Reference no: EM133190695

HCM 440 Healthcare Research and Evaluation Methodologies Assignment - Southern New Hampshire University

Overview - Healthcare administrators, managers, and executives are responsible for planning, directing, and coordinating health services at various levels for the populations they serve. Interpreting research is integral to the role of a healthcare professional, especially when conducting a needs assessment for program planning.

In this course, you will choose a clinical area of interest related to healthcare administration and create an annotated bibliography. For your final assessment, you will compose an integrated review. In this review, you will discuss the criteria necessary for inclusion or exclusion in the research study, critique the quality of each study, and present a synthesis of the results.

This integrated review will address the following course outcomes:

1. Critique ethical issues in healthcare research for their influence on compliance with rules and regulations

2. Evaluate basic research strategies applicable to healthcare settings for informing research proposals

3. Assess the appropriateness of utilizing secondary databases in healthcare research as an alternative to conducting original research

4. Justify the selection of specific data analysis methodology in published healthcare research for informing healthcare research methodology

5. Select healthcare administration issues to research in validating the need for program evaluation

Prompt - Using the six peer-reviewed literature articles from your annotated bibliography, compose an integrated review that focuses on a clinical issue of interest.

Ensure that the topic of this integrated review is viewed from the perspective of a healthcare professional who is looking to validate the need for program evaluation at your hospital, even if your annotated bibliography was not this focused.

Specifically, your integrated review should focus on the following critical elements:

I. Abstract

Craft a well-drafted abstract. Be sure to adhere to the guidelines from the latest edition of the American Psychological Association's style guide. Consider the appropriate length for your audience.

II. Introduction

a) State the purpose, aims, or objectives of the integrated review. What do you wish to achieve through the drafting of this review? Be explicit in your answer.

b) Introduce the topic of interest. Why is this topic the focus of the review?

c) What is the research question you are going to focus on? If you were to prepare a research proposal, what would your hypothesis be? Why?

d) What variables are of interest to you? How will these variables help you throughout this integrated review? Be sure to label the types of variables each of these are.

e) Discuss the background and significance of the problem to healthcare administration.

III. Literature Search

a) What keywords and combinations were used in the initial search? Which were the most effective? Explain why these keywords and combinations provided the most useful results.

b) Which databases were searched? Why were these the chosen databases? Assess the characteristics that make these databases the most reliable.

c) Evaluate the inclusion and exclusion criteria for the sample. How did you decide to narrow the search and focus the review? How was the final sample determined? Be sure to include your process.

IV. Methodology Analysis

a) What methodology was used in this research? Was it effective for the research question and hypothesis? Why or why not? Consider including improvements for the methodology.

b) What statistical data analyses were employed in these articles? Were they appropriate for the research question and methodology? Why or why not?

c) Evaluate the literature for any gaps that exist. Why do you think these gaps exist? Consider factors such as the location of the research, time the research was conducted, and so on.

d) Evaluate the literature for inconsistencies that exist across the studies. Why do you think these inconsistencies exist? Consider factors such as the location of the research, time the research was conducted, and so on.

V. Synthesis and Interpretation

a) Create an evidence table of your results. Be sure to include the following criteria for each study:

1. Report citation

2. Design

3. Method

4. Sample

5. Data collection

6. Data analysis

7. Validity and reliability

b) Compare and contrast the study findings. Be sure to include pertinent conclusions and statistical findings only.

c) Evaluate the research strategies used in the articles, as applicable to healthcare programs. Was the research design appropriate for the study conducted? Was the statistical analysis employed the best choice for the research questions posed?

d) What ethical issues are pertinent specifically to healthcare research? How can these issues influence the research strategies chosen to investigate clinical topics? Evaluate these research articles and consider how ethical concerns may have limited these clinical investigations.

e) What patterns and trends exist in the research? What generalizations can you draw from the research?

f) If secondary data was utilized, was the source biased or objective? Why? If original research was conducted, do you think the researchers were biased or objective? Why? Be sure to support your answer.

g) Synthesize the main findings of the research articles. What were the hypotheses of the research studies? Did the research add any new scholarly information to the existing body of knowledge?

h) Assess whether utilizing secondary data as an alternative to the researchers' original research would have been a feasible option. If it had been an option, what resource(s) would be the most appropriate to use? What would be some of the strengths and limitations of using secondary data?

i) Assess the literature for any ethical concerns that may be present. Consider things such as conflicts of interest between the researcher and the study sponsors, or the lack of an IRB approval for the study.

VI. Conclusion

a) What are the studies' strengths? Are there patterns in the articles that you chose regarding their strengths?

b) What are the studies' limitations? Are there patterns in the articles that you chose regarding their limitations?

c) Were the findings and conclusions reliable and valid? Why or why not? Logically support your answers.

d) What are the implications of this research? How will it influence your topic in the overall large picture of healthcare research?