How do I distinguish a research article from a QI project or an opinion-based article?

How do I distinguish a research article from a QI project or an opinion-based article?

  1. Do the articles for this assignment have to be research articles? YESWhat about quality improvement projects or opinion-based articles? NO – You should have 5 primary or original pieces of research. This means it is written by the person or persons who conducted the research. Quality improvement (QI) articles are tempting to use, but do not follow the same rigor as research. Opinion-based articles, while they may hold value, are not research. Remember, you need evidence to support the change you want to make from original research.
  2. How do I distinguish a research article from a QI project or an opinion-based article?According to Boswell and Cannon (2014), “research articles consistently contain components that are required by a scientific decision-making process” (p. 152). From Boswell and Cannon (2014), below are the components you will find when you are reviewing the literature to give you the clues you need when you are conducting your search of the literature.
  • Title– describes what the study was about
  • Abstract– brief summary of the problem of interest. Reading the abstract can help you determine if the research article is relevant to your change project.
  • Introduction/Literature Review– Background of the research topic. Discusses why it is important.
  • Purpose of the study/hypothesis/problem statement- Explains the aim of the study.
  • Methodology/procedures/research design– Tells what happened and describes in detail what actions the research took to carry out the study. You will find the population, the setting, and the type of data collection method used here.
  • Major findings/results/analysis/discussion- Describes the outcome of the study.
  • Summary/conclusion/ideas for future studies/implications– Highlights major findings of the study and gaps in the research. Discusses where further research is needed and recommendations for practice.
  • Works cited/references/acknowledgements-This is the reference list used at the end of the research article.

**Including non-research articles is a frequent cause of missed points on this assignment

  1. When completing my table, does the article need to be in APA Style? Yes. The first column of the table asks you to include a full reference in APA style of your research article. You will need to review how to reference a journal article. Please review your APA Common Errors Document under the Faculty Added Content in the Reference Section for further guidance here. **Incorrect APA formatting is a frequent cause of missed points.
  2. Do I need to upload the articles I used for this assignmentYes! You will need full access to all 5 research articles in PDF format. Please do not pay for an article. Look for an alternative or ask your Galen librarian for assistance. Upload the articles when you submit your Evidence table to the dropbox. ***I will not grade assignments that do not include the PDFs.