For this week’s discussion, we were asked to consider a nursing problem and develop a research question that would require using correlation analysis to answer it. According to Walden University (n.d.), there are five central nursing issues, including inadequate staffing, mandatory overtime, on-the-job safety, workplace violence, and self-care improvement. According to Lasater et al. (2020), hospitals in the US experience chronic understaffing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, before the pandemic, nurse understaffing was also a considerable problem in the US (Sasso et al., 2019). There are many factors that contribute to nurse understaffing and high turnover rates among front-line medical personal in general. Sasso et al. (2019) pointed out that emotional distress, poor patients’ safety, and gender had a significant impact on the turnover intentions. For my research, I would like to explore if there are significant correlations between workplace violence and understaffing.
A well-formulated research question is crucial for studying a nursing problem. According to Warner (2012), a good research question should be focused and clear. Therefore, if I were to conduct research about the relationships between nurse understaffing and workplace violence, I would be guided by the following research question, “How does workplace violence affect turnover intentions of nurses in acute settings in the US?” This research question is adequate is at clearly defines that the independent variable is workplace violence and the dependent variable is turnover intentions. The research question also identifies the population under study, which is acute care nurses in the US.
The null and the alternative hypotheses for this research question are provided below.
- H0: There are no significant correlations between workplace violence and turnover intentions among acute care nurses in the US.
- H1: There are significant correlations between workplace violence and turnover intentions among acute care nurses in the US.
In statistical terms, the hypothesis is that the correlation coefficient of workplace violence and turnover intentions among acute care nurses in the US is significantly different from 0. In layman’s language, the hypothesis is that workplace violence has either a positive or a negative effect on turnover intentions in acute care nurses in the US.
If I were to predict the direction of correlation between the two identified variables, I would say that there is a positive correlation. In other words, increased workplace violence would lead to increased turnover intentions and vice versa. According to Liu et al. (2018), workplace violence had an indirect effect on turnover intentions among Chinese nurses. However, I am not sure about the strength of the relationships. Research demonstrates that nurse understaffing and turnover is a multifaced problem (Sasso et al., 2019; Liu et al., 2018). This implies that there are many factors that affect understaffing, which makes it difficult to forecast the effect size of a particular variable.
There are also many factors that may affect the outcome of the research. One of the central issues may be the sampling methodology and sample size. According to Warner (2012), inadequate sampling methods and sample sizes may lead to biases and unreliable results. For instance, if all the participants will be recruited from one hospital that does not have problems with workplace violence, the research results may be misleading. Thus, it is crucial to use research methods based on best practices to avoid reliability issues.
References
Lasater, K. B., Aiken, L. H., Sloane, D. M., French, R., Martin, B., Reneau, K.,… & McHugh, M. D. (2020). Chronic hospital nurse understaffing meets COVID-19: an observational study. BMJ Quality & Safety.
Liu, W., Zhao, S., Shi, L., Zhang, Z., Liu, X., Li, L.,… & Ni, X. (2018). Workplace violence, job satisfaction, burnout, perceived organisational support and their effects on turnover intention among Chinese nurses in tertiary hospitals: a cross-sectional study. BMJ Open, 8(6), e019525.
Sasso, L., Bagnasco, A., Catania, G., Zanini, M., Aleo, G., Watson, R., & RN4CAST@ IT Working Group. (2019). Push and pull factors of nurses’ intention to leave. Journal of Nursing Management, 27(5), 946-954.
Walden University. (n.d.). 5 issues nurses face in their career. Web.
Warner, R.M. (2012). Applied statistics from bivariate through multivariate techniques (2nd ed.). Sage Publications.