Sample and Design Critique
The purpose of this paper is to critique the design, sample and ethical issues used in the selected research studies. The article “The Experience of Patients Undergoing Awake Craniotomy” is a qualitative study. The overall purpose of the study is as Palese, Skrap, Fachin, Visioli, and Zannini, (2008) states, “Although different techniques are used, very little has been documented about how the patients feels, what they think about, or how they approach this type of surgery with anesthetic” (p.166). On the other hand, the article “The effects of Crossed Leg on Blood Pressure Measurement” is a quantitative study. This study’s objective was “to determine if crossing of a leg at the knee during blood pressure
The inclusion criteria were patients who had a diagnosis of hypertension and being treated with antihypertensive medications. “Patients were excluded from this study if they had a history of peripheral vascular disease, lower extremity surgery, amputation of any lower extremities, or any condition that would interfere with lower extremity positioning” (Foster-Fitzpatrick et al., 1999, para. 9). On the day of the study 16 participants were excluded because they failed to take their antihypertensive medications. So 84 participants remained and the study was conducted.
Ethics
The location for the qualitative study was the neurosurgical unit of the Santa Maria della Misericordia Hospital (Udine) in Italy conducted by a nursing group. Before the study was conducted approval was obtained from the local health service and also the university headquarters. Approval was given before any patients were approached and informed consent obtained. Even though the study was not reviewed by an IRB I feel that there was no major ethical concerns. Their privacy was respected by each individual remaining anonymous throughout the study. One researcher was used to interview participants who have had training in conducting the interviews and was also supervised during the process. I feel by doing this it would have made participants more comfortable in relaying more details on how they felt has they built