Assignment 2: Different Types Of Studies

Identify and discuss the research questions, sampling and sampling sizes, research designs (qualitative vs. quantitative), hypothesis, data collection methods, and research findings.

Discuss the credibility of the sources and the research/researcher findings.

400-word minimum/550-word maximum without the references.

Minimum of 3 references (the course textbook must be one of the references) in APA format, must have been published within last 3-5 years

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several disciplines. Both education and nursing in general have been attempting to define, teach, and measure this concept for decades. Nurse educators realize that critical thinking is the cornerstone of the objectives and goals for nursing students. The purpose of this article is to review and analyze quantitative research findings relevant to the measurement of critical thinking abilities and skills in undergraduate nursing students and the usefulness of critical thinking as a predictor of National Council Licen- sure Examination-Registered Nurse (NCLEX-RN) perfor- mance. The specific issues that this integrative review ex- amined include assessment and analysis of the theoretical and operational definitions of critical thinking, theoretical frameworks used to guide the studies, instruments used to evaluate critical thinking skills and abilities, and the role of critical thinking as a predictor of NCLEX-RN out- comes. A list of key assumptions related to critical think- ing was formulated. The limitations and gaps in the litera- ture were identified, as well as the types of future research needed in this arena.

Higher education has attempted to change the way in which the nursing curriculum is structured (Ad-ams, 1999). It is no longer acceptable to teach only knowledge-based facts and skills; instead, the emphasis has shifted toward guiding students to become lifelong, in- dependent critical thinkers (Lee, 2007). Starting in the late 1980s, colleges of nursing moved from evaluation of the cur- riculum to assessment of student outcomes (Riddell, 2007). Nursing faculty must continue this shift from an emphasis on teaching nursing content to one focusing on the applica- tion of nursing knowledge (Adams, 1999; Del Bueno, 2005). The application of nursing knowledge within the nurs- ing process is enhanced through utilization of the process of critical thinking (National League for Nursing [NLN], 2007). Nurse educators remain accountable for creating and implementing curricula that produce graduate nurses who are able to use critical thinking skills to formulate ap- propriate clinical and nursing judgments (Henriques, 2002; Hoffman, 2006; NLN, 2007; Youssef & Goodrich, 1996).

The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) is an organization through which boards of nursing act collaboratively on matters of public health, safety, and welfare (NCSBN, 2007). This organization is also responsible for the development of the licensing ex- aminations in nursing. Because the NCSBN considers critical thinking to be an important component in nursing education and the National Council Licensure Examina- tion-Registered Nurse (NCLEX-RN) measures graduates’ competency for entry into practice, it is presumed that critical thinking is one element of nursing that is tested by the NCLEX-RN (Giddens & Gloeckner, 2005). According to the NCSBN, the majority of items on the NCLEX-RN are written at the application and analysis level of Bloom’s taxonomy. Successful performance on the NCLEX-RN re- quires the use of critical thinking to correctly answer ques- tions at this cognitive level (Wacks, 2005; Wendt, 2003; Wendt & Brown, 2000).

Received: October 30, 2008 Accepted: October 27, 2009 Posted: March 31, 2010 Ms. Romeo is Clinical Instructor, Gwynedd-Mercy College, School

of Nursing, Gwynedd Valley, Pennsylvania. The author has no financial or proprietary interest in the material

presented herein. Address correspondence to Elizabeth M. Romeo, MS, CRNP, Assignment 2: Different Types Of Studies