integrating the sixth sense in providing Nursing care. Manipal Journal of Nursing and Health Sciences, 4(1), 8-17.)

The paper defines the sense or sensing is an ability of a human being for identifying and interpreting the stimulus from the external environment through five sensory organs includes eye, nose, ear, tongue, and skin with six senses such as vision, smell, hearing, taste, touch, and auto-thermoception. 

The sensing is categorized into three:

On sight sensing

It is an ability of a human being to see and interpret the surrounding environment in the visible light through the sensory organ called eyes and the response of the nervous system is known as ophthalmoception.

Abut sensing

The word 'abut' is the Anglo-Latin origin, which means 'touch'. It is an ability of the human being to identify and interpret the surrounding environment by making physical contact through sensory organs such as skin and tongue. The response of the nervous system through tongue is called as gustaoception (taste- for example, ability to interpret taste with the contact between tongue and food) and through the skin with the contact of items is called as thermoception (temperature- for instance, ability to differentiate the high and low temperature with the contact between skin and thermal conductor), nociception (pain - for instance, ability to respond to pain with the contact between skin and needle) and mechanoreception (vibration- for example, ability to identify the vibration with the contact between skin and vibrating material).

Remote sensing

Remote sensing is an ability of the human being to acquire and interpret the surrounding environment without making physical contact and out of sight through sensory organs such as ear, nose, and skin. The response of the nervous system through ear is known as audioception (hearing- for instance, the ability of the human ears to acquire the sound waves from the surrounding) and through nose is olfacception (smell- for instance, ability of the human nose to acquire the smell of the particles from the surrounding). The body is covered with skin, which is normally sensitive to heat and cold. The ability of the skin to identify the level of room temperature in the surrounding environment without touching called auto-thermoception.

The figure explains the three modalities of sensing and highlights five sensory organs and six senses.

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Inter-sensory perception model: Integrating the sixth sense in providing nursing care

Inter-sensory perception model: Integrating the sixth sense in providing nursing care

Published in: Manipal Journal of Nursing and Health Sciences, 4(1), 8-17.
Abstract

Introduction: In 21st century, nursing profession is enriched with many theories. However, there exists a wide gap between knowledge and implementation of nursing care. 

Aim: The paper explains causes of this gap and addresses a solution using a conceptual model titled “Intersensory perception in nursing care ‘under empirical concept’ open your  sixth sense in addition to five traditional senses.” 

Methods: A qualitative case study design was used for testing the conceptual model. 

Results: The paper classifies the different modalities of sensing, adds one more nontraditional sense (auto thermoception) to five traditional senses and depicts how general sensory perception can be upgraded to inter-sensory perception among nurses through nursing education process, which is pictured as nursing foundry lab model. It also explains that how nurses can identify homeostatic imbalance among human beings using intersensory perception and help the patient to retain homeostasis. Further, a comparative analysis is done with Florence Nightingale’s environmental theory and criterion based critique model is used to evaluate the role of inter-sensory perception in nursing care. 

Conclusion: Hopefully, these concepts pave the way to implement an effective nursing care using inter-sensory perception and reduce unintentional torts by overcoming ‘numbness’ of senses.

Key words: Conceptual model, inter-sensory perception, nursing theory, sensing, sixth sense

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Job Satisfaction among Community Health Nurses

Job Satisfaction among Community Health Nurses

Abstract

Introduction: The job dissatisfaction leads to critical shortage of man power in health care in many countries and the employee turn over is increasing day by day in public health sector. There are some other factors such as gender discrimination, Job dissatisfaction, exploitation of women employees as they are the majority, low basic pay, poor working conditions, work load, extended working hours etc increase the rate job dissatisfaction. Keeping these issues in mind, the investigators conducted a study to assess the job dissatisfaction among community health nurses in community health nursing department, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. Methodology: A quantitative approach using descriptive design was used to assess the job satisfaction among community health nurses. The study population consist of 30 community health nurses who are working in Community Health Nursing Department. The tool consisted of demographic data and 20 items which covers the dimensions of nature of job and salary. The descriptive and inferential statistics was used to assess the association between two variables. Results: It is showed that the majority of the community health nurses 66.7% were less than 25 years of age. Among them, 96.7% of the community health nurses were females and 3.3% of them were males. It is showed that 86.7% of the community health nurses are satisfied with their work and 66.7% of them are satisfied with their payment. It is reported that 93.3% of them are satisfied with the quality of professional life with the patients in the community. There is no significant association between the job satisfaction and socio demographic variables of community health nurses in the present study. Conclusion: This study results helps the nurse administrators to focus on determinants of job satisfaction which helps to improve organizational structure, enhance job satisfaction, retain and attract the public health nurse workforce to deliver health care services in the community. 

Keywords: Job satisfaction, public health nurse, community health nurse, job security.
Cite: Ponnambily Jobin, Vathsala Sadan. Job Satisfaction among Community Health Nurses. Int. J. Adv. Nur. Management. 2017; 5(3): 191-194. 

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Social burden of alcoholism among the wives of alcoholics in tribal area

Social burden of alcoholism among the wives of alcoholics in tribal area

Published in TNNMC Journal of community Health Nursing

ABSTRACT

The paper explores the social burden among wives of alcoholics in a tribal area, Tamil Nadu, India. A qualitative approach using cross sectional phenomological design was selected.Three focus groups were conducted on consecutive days of the same week with 10, 8 and 10 participants.The analysis of the focus group discussion was done by coding the key words and grouping them under various themes and sub themes. The results showed that alcohol is a social burden in families and communities. It is reported that young age, lack of proper education, child labor, peer pressure, family history and accessibility of the alcohol are the contributing factors of the alcoholism. It is showed that financial problems, not able to educate their children, loss of peace in the family and women harassment are the effects of alcoholism on family. The participants suggested preventive measures for reducing social burden on alcoholism are banning child labor, proper education, enforcing strict laws and closing of alcohol shops.
Key words: Social burden, alcoholism, burden on wives of alcoholics and alcoholism in tribal area
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Assessment of occupational safety, hazards and related health problems among quarry workers at work places in India

Assessment of occupational safety, hazards and related health problems among quarry workers at work places in India

Published in International Journal of Nursing Education and Research

ABSTRACT

Introduction: As quarry site is the dangerous place to work in and quarry workers are more likely to be killed in accidents at any time. Therefore, the investigators tried to assess the occupational safety, hazards and related health problems among the quarry workers at work places in India.

Methodology: A cross sectional survey approach was used. The study was conducted in two quarry work sites in Vellore district. The study population consisted of all 72 quarry workers, who worked in the two quarry sites and the investigators selected the subjects by using convenient sampling method. The check list consisted of demographic data and 30 items, which covers the dimensions of occupational safety, hazards and  related health problems among the quarry workers. Data collection was done for a period of two weeks. 

Results: It was showed that the majority of the quarry workers 52.8% were between the age group of 18-45 years. Among them, 76.3%  of the quarry workers were males and 23.7% of them were females. It was observed that none of them were using any of the personal protective equipments, fist aid boxes were not available and there was no ambulance facility available with in 10 kms of diameter. The quarry workers were not covered under any health insurance schemes and were not trained for quarry work such as machine operation, first aid treatment and safety measures. The majority of the workers had frequent respiratory tract infection(88.8%), back ache (65.2%), joint pain (48.8%) and sinusitis (26.3%). Regarding vision and hearing acuity, 12.5% of them had reduced visual acuity and 15.3% of them had negative Weber and Rinne test too.

Conclusion: The study results make an urgent call on authority for job redesigning, scheduling policies, implementation of strict rules and regulations, health protection programmes and insurance schemes for workers who are involved in dangerous work places such as construction sites, quarry, mining and nuclear power plants.

Key words: Quarry, Occupational hazards, Occupational safety, Occupational problems 

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Development and assessment of Adolescent Boys Stress Questionnaire (ABSQ-2015)

Development and assessment of Adolescent Boys Stress Questionnaire (ABSQ-2015)

Published in ICCR-JNR Journal

Abstract:

Aim-The study aim was to develop and assess an instrument to measure stress level among adolescent boys in relation to school, family, personal and social life.

Methods-Before administering the ABSQ-2015 to adolescent boys (N=380), experts from nursing and psychology in research, practice, tool development reviewed it twice, known as two step validation process. Reliability, construct validity assessment such as content, face, contrasting groups and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was done. Out of 26 items, 16 items were selected and loaded as three factors after EFA, deemed to be interpretable and meaningful.

Results-The assessment of ABSQ-2015 supported construct validity (0.93), reliability (0.97) and Factor analysis KMO and Bartlett's Test 0.82 (P<0.01) which is highly significant.

Conclusion-The ABSQ-2015 is found to useful psychologically and statistically to elicit the stress level among adolescent boys effectively in relation to various determinants of life.

Keywords – Adolescence, adolescent boys, Research instrument, Standardized tool, Stress questionnaire, developing tool
  

Full PDF_ABSQ-2015 

 

Best Scientific Paper Award 2016

Best Scientific Paper Award

I have presented a scientific paper on "Longitudinal investigation of lived experience among disaster victims of South Indian floods 2015: To develop a Concatenated Disaster Crisis (CDC) model using phenomenographical framework analysis" in an International Conference on disaster risk reduction and role of nurse, conducted by College of Nursing, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamilnadu, India on 17.11.2016 & 18.11.2016. I have received "Best Paper Award" for my presentation. Thank you very much for your help and support.

Qualitative research

Qualitative research
Qualitative research is a process of putting data together from many sources in an effort to arrive at a holistic understanding of a phenomenon.

A qualitative design;

• is flexible and elastic
• can combine various data collection strategies
• strives to understand the whole
• requires ongoing analysis of the data formulate strategies

Preparation for a qualitative research

A researcher has to prepare themselves for conducting qualitative research in advance;

• Selection of title of the study or problem to be studied
• Plan design and data collection methods
• Select the setting and decide the nature of the participants
• Identify the ‘gate keepers’ who can provide access to important sources of data
• Determine time, money and resources availability for data collection

Phases in a qualitative study
The researcher conducts a qualitative study in three phases: orientation phase, exploration phase and confirmation phase.

• Orientation phase

The qualitative researcher enters into a study ‘not knowing what is not known’ that will make the researcher to drive forward.

• Exploration phase

The researcher explores the different aspects of the phenomenon. The questions to be asked to participants are shaped by the researcher.

• Confirmation phase

To confirm their findings trustworthy, the researcher often goes back and discusses their understanding with the study participants. 

Types of data collection strategies
The data collection strategies can be cross sectional or longitudinal. In cross sectional research, the data collection will be conducted at one point of time. In longitudinal research, the researcher conducts multiple data collection points over an extended time period.

Setting for qualitative research study
The qualitative researchers prefer natural setting to collect data; however, they conduct study in a variety of natural contexts to study phenomena extensively. 

Major types of qualitative research studies
The qualitative research traditions derived mainly from anthropology (culture), philosophy (lived experience), psychology (behavior), sociology (socially related) and socio linguistics (human communication). The major traditions which the qualitative researchers followed are;

• Ethnography
• Phenomenology
• Grounded theory

Ethnography
This research tradition focuses on the culture of a group of people. The main objective is to learn about a specific culture. The ethnographic researchers should use either one of perspectives; emic perspective or etic perspective. An emic perspective is the view of the culture as an insider or member of the community. An etic perspective is the view of the culture by an outsider. However, the ethnographers focus to acquire from emic perspectives. Some cultural experience is deeply embedded and members may not consciously aware of it. In this scenario, the researcher use ‘tactic knowledge’ to acquire information about the culture. Ethnography is time consuming and may take several months to get overall understanding of a culture. The researchers have to actively participated in a cultural group to develop intimacy with them. The ethnographers strive to acquire three types of information:

• Cultural behavior (What members do?)
• Cultural artifacts (What members do make and use?)
• Cultural speech (What people say?)

These study results provide an insight on health belief and practices.
The ethnography can be divided into two:

• Macro ethnography; study on culture broadly, for example: culture of a village
• Micro ethnography; study on culture which is narrowly defined, for example: culture of a tribal women.

Phenomenology
This approach strives to explore about people’s life experiences. The researcher conducts an enquiry regarding the experiences by the people in a given phenomena. The phenomenologist investigates subjective phenomena in the belief that reality is grounded in people’ lived experiences. There are two aspects of phenomenology: descriptive and interpretive phenomenology. In descriptive phenomenology, the researcher explores what people experience in regards to a phenomenon. In interpretive phenomenology, the researcher investigates how they interpret those experiences. The investigators believed that lived experience gives an idea to each person’s perception of a particular phenomenon. The phenomenologists are interested in four aspects of lived experience: lived space/spatiality, lived body/ corpeality, lived time/temporality and lived human relation/relationality.
In a phenomenologic study, the main data source is in depth conversations with the researcher and informant as participants. The researcher facilitates the informants to describe lived experience in a series of interview sessions. The sample size can be limited from 10 to 20, based on attaining of data saturation. The other data collection methods in phenomenology are participation, observation and introspective reflection.
The data analysis involves the following steps; bracketing, intuiting, analyzing and describing. Bracketing refers to the process of identifying and holding in abeyance pre conceived beliefs and opinions about the phenomena under study. Intuiting occurs when the researcher remains open to the meaning attributed to the phenomenon by those who have experienced it. Then, the researcher can proceed to analysis phase includes extracting significant statements, categorizing and making sense of the essential meaning of the phenomenon. Finally, the researcher defines the phenomenon with quotes.

Grounded theory
The grounded theory roots on social interaction and the interpretation they attach to social symbols like language. It is the study of social process and social structures. It explains the social and psychological stages that characterize a particular event. It also generates comprehensive explanation of phenomena that are grounded in reality. During data collection, the research questions are emerged from the data. The data collection, data analysis and sampling of participants occur simultaneously. A procedure referred to as constant comparison is used to develop and refine theoretically relevant categories and to identify the basic problems. The categories are compared with data so that commonalities and variations can be determined. In depth interviews and observation methods can be used for data collection. Typically, a grounded theory study involves interviews with a sample of about 20-50 informants.

Techniques of research control

Techniques of research control
Research control eliminates the influences of extraneous variables in the study so that true relationship between the independent and dependent variables can be understood. It excludes the contaminating factors that might affect the relationship between the variables. For example, the researcher wants to study depression among post partum women; the dependent variable is level of depression and independent variable is past partum women. There are other possibilities which affect the level of depression among post partum women such as age, socio economic status and marital status. If a researcher wants to study true relationship between independent and dependent variable, the extraneous variable has to be controlled. The extraneous factors can be divided into two;

• External factors
• Internal factors

Control of external factors
The external factors to be controlled in research are environment, time, culture and so on. To control the environmental influence on data collection, the researcher has to select the environment in natural or artificial setting according to the problem to be studied. Depending on the research topic, the relationship between dependent and independent variable may be influenced by the time of day, month and year. In these cases, the researcher should ensure the constancy of time during data collection.
Control of internal factors
Controlling internal factors such as gender, hereditary is doubtful in research. There are a few methods formulated o control subject characteristics to protect the research topic from the contamination of extraneous variables.
Methods are;

• Randomization
• Homogeneity
• Matching

Randomization
It means the selection of participants randomly, without any conscious decisions by the researcher. Randomization of study participants controls all possible sources of extraneous variables. For example, random assignment of subjects to experimental and control group would equalize the distribution of variables such as age, gender and neutralizes the influences of extraneous variables.
Homogeneity
When randomization is not feasible, the researcher can select the subjects who are homogenous with respect to extraneous variables are included in the study. Homogeneity means the researcher selects the study participants based on important extraneous variables such as specific age group, gender, education and so on. The main limitation of the homogeneity is that results of the study can be generalized only to the type of subjects participated.
Matching
During case control study, the researcher selects the study participants based on relevant extraneous variables and randomly divided into case control groups. This technique used to form comparable groups in case control design.

Classification of research design based on purpose

Classification of research design based on purpose
Survey research
The researcher collects the data regarding incidence, prevalence and distribution of variables of with in population through survey. The survey reports are based on self reports and respondents answer to the questions raised by the researcher. The common method for data collection is personal, face to face interview, interview by telephone and self administered questionnaire. The survey research is suitable for extensive data collection among large population and can focus on wide range of topics at a time.
Evaluation research
It helps to evaluate a process, program, treatment or policy. It can be cross sectional, longitudinal or experimental/non experimental. Based on the aim of evaluation, it can be classified into three;

1. Process analysis
2. Outcome analysis
3. Impact analysis

• Process analysis

A process analysis evaluates the process of implementing a new program or procedure and assesses the functioning in actual situation.

• Outcome analysis

An outcome analysis evaluates the final goals of the program, which are achieved after an implementation of program or process.

• Impact analysis

Impact analysis evaluates the net effects or impacts of the program after implementation of program or process.
Outcome research
Outcome research evaluates the effectiveness of health care services in an organization. This research conducts usually as part of global assessment. This types of assessment helps to appraise and document the quality of nursing care in an organization.

Classification of research design based on time dimension

Classification of research design based on time dimension
The designs can be classified based on when and how often data will be collected in a study. The data can be collected at a single point in time or more than one occasion. 

There are four situations in which it is a appropriate to design a study with multiple points of data collection.
1. Time related process- Depends on how phenomena evolved over time, for example, wound healing process.
2. Time sequenced phenomena- It is very important to ascertain the sequencing of phenomena. For example, the researcher has to make sure that pregnancy contributes to diabetes mellitus and not diabetes mellitus precedes pregnancy.
3. Comparative purposes- Here, multiple data points are used to compare phenomena over time.
4. Enhancement of research control- The researcher collects data at multiple points to enhance the interpretability of the results. For example, the collection of pre test data with demographic variables allows the researcher to detect for initial group difference. 

Cross sectional design
The researchers collect the data at one point in time and describe the status of phenomena or relationships among phenomena. For example, the researchers assess the level of depression among post partum women and test the relationship between independent (age, socio economic status and level of education) and dependent variables (level of depression). Advantages of cross sectional designs are economical and easy to conduct the studies for the researcher. A major disadvantage of conducting a cross sectional study is that problems arise when society changes rapidly. The researcher can not generalize the cross sectional study findings to a rapid changing society.
Longitudinal design
In this design, the researcher collects the data over an extended time period, identifies changes over time and sequence phenomena like a chain, which is an essential to establish causality.
Longitudinal studies are three types;

1. Trend studies
2. Panel studies
3. Follow up studies

Trend studies
Trend studies help the researcher to collect the data by drawing samples from general population over time with respect to a phenomenon. The researcher draws different samples from same population at repeated intervals, examines the changes at present and makes predictions about future. Foe example,predicting nursing shortage in coming years.
Panel studies
The researcher collects the data from the same participants at different period of time. With the same participants, the researcher examines the changes and identify the reasons fro change. The major problem with the panel studies are subject attrition. Subject attrition is defined as dropping of study participants during the study.
Follow up studies
In follow up studies, the researcher collects the data subsequently, especially after an intervention. In non experimental studies, the sample may be followed periodically to assess the changes in the variables. For example, weight gain among premature infants.

Best Scientific Paper Award 2016

Best Scientific Paper Award

I have presented a scientific paper on "A qualitative study to explore social burden among the wives of alcoholics in tribal area" in a National Conference, conducted by Sree Balaji College of Nursing, Bharath University, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India on 27.06.2016 & 28.06.2016. I have received "Best Paper Award" for my presentation. Thank you very much for your help and support.

Non experimental research

Non experimental research
There are many research problems that can be conducted using experimental or quasi experimental designs. In non experimental research, the independent variable is non-manipulate or unethical to manipulate, however, gives answers for research questions. 

Types of non experimental research
Correlational or Expost facto research has been conducted to study the relationships among variables after variation in the independent variable has occurred. It is designed to assess causal relationship between variables. it is divided into two types; Prospective study and Retrospective study

• Prospective study

In prospective study, the researcher looks forward to assess the effect and study is started with an examination of presumed cause. For example, the researcher selects samples of chronic alcoholics and non alcoholics and continues assessment for a period of time and later assesses the effect.

• Retrospective study

In retrospective study, the researcher observed at the effect of present and looks on to past history of the samples to collect and compare antecedent factors that have caused it.
Another class of non experimental research is descriptive research. The purpose of descriptive research studies is to observe, describe and document aspects of a situation. The researcher uses percentages or proportions to present the results. In descriptive correlational study, the researcher describes relationships among variables, but not causal connection.
Disadvantages of non experimental research
The major disadvantage is its inability to reveal casual relationships conclusively. It may be having false interpretation because the researcher works with known groups.

Quasi experimental research

Quasi experimental research
It involves manipulation of an independent variable, lacks either the randomization or control group features.
Types
There are two types most commonly used in nursing research;
1. Non equivalent control group design
2. Time series design

• Non equivalent control group design

It involves a treatment and two or more groups of subjects observed before and after its implementation. This design is useful, where the researcher is not able to do randomization due to unavoidable ethical reasons. This design is weak without randomization. On the other hand, the design is strong due to collection of pretest data allows us to determine whether the groups had similar morale initially by collecting pretest data, if the two groups are comparable with regard to demographic variables, the researcher could be relatively confident that any post test difference is self reported morale was the result of experimental treatment.

• Time series design

It involves the collection of data over an extended time period and introduction of treatment during that period. The researcher is able to collect measures of outcome variables before the intervention, during the intervention, after a period of intervention and so on.
Advantages of quasi experimental research
It seems to be more practical than the experimental designs. Nursing researchers conduct studies in natural settings, where it is unethical to deliver an innovative treatment to a cluster of people through randomization.
Disadvantages of quasi experimental research
With these types of experiments, there are alternative explanations for observed results. A researcher wants to evaluate the effectiveness of weight gain among infants, if there is no comparison group to observe weight gain, one can easily ask question that: Is the weight gain among infants would have occurred without intervention? These types of questions called as rival hypothesis. If the answer is yes, inferences about treatment effectiveness are weakened.
In research reports, the researcher does not mention regarding random assignment or comparison group, probably it is safe to conclude that the design is quasi experimental and pre experimental.