A researcher spends a great deal of time refining a research idea into a testable research question. Unfortunately, the evaluator of a research study is not privy to this creative process because it occurs during the study’s conceptualization. Although this section will not teach you how to formulate a research question, it is important to provide a glimpse of what the process of developing are search question may be like for a researcher.

As illustrated in Table 3-1, research questions or topics are not pulled from thin air. Research questions should indicate that practical experience, critical appraisal of the scientific literature, or interest in an untested theory has provided the basis for the generation of a research idea. The research question should reflect a refinement of the researcher’s initial thinking. The evaluator of a research study should be able to discern that the researcher has done the following:

1. Defined a specific question area

2. Reviewed the relevant scientific literature

3. Examined the question’s potential significance to nursing

4. Pragmatically examined the feasibility of studying the research question

Defining the Research Question

Brainstorming with teachers, advisors, or colleagues may provide valuable feedback that helps the researcher focus on a specific research question area. For example, suppose a researcher told a colleague that the area of interest was pain experienced by children with cancer. The colleague may have said, “What is it about the topic that specifically interests you?” Such a conversation may have initiated a chain of thought that resulted in a decision to explore the pain experiences, management strategies, and outcomes of children with cancer (children with leukemia during the first year after diagnosis). Figure 3-1 illustrates how a broad area of interest (pain experiences of children with cancer) was narrowed to a specific research topic (children’s pain experience, pain management strategies, and outcomes during the first year after the diagnosis of leukemia).

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