The State of Pilot Studies in Nursing Education

Purpose: A pilot study is an important research strategy that can yield helpful information about proposed study procedures. However, published pilot studies often fail to highlight this information. Morin (2013) and Spurlock (2018) have raised issues related to information included in nursing education pilot studies. Interestingly, an evaluation of published research pilot studies addressing nursing education topics has not been reported. This study, part of a larger study evaluating the impact of pilot studies, reports the evaluation of a sample of published pilot studies addressing nursing education topics between 2018 and 2019. Well- developed pilot studies can advance the science of nursing education. The purpose of this study is to describe the quality of published pilot studies addressing nursing education topics using key elements drawn from the literature.

Methods: Two databases were searched: CINAHL and Medline. Key words used in the CINAHL search were “pilot study” combination with “students” and “nursing education”. Key words used in the Medline search were “pilot project” combination with “students” and “nursing education”. Inclusion criteria were: published between 2018-2019 [to allow for possible impact of the Morin (2013) and Spurlock (2018) publications]; English; key words either in the title or body of the abstract. Studies were evaluated using the following key attributes: Reason for undertaking the pilot; How feasibility of intervention assessed (if appropriate); Inclusion of feasibility objectives; Inclusion of feasibility outcomes; Inclusion of criteria for feasibility success; Description of how participants informed about feasibility of study; Results interpreted within context of feasibility -Lessons learned to make big study feasible; Appropriate use of statistics.

Results: A total of 434 hits were obtained between 2018-2019. All thirteen publications in 2019 meeting inclusion criteria (13/22) were included; 37/72 meeting criteria from 2018 were included. Eight papers met some but not all of the key elements. Of these, only two papers provided a rationale for conducting a pilot study. Four described how feasibility was assessed; this was the most frequent key element identified. None mentioned how informed consent highlighted the feasibility aspect of the study. Studies were published in a variety of nursing education and clinical journals such as the Journal of Nursing Education, Nursing Education Perspective, the Journal of Psychosocial Nursing, and Pain Management.

Conclusion: Information contained in papers reporting pilot studies does not reflect the key elements of a pilot study. Most pilot studies report on the outcomes of research, rather than on feasibility and acceptability of study procedures. Findings of this study have implications for those educating scientists, those conducting research in nursing education, and those publishing research in nursing education.