Fostering Undergraduate Nursing Research Success With Q Methodology

Purpose:

Building capacity for nursing research begins in pre-licensure curricula. Undergraduate nursing research builds confidence and helps advance student’s professional development, but finding projects that are both doable for undergraduates and meaningful can be challenging. Faculty may be reluctant  to support projects that do not align with their research trajectory. Experimental studies require higher levels of Institutional Review Board approval and participant recruitment can be lengthy. Quantitative, descriptive studies require reliable instruments and frequently need large samples sizes that students may have difficulty accessing. Data analysis in qualitative studies can be very complex and require extensive faculty time commitments. Thus, finding the right study design is arguably one of the most important factors to consider when planning a successful undergraduate student research study.

Q methodology is a quantitative way to study subjectivity that correlates participants to each other rather than known variables. The process involves rank ordering levels of agreement with a set of statements about a given topic. The researcher is then able to apply statistical principles to identify groups of individuals with like beliefs. Q methodology can be used to understand phenomena that are relatively new in the literature with relatively small sample sizes. Because the data analysis is completed with a statistical program, even novice researchers are able to conduct doable and meaningful projects. The purpose of this session is to describe how Q methodology was used to promote research success in four different BSN honors student projects.    

Methods:

The overarching goal of our BSN departmental honors program is to develop research skills in participating undergraduate nursing students. With the guidance of a faculty mentor, students complete a literature review, create a study proposal, conduct the research, analyze the data, and prepare the findings for dissemination. Since 2013, five undergraduate nursing honors students on our campus have elected to conduct four different Q methodology studies on a wide variety of patient, nurse, and student nurse attitudes. Specifically studies have explored patients’ perceptions after an initial cancer diagnosis, coworkers’ attitudes about nurse anesthetist practice, nurse’s thoughts about providing skin to skin contact immediately after a Cesarean delivery, and nursing students’ attitudes about patients living in poverty. Success of the honors program is measured in terms of student learning and mentee/mentor satisfaction. Well written literature reviews, generation of researchable questions, successful IRB submissions, completed projects, and dissemination of findings serve as authentic assessments of the achievement of research skills. 

 Results:

Three of the Q methodology BSN student studies are complete, the other is the data collection stage. Students have collected statements for ordering, recruited study participants, and completed initial data analysis through a standardized three step process in a fairly independent manner. Faculty assistance has been most needed with helping students interpret the findings and understand the implications. All completed studies have led to peer reviewed publications. The literature review from one study was used to create a CEU article in a practice journal. Finding nursing students had at least three different attitudes toward poverty led to publication and helped faculty see the need for a tiered approach to poverty education on our campus.  The nurse anesthetist study highlighted the problem that nurses do not always support other nurses in expanded roles. That study has been presented at three conferences, won the campus Provost Award for Undergraduate Research, and has been accepted for publication. Other student outcomes from these research projects have included increased confidence, enhanced faculty-student relations, and improved writing skills. Faculty outcomes include renewed passion for inquiry and increased personal satisfaction with mentoring undergraduate research.

Conclusion:

Q methodology solves many design challenges faced by novice researchers leading to doable and meaningful undergraduate projects. Outcomes include development of research skills for students and increased faculty satisfaction with the mentoring process.