NR 439 Week 3 Discussion, Research Problems, Designs, and Sample

Week 3: Research Problems, Designs, and Sample Professor and Class, After reviewing the designs for this week, I believe my question, In head and neck cancer patients who will be undergoing radiation/chemo therapy, can prophylactic speech therapy compared to no prior speech therapy before treatment, yield faster transitions to oral diets and decreased dysphasia symptoms during and after treatment, would yield an experimental design for the research. “Experimental research asks analytic questions in quantitative studies to find out if there is a causal relationship between the variables (CCN, 2018).” The classic experimental design consists of an experimental group and a control group. The independent variable is administered, in my case the prophylactic speech therapy, to the experimental group and not to the control group, and both groups are measured on the same dependent variable. (Houser, 2018). Convenience sampling is the most commonly used technique due to its ease. The sampling here is based on the availability of the evidence and its proximity. The samples gathered in this manner are not representative of the population and generalizations cannot be made based on results of convenience sampling. The first available primary data source will be used for the research without additional requirements. This sampling method involves getting participants wherever you can find them and typically wherever is convenient. Saunders and Thornhill state, in convenience sampling no inclusion criteria identified prior to the selection of subjects, so I do not think that could be used in my research since my sample is specific to patients with Head and Neck cancer. Chamberlain College of Nursing (2018), Week 3 Lesson. Houser, J. (2018). Nursing Research: Reading, Using and Creating Evidence, 4th Edition. [Bookshelf Online]. Retrieved from Saunders, M., Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A. (2012) “Research Methods for Business Students” 6th edition, Pearson Education Limited