NR 449 Week 4 Discussion: Sampling: 48 Pages (Various Versions)
The most common sampling method is the convenience sample; therefore, many of the studies
... [Show More] that you find for evidence use this sampling method. What are the implications of using a convenience sample on the way that you interpret & use the findings?
Welcome to the discussion on sampling methods!
You may begin posting on Sunday, January 27th, 2019 for credit.
The course outcomes for this week include:
1. Examine the sources of knowledge that contribute to professional nursing practice.
2. Apply research principles to the interpretation of the content of published research studies.
3. Identify ethical issues common to research involving human subjects.
Choosing an incorrect sampling strategy could have devastating effects on a research study. This discussion should help you to recognize various sampling strategies encompassing r&om & non-probability methods & the effect they could have on research study results or the application of those results.
Please utilize the Threaded Discussion graded rubric as a guideline for posting to the discussions. These are the criteria you will be graded on which includes the use of citations & references according to current APA.
o
Hello Prof. Hobbs & Class,
Sampling is defined by Merriam-Webster’s dictionary as “the act, process, or technique of selecting a representative part of a population for the purpose of determining parameters or characteristics of the whole population”(n.d.) (Emerson, 2015).
What is convenience sampling? In chapter 7 in our textbook it says, “Convenience sampling is a non-probability method that includes subjects who are available conveniently to the researcher” (Houser, 2018). In other words researchers will find the participants that fit their sampling needs & then ask those same participants to find friends or others like themselves to add to the sample & make the numbers good/big enough for the researcher.
Some of the strengths of using a convenience sampling are that is easy to find subjects since it is conducted with same type of subjects & they is less expensive to conduct. On the other h&, using convenience sampling can introduce bias into a sample & the sample is not representative of the entire population making it weak sampling.
Resources
Emerson, R. W. (2015). Convenience Sampling, R&om Sampling, & Snowball Sampling: How Does Sampling Affect the Validity of Research? Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, 109(2), 164–168. Retrieved from https://chamberlainuniversity.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=103777196&site=eds-live&scope=site (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.Links to an external site.
Houser, J. (2018). Nursing research: Reading, using, & creating evidence(4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Thank you for initiating this week's discussion!
Bias is definitely one limitation to a convenience sample, as you mentioned. Can you give me an example of how using a convenience sample in a healthcare setting could be detrimental?
Hello Prof. Hobbs,
An example would be; Nurses screen & evaluate inpatients & outpatients for family violence (FV) during the hospital admission process. A literature review was conducted for 2009 to 2016 in EBSCOhost, PubMed, & Cochrane library databases using the search terms of domestic violence screening; barriers & domestic violence; domestic violence, healthcare, & nurses' attitudes; & domestic violence & nurses' knowledge. The purpose was to evaluate nurse perceptions & attitudes about current FV patient screening processes. The study was conducted in the ED & inpatient & outpatient settings in a rural healthcare system with three hospitals. Nurses performing FV screening during admission completed a 36-item validated survey; nurses previously completing the hospital's online FV education module also evaluated the module. In this study, most of the 128 participating nurses (60.9%) had not identified any patients as positive for FV in the last year (average, 1.8); of those identifying FV-positive patients, the annual average was 2.9. Nurses perceived screening questions allowed FV-positive patients to be identified. Qualitative analysis identified the need for patient privacy during the screening process & for additional FV education & training for nurses. Because this research was conducted in a rural healthcare system, the results may not be generalizable to other settings. The research involved a self-selected convenience sample of nurses. In Conclusion Nurse administrators should evaluate best practices for privacy for FV screening & assess & provide FV-related education & training for nurses.
Reference
Durham-Pressley, C. (2018). Nurse perceptions of the family violence screening process & education program in a rural healthcare system. Nursing, 48(1), 56. https://doi-org.chamberlainuniversity.idm.oclc.org/10.1097/01.NURSE.0000527617.52655.2f
Hello Enajite,
I thought that your post had great insight. I do agree that convenience sampling is very biased, but sometimes given the nature of the study & the amount of capital available, it is the level of research that can be done at the time. So, I do underst& why criticisms can follow because the demographics under observation are not fully represented. Although they are subject to scrutiny, convenience sampling can be used as a stepping stone in an initial study & then progress the researcher to using a more detailed sampling methodology like a Systematic Sampling Method. According to Haegele & Hodge, “Researchers prefer r&om samples or systematic samples because of the high likelihood of representing the population accurately. However, it is not always possible to obtain a r&om or systematic sample of participants. In cases like this, researchers may recruit a convenience sample. Convenience sampling is selecting a group of individuals based on them being available for the study (Fraenkel et al., 2012)” (Haegele & Hodge, 2015).
References
Haegele, J. A., & Hodge, S. R. (2015). Quantitative Methodology: A Guide for Emerging Physical Education & Adapted Physical Education Researchers. Physical Educator, 72(5), 59. Retrieved from https://chamberlainuniversity.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f5h&AN=111081515&site=eds-live&scope=siteLinks to an external site.
Mills, G. Z., Davis, A. Q., & Bluhm, J. L. (2012, February 29). 2010 Census Cost & Progress Assessment Report. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2012/dec/2010_cpex_177.htmlLinks to an external site.
o
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In nursing, there are is a vast amount of different resources that contribute to research. In this weeks’ lesson we learned about the following various styles of research populations including: r&om selection, independent selection, nonprobability sampling, convenience sampling, purposive sampling, sample size & power (Chamberlain College of Nursing, 2018). Prior to reading each of these definitions & explanations, I was unaware of just how diverse a group could be. For example, in independent selection, I learned that if the variables are not chosen correctly, the data could & results from the research could be invalid. It is also important to factor in ethics & how that plays into certain research. In an article titled, Ethical issues in family violence research in healthcare settings, written by Paavilainen, Lepistö & Flinck, there were major ethical dilemmas involved. The authors used their own personal experience to formulate guided discussions & opinions. The more I researched, the more I realized ethics truly does play a huge role in many nursing research projects. It is very hard to factor a patient’s feeling & interpretation of treatment without having some form of opinion or ethics involved.
References:
Chamberlain College of Nursing (2018, May 22). Week 4: Lesson – Considerations for Human Subject Samples. Retrieved from https://chamberlain.instructure.com/courses/37412/pages/unit-4-lesson?module_item_id=4602956
Paavilainen, E., Lepistö, S., & Flinck, A. (2014). Ethical issues in family violence research in healthcare settings. Nursing Ethics, 21(1), 43-52. doi:10.1177/0969733013486794
Kelly,
I enjoy reading your post & I agree with you that a group could be very diverse, that if variables are not chosen correctly, the results could be invalid. & ethics truly play a huge role in nursing research projects because it deals with moral principles.
Great post!
References
Paavilainen, E., Lepistö, S., & Flinck, A. (2014). Ethical issues in family violence research in healthcare settings. Nursing Ethics, 21(1), 43-52. doi:10.1177/0969733013486794
Hi Kelly,
Great post! I agree with your thoughts on how ethics plays a major role in nursing research projects. Ethics is a moral principle that governs a person's behavior or the conducting of an activity. There are many ethical issues that can arise from research. I also did some research after reading your post, & I came across an article that discusses the major ethical issues in conducting research, & the conflict between the research ethics & the nature of nursing.
The major ethical issues in conducting research are informed consent, beneficence (do not harm), respect for anonymity & confidentiality, & respect for privacy. However, the article states that the nature of nursing which focuses on caring, preventing harm, & protecting dignity & the advocates role of nurses which calls for defending the rights of subjects, are sometimes incongruent with the ethics in research (Georgia Fouka & Marianna Mantzorou, 2011).
In conclusion, ethical issues, conflicting values, & ambiguity in decision making, are recurrently emerging from literature review on nursing research. Due to the lack of clarity in ethical st&ards, nurses must develop an awareness of these issues, & an effective framework to deal with problems involving human rights.
Best,
Ashley
References
Georgia Fouka, & Marianna Mantzorou. (2011). What are the major ethical issues in conducting research? is there a conflict between the research ethics & the nature of nursing? Health Science Journal, 5(1), 3. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/845921674Links to an external site.
o
Hello class,
According to Houser, convenience sampling is when the researchers choose their subjects based on accessibility (2018). Indeed, this would be an advantage if the research study has limited resources. But the downside is if the researcher just selects the subjects of their study for convenience that can easily lead to a bias finding. The researcher can easily influence the subject’s response to the study.
However, convenience sampling can be useful if it is a pilot study since it only requires a smaller scale of participants to test the methods & procedures before going to a larger population to study (Houser, 2018). I found this research article that is a pilot study about evaluating a new virtual nursing care program’s competency. This is an experimental new technological nursing intervention called Transplant-TAVIE (Treatment, Virtual Nursing Assistance, & Education) a web-based tailored nursing intervention that aide kidney transplant recipients to manage their immunosuppressive drug treatment (Cote, 2018). “The objective of this study was to evaluate the Transplant-TAVIE intervention’s acceptability, feasibility, & preliminary efficacy.
The study was initiated at CHUM transplantation unit in Canada wherein potential patients were h&ed promotional flyer about the ongoing study to see who was willing to participate. The researcher used convenience sampling by selecting 70 kidney transplant patients. In reviewing how they selected the participants (by accessibility & r&omly in a central location) tells me that this study can easily be manipulated; thus, may lead to an unfair outcome. The findings of this study may not be generalized as this did not represent the majority population of the kidney transplant recipients. Since this is just a pilot study, therefore further studies may be needed about this topic.
References:
Cote, J., Fortin, M., Auger, P., Rouleau, G., Dubois, S., Boudreau, N., Vaillant, I., & Gelinas-Lemay, E. (2018). Web-based tailored intervention to support optimal medication adherence among kidney transplant recipients: Pilot parallel-group r&omized controlled trial. JMIR Formative Research. Retrieved from doi: 10.2196/formative.9707
Houser, J. (2018). Nursing research: Reading, using, & creating evidence (4th ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett.
Chona,
You brought up a good point about the pilot study. Pilot studies are sometimes conducted to identify potential issues that may arise prior to implementing a study of a full, larger scale. Sometimes, as I mentioned in the WebEx this week, they are also done to test a new tool that the researcher may have developed for reliability & validity.
Here is a link to a resource that explains the importance of pilot studiesLinks to an external site..
Professor Hobbs
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Hello class,
As discussed in this week's lesson, the convenience sampling method involves choosing subjects for studies based on who is available to participate. The convenience sample does not look at the subjects before the study is conducted to choose the best participants, but more-so chooses the people that are accessible, & then distributing them into different groups (Chamberlain College of Nursing, 2019). It makes sense that this type of sample is the most common & most used, because as the name suggests, it is convenient & easy.
This type of sampling can lead to biases & skewed results because the researcher is directly picking participants. It is not a r&om sample that includes people of all backgrounds & characteristics, but usually people who have something in common. The textbook also describes another type of sampling that falls within the category of convenience sampling: snowball sampling, or referral sampling. In this type of sample, "each subject is asked to recruit other subjects" (Houser, 2018). As the textbook describes, this method recruits more people with the same characteristics, thus increasing the bias even more. The author explains one way to reduce bias in convenience samples. She states, " the best way to reduce bias in a convenience sample is to assign subjects to groups r&omly once they have been recruited" (Houser, 2018). She further explains that this r&om assignment decreases bias by r&omly spreading out the extraneous variables over the groups. Extraneous variables are variables that are not the focus of the study, but they have the potential to alter the outcome (Chamberlain College of Nursing, 2019).
In one of the articles I selected, "Using Opioids With Surgical Patients: Nurses' Attitudes & Experiences," the convenience sampling method was used. For the study, 123 Jordanian surgical nurses were selected to participate (Shoqirat et al, 2019). As mentioned above, the participants in a convenience sample usually have something in common. In this case, all of the participants were surgical nurses. It is clear that the convenience method was used, because all of the nurses work in the same geographical area, in the same specialty, & most likely at the same hospital. Acquiring this many participants would have been really easy & convenient when using this method because not a lot of thought had to go into choosing subjects. Since the research focuses specifically on surgical nurses' experiences, there is a low-risk for bias. The textbook also explains that convenience sampling is used when r&om sampling is not realistic (Houser, 2018). In this study, it wouldn't make sense to recruit participants who weren't surgical nurses, so the r&om sample would not be the best method. If subjects who were not surgical nurses were chosen for the study, the results would be skewed because the specific research question was focused at surgical nurses' experiences, so only surgical nurses need to be included.
References:
Chamberlain College of Nursing (2019). Week 4: Lesson - Considerations for Human Subject Samples. Retrieved from https://chamberlain.instructure.com/courses/37412/pages/unit-4-lesson?module_item_id=4602956
Houser, J. (2018). Nursing research: Reading, using, & creating evidence (4th ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett.
Shoqirat, N., Mahasneh, D., Al-Khawaldeh, O., & Singh, C. (2019). Using opioids with surgical patients: Nursesʼ attitudes & experiences. Journal of Trauma Nursing, 26(1), 26-32. doi:10.1097/JTN.0000000000000412
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o Rachel,
You gave great insight on the pro's & con's of convenience sampling. I like how you mentioned that a common issue with this approach is often the development of biases. It is important in nursing & within research field to stick to the facts & evidence to maintain our credibility! Convenience sampling is a great way to conduct studies when there is limited time &/or resources.
Good post!
Hello Class,
Convenience sampling is the most common type of sampling. It is a nonprobability method of selecting a sample that includes subjects who are accessible to the researcher. Convenience, as the name implies, have obvious advantages over other sampling methods, primarily to logistics & cost. However, it has its own disadvantages as the selection could be biased since the researcher singleh&edly picked the subjects. The best way to reduce the bias is to assign subjects to groups r&omly once they have been recruited. (Houser 2018). According to the text, convenience sampling is often used in pilot studies when the specifics of a research study have yet to be completely determined. A small study conducted with a convenience sample can help guide the specifics of a larger study. In this situation, convenience sampling is acceptable & expected, because the intent is to inform the research design, not to generalize the result. (Houser 2018).
In the article on “Primary Care Physicians’ Perspectives on the Prescription Opioid Epidemic,” convenience sampling was used as all the subject used for educating patients were medically oriented personnel. However, even in pilot studies when convenience sampling is necessary, the researcher do as much as possible to limit the bias that is inherent in the sampling method. (Houser 2018). According to the week’s lesson, convenience sampling is used for both quantitative & qualitative studies.
References
Chamberlain College of Nursing (2019). Week 4: Lesson - Considerations for Human Subject Samples. Retrieved from https://chamberlain.instructure.com/courses/37412/pages/unit-4-lesson?module_item_id=4602956
Houser, J. (2018). Nursing research: Reading, using & creating evidence (4th ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett.
Alene KennedyLinks to an external site., Colleen L.Links to an external site.Barry (2016) Primary care physicians’ perspectives on the prescription opioid epidemic https://www-sciencedirect- com.chamberlainuniversity.idm.oclc.org/science/article/pii/S0376871616301168
Ifure,
You do bring up a good point in your post about pilot studies. Sometimes, if a researcher is limited (whether it be funding, accessibility, etc), a convenience sample could be a starting point.
Let's say I want to study reducing wait times in emergency departments. However, my employer is only giving me a $5000 grant to do so. That is not going to get me very far. So I might do a convenience sample as it is more cost effective & less time consuming. I am only evaluating my ED because that's where I work & its convenient. I gathered some information that having a triage nurse in the ED reduces wait times at my hospital but can't say for sure it it works everywhere. My employer might look at the results & say OK more research is needed. Now here is $50,000. Do a study involving all five hospitals in our system over the next 6 months, but use a sample that can offer less bias.
Karen Hobbs, MSN, RN
khobbs@chamberlain.edu
480.262.6748 MST
(1 like)
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Ifure Inyangotu
Ifure Inyangotu
Jan 30, 2019 Jan 30 at 8:44am
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Hello Prof. Hobbs,
Thank you very much for the insight & the great example. I have taken note of it.
Oluwafunsho Agbi
Jan 29, 2019 Jan 29 at 7:32pm
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Hello Professor, & the Class,
Convenience sample is a sampling technique in which you collect samples of data from people who are easily accessible to you. The easy accessibility of a convenient sample makes it very easy to get a job done. A researcher finds the sampling very convenient just like the name sounds, convenience sampling. Furthermore, it is not time consuming, you literally have every resources you need on time & ready to get the job done. A convenience sample, also called a non-profitable or opportunity sample is a sample drawn without any underlying probability-based selection method. Also a convenient sample is often used in pilot studies when the specifics of a research study have yet to be completely determined. However, even in pilot studies when convenience sampling is necessary, the researchers should do as much as possible to limit the bias that is inherent in this sampling method(Houser, 2018). It helps to gain an initial primary data about a topic.
Furthermore, some groups are often over-represented & some groups are under-represented. The key disadvantages of convenience sampling is that the sample lacks clear generalization(Jager et.al, 2017). Since one's selection itself is biased, inaccuracies are bound to creep in. It is very difficult to generalize the conclusions drawn from this research & say that this is what applies to all the people. Therefore, when one is using a convenience sampling, it is very important for one to note the advantages & disadvantages of convenience sampling so that errors will be reduced & no one will get hurt.
References
Houser, J. (2018). Nursing research: Reading, using, & creating evidence(4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Jager, J., Putnick, D. L., & Bornstein, M. H. (2017). Ii. More Than Just Convenient: The Scientific Merits of Homogeneous Convenience Samples. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 82(2), 13–30. https://doi-org.chamberlainuniversity.idm.oclc.org/10.1111/mono.122.
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