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Evaluating Information

Understanding Primary and Secondary Sources
Exploring and Evaluating Popular, Trade, and Scholarly Sources

Reading a Scholarly Article

Common components of original research articles, while you read, reading strategies, reading for citations, further reading, learning objectives.

This page was created to help you:

Identify the different parts of a scholarly article

Efficiently analyze and evaluate scholarly articles for usefulness

This page will focus on reading scholarly articles — published reports on original research in the social sciences, humanities, and STEM fields. Reading and understanding this type of article can be challenging. This guide will help you develop these skills, which can be learned and improved upon with practice.

We will go over:

There are many different types of articles that may be found in scholarly journals and other academic publications. For more, see:

Types of Information Sources

Reading a scholarly article isn’t like reading a novel, website, or newspaper article. It’s likely you won’t read and absorb it from beginning to end, all at once.

Instead, think of scholarly reading as inquiry, i.e., asking a series of questions as you do your research or read for class. Your reading should be guided by your class topic or your own research question or thesis.

For example, as you read, you might ask yourself:

What questions does it help to answer, or what topics does it address?
Are these relevant or useful to me?
Does the article offer a helpful framework for understanding my topic or question (theoretical framework)?
Do the authors use interesting or innovative methods to conduct their research that might be relevant to me?
Does the article contain references I might consult for further information?

In Practice

Scanning and skimming are essential when reading scholarly articles, especially at the beginning stages of your research or when you have a lot of material in front of you.

Many scholarly articles are organized to help you scan and skim efficiently. The next time you need to read an article, practice scanning the following sections (where available) and skim their contents:

The abstract: This summary provides a birds’ eye view of the article contents.
The introduction: What is the topic(s) of the research article? What is its main idea or question?
The list of keywords or descriptors
Methods: How did the author(s) go about answering their question/collecting their data?
Section headings: Stop and skim those sections you may find relevant.
Figures: Offer lots of information in quick visual format.
The conclusion: What are the findings and/or conclusions of this article?

Mark Up Your Text

Read with purpose.

Scanning and skimming with a pen in hand can help to focus your reading.
Use color for quick reference. Try highlighters or some sticky notes. Use different colors to represent different topics.
Write in the margins, putting down thoughts and questions about the content as you read.
Use digital markup features available in eBook platforms or third-party solutions, like Adobe Reader or Hypothes.is.

Categorize Information

Create your own informal system of organization. It doesn’t have to be complicated — start basic, and be sure it works for you.

Jot down a few of your own keywords for each article. These keywords may correspond with important topics being addressed in class or in your research paper.
Write keywords on print copies or use the built-in note taking features in reference management tools like Zotero and EndNote.
Your keywords and system of organization may grow more complex the deeper you get into your reading.

Highlight words, terms, phrases, acronyms, etc. that are unfamiliar to you. You can highlight on the text or make a list in a notetaking program.

Decide if the term is essential to your understanding of the article or if you can look it up later and keep scanning.

You may scan an article and discover that it isn’t what you thought it was about. Before you close the tab or delete that PDF, consider scanning the article one more time, specifically to look for citations that might be more on-target for your topic.

You don’t need to look at every citation in the bibliography — you can look to the literature review to identify the core references that relate to your topic. Literature reviews are typically organized by subtopic within a research question or thesis. Find the paragraph or two that are closely aligned with your topic, make note of the author names, then locate those citations in the bibliography or footnote.

See the Find Articles page for what to do next:

Find Articles

See the Citation Searching page for more on following a citation trail:

Citation Searching
Taking notes effectively. [blog post] Raul Pacheco-Vega, PhD
How to read an academic paper. [video] UBCiSchool. 2013
How to (seriously) read a scientific paper. (2016, March 21). Science | AAAS.
How to read a paper. S. Keshav. 2007. SIGCOMM Comput. Commun. Rev. 37, 3 (July 2007), 83–84.

This guide was designed to help you:

<< Previous: Exploring and Evaluating Popular, Trade, and Scholarly Sources
Last Updated: Feb 16, 2024 3:55 PM
URL: https://libguides.brown.edu/evaluate

Library Intranet

Breaking Down Academic Articles

Few of us can recall every detail and argument from academic articles - they’re packed with so much information! It’s best to create reading strategies that help you focus on comprehending the most essential elements of an academic article. Breaking Down Academic Articles is a webcomic tutorial that walks you through the most important aspects of an academic article, to help you prepare for class discussion on the article(s) or take away essential information from the article to support future research.

Note: a transcript for each slide can be located at the bottom of each slide. Click the button to preview transcript of slide for description of art in each panel and the script of tutorial guide.

Related Resources

CREATES (Tutorial)
Find and Use Review Articles (Tutorial)
Find the Right Research Guides (Tutorial)
Finding Scholarly Articles 5-star editor review on merlot.org (Tutorial)
Finding and Using Keywords in Context (Tutorial)
Remote Access - Get configured with VPN or Proxy (Tutorial)

About this tutorial

Awards and recognition.

This tutorial has received a 5-star editor review on MERLOT, a curated collection of online learning and support materials.

Chris Lopez

Contributors

Kian Ravaei , Xinyi(Alex) Yan , Hannah Sutherland , Salma Abumeeiz , Renee Romero , Doug Worsham

https://uclalibrary.github.io/research-tips/research-tips/breaking-down-academic-articles/

Learning Outcomes

Identify key aspects of an academic article
Support future research endeavors
Prepare to discuss articles in class

Accessibility Information

WAVE tested - 0 errors - Jul 21, 2020
Issue filed for one accessibility improvement - headers - Jul 21, 2020

The Core Competencies for Research and Information Literacy at UCLA

Evaluate and synthesize information and data

How to Read a Scholarly Article

Introduction

Article Text

References/Works Cited
2. Sections of a Scholarly Article: Humanities Article

Sections of a Scholarly Journal Article About Scientific Research

Let's look at the different parts of a scholarly article that presents scientific research:

Brief description of the article
You can read this to decide whether you want to read the entire article.

first page of a scholarly article with the abstract highlighted

Introduction:

Description of the problem, or the research question, and why this study is being done
Sometimes includes a short literature review

The main part of an article is its body text.
This is where the author analyzes the argument, research question, or problem. This section also includes analysis and criticism.
The author may use headings to divide this part of the article into sections.

Scientific research articles may include these sections:

Literature review (Discussion of other sources, such as books and articles, that informed the author(s) of this article)
Methods (Description of the way the research study was set up and how data was collected)
Results (Presentation of the research study results)
Discussion (Discussion of whether the results of the study answer the research question)

You may see some of these same sections in articles that present humanities scholarship.

Conclusion:

Wraps up the article.
This section isn't always labeled.
Description of how this article or research study contributes to or builds on the previous research of other scholars.
Also includes ideas for future research others might do on this topic.

References/Works Cited:

List of resources (books, articles, etc.) cited in this article.

page of a scholarly article with reference section highlighted

This example uses pages from this article: Sampson, L., Ettman, C., Abdalla, S., Colyer, E., Dukes, K., Lane, K., & Galea, S. (2021). Financial hardship and health risk behavior during COVID-19 in a large US national sample of women. SSM - Population Health, 13, 100734–100734 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100734

<< Previous: Home
Next: 2. Sections of a Scholarly Article: Humanities Article >>
Last Updated: Nov 28, 2023 2:22 PM
URL: https://libguides.sjf.edu/scholarly-article

Research Guides

BSCI 1510L Literature and Stats Guide: 3.2 Components of a scientific paper

1 What is a scientific paper?
2 Referencing and accessing papers
2.1 Literature Cited
2.2 Accessing Scientific Papers
2.3 Traversing the web of citations
2.4 Keyword Searches
3 Style of scientific writing
3.1 Specific details regarding scientific writing

3.2 Components of a scientific paper

4 For further information
Appendix A: Calculation Final Concentrations
1 Formulas in Excel
2 Basic operations in Excel
3 Measurement and Variation
3.1 Describing Quantities and Their Variation
3.2 Samples Versus Populations
3.3 Calculating Descriptive Statistics using Excel
4 Variation and differences
5 Differences in Experimental Science
5.1 Aside: Commuting to Nashville
5.2 P and Detecting Differences in Variable Quantities
5.3 Statistical significance
5.4 A test for differences of sample means: 95% Confidence Intervals
5.5 Error bars in figures
5.6 Discussing statistics in your scientific writing
6 Scatter plot, trendline, and linear regression
7 The t-test of Means
8 Paired t-test
9 Two-Tailed and One-Tailed Tests
10 Variation on t-tests: ANOVA
11 Reporting the Results of a Statistical Test
12 Summary of statistical tests
1 Objectives
2 Project timeline
3 Background
4 Previous work in the BSCI 111 class
5 General notes about the project
6 About the paper
7 References

Nearly all journal articles are divided into the following major sections: abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, and references. Usually the sections are labeled as such, although often the introduction (and sometimes the abstract) is not labeled. Sometimes alternative section titles are used. The abstract is sometimes called the "summary", the methods are sometimes called "materials and methods", and the discussion is sometimes called "conclusions". Some journals also include the minor sections of "key words" following the abstract, and "acknowledgments" following the discussion. In some journals, the sections may be divided into subsections that are given descriptive titles. However, the general division into the six major sections is nearly universal.

3.2.1 Abstract

The abstract is a short summary (150-200 words or less) of the important points of the paper. It does not generally include background information. There may be a very brief statement of the rationale for conducting the study. It describes what was done, but without details. It also describes the results in a summarized way that usually includes whether or not the statistical tests were significant. It usually concludes with a brief statement of the importance of the results. Abstracts do not include references. When writing a paper, the abstract is always the last part to be written.

The purpose of the abstract is to allow potential readers of a paper to find out the important points of the paper without having to actually read the paper. It should be a self-contained unit capable of being understood without the benefit of the text of the article . It essentially serves as an "advertisement" for the paper that readers use to determine whether or not they actually want to wade through the entire paper or not. Abstracts are generally freely available in electronic form and are often presented in the results of an electronic search. If searchers do not have electronic access to the journal in which the article is published, the abstract is the only means that they have to decide whether to go through the effort (going to the library to look up the paper journal, requesting a reprint from the author, buying a copy of the article from a service, requesting the article by Interlibrary Loan) of acquiring the article. Therefore it is important that the abstract accurately and succinctly presents the most important information in the article.

3.2.2 Introduction

The introduction provides the background information necessary to understand why the described experiment was conducted. The introduction should describe previous research on the topic that has led to the unanswered questions being addressed by the experiment and should cite important previous papers that form the background for the experiment. The introduction should also state in an organized fashion the goals of the research, i.e. the particular, specific questions that will be tested in the experiments. There should be a one-to-one correspondence between questions raised in the introduction and points discussed in the conclusion section of the paper. In other words, do not raise questions in the introduction unless you are going to have some kind of answer to the question that you intend to discuss at the end of the paper.

You may have been told that every paper must have a hypothesis that can be clearly stated. That is often true, but not always. If your experiment involves a manipulation which tests a specific hypothesis, then you should clearly state that hypothesis. On the other hand, if your experiment was primarily exploratory, descriptive, or measurative, then you probably did not have an a priori hypothesis, so don't pretend that you did and make one up. (See the discussion in the introduction to Experiment 4 for more on this.) If you state a hypothesis in the introduction, it should be a general hypothesis and not a null or alternative hypothesis for a statistical test. If it is necessary to explain how a statistical test will help you evaluate your general hypothesis, explain that in the methods section.

A good introduction should be fairly heavy with citations. This indicates to the reader that the authors are informed about previous work on the topic and are not working in a vacuum. Citations also provide jumping-off points to allow the reader to explore other tangents to the subject that are not directly addressed in the paper. If the paper supports or refutes previous work, readers can look up the citations and make a comparison for themselves.

"Do not get lost in reviewing background information. Remember that the Introduction is meant to introduce the reader to your research, not summarize and evaluate all past literature on the subject (which is the purpose of a review paper). Many of the other studies you may be tempted to discuss in your Introduction are better saved for the Discussion, where they become a powerful tool for comparing and interpreting your results. Include only enough background information to allow your reader to understand why you are asking the questions you are and why your hyptheses are reasonable ones. Often, a brief explanation of the theory involved is sufficient. …

Write this section in the past or present tense, never in the future. " (Steingraber et al. 1985)

3.2.3 Methods (taken verbatim from Steingraber et al. 1985)

The function of this section is to describe all experimental procedures, including controls. The description should be complete enough to enable someone else to repeat your work. If there is more than one part to the experiment, it is a good idea to describe your methods and present your results in the same order in each section. This may not be the same order in which the experiments were performed -it is up to you to decide what order of presentation will make the most sense to your reader.

1. Explain why each procedure was done, i.e., what variable were you measuring and why? Example:

Difficult to understand : First, I removed the frog muscle and then I poured Ringer’s solution on it. Next, I attached it to the kymograph.

Improved: I removed the frog muscle and poured Ringer’s solution on it to prevent it from drying out. I then attached the muscle to the kymograph in order to determine the minimum voltage required for contraction.

2. Experimental procedures and results are narrated in the past tense (what you did, what you found, etc.) whereas conclusions from your results are given in the present tense.

3. Mathematical equations and statistical tests are considered mathematical methods and should be described in this section along with the actual experimental work.

4. Use active rather than passive voice when possible. [Note: see Section 3.1.4 for more about this.] Always use the singular "I" rather than the plural "we" when you are the only author of the paper. Throughout the paper, avoid contractions, e.g. did not vs. didn’t.

5. If any of your methods is fully described in a previous publication (yours or someone else’s), you can cite that instead of describing the procedure again.

Example: The chromosomes were counted at meiosis in the anthers with the standard acetocarmine technique of Snow (1955).

3.2.4 Results (with excerpts from Steingraber et al. 1985)

The function of this section is to summarize general trends in the data without comment, bias, or interpretation. The results of statistical tests applied to your data are reported in this section although conclusions about your original hypotheses are saved for the Discussion section.

Tables and figures should be used when they are a more efficient way to convey information than verbal description. They must be independent units, accompanied by explanatory captions that allow them to be understood by someone who has not read the text. Do not repeat in the text the information in tables and figures, but do cite them, with a summary statement when that is appropriate. Example:

Incorrect: The results are given in Figure 1.

Correct: Temperature was directly proportional to metabolic rate (Fig. 1).

Please note that the entire word "Figure" is almost never written in an article. It is nearly always abbreviated as "Fig." and capitalized. Tables are cited in the same way, although Table is not abbreviated.

Whenever possible, use a figure instead of a table. Relationships between numbers are more readily grasped when they are presented graphically rather than as columns in a table.

Data may be presented in figures and tables, but this may not substitute for a verbal summary of the findings. The text should be understandable by someone who has not seen your figures and tables.

1. All results should be presented, including those that do not support the hypothesis.

2. Statements made in the text must be supported by the results contained in figures and tables.

3. The results of statistical tests can be presented in parentheses following a verbal description.

Example: Fruit size was significantly greater in trees growing alone (t = 3.65, df = 2, p < 0.05).

Simple results of statistical tests may be reported in the text as shown in the preceding example. The results of multiple tests may be reported in a table if that increases clarity. (See Section 11 of the Statistics Manual for more details about reporting the results of statistical tests.) It is not necessary to provide a citation for a simple t-test of means, paired t-test, or linear regression. If you use other tests, you should cite the text or reference you followed to do the test. In your materials and methods section, you should report how you did the test (e.g. using the statistical analysis package of Excel).

It is NEVER appropriate to simply paste the results from statistical software into the results section of your paper. The output generally reports more information than is required and it is not in an appropriate format for a paper.

3.2.4.1 Tables

Do not repeat information in a table that you are depicting in a graph or histogram; include a table only if it presents new information.
It is easier to compare numbers by reading down a column rather than across a row. Therefore, list sets of data you want your reader to compare in vertical form.
Provide each table with a number (Table 1, Table 2, etc.) and a title. The numbered title is placed above the table .
Please see Section 11 of the Excel Reference and Statistics Manual for further information on reporting the results of statistical tests.

3.2.4.2. Figures

These comprise graphs, histograms, and illustrations, both drawings and photographs. Provide each figure with a number (Fig. 1, Fig. 2, etc.) and a caption (or "legend") that explains what the figure shows. The numbered caption is placed below the figure . Figure legend = Figure caption.
Figures submitted for publication must be "photo ready," i.e., they will appear just as you submit them, or photographically reduced. Therefore, when you graduate from student papers to publishable manuscripts, you must learn to prepare figures that will not embarrass you. At the present time, virtually all journals require manuscripts to be submitted electronically and it is generally assumed that all graphs and maps will be created using software rather than being created by hand. Nearly all journals have specific guidelines for the file types, resolution, and physical widths required for figures. Only in a few cases (e.g. sketched diagrams) would figures still be created by hand using ink and those figures would be scanned and labeled using graphics software. Proportions must be the same as those of the page in the journal to which the paper will be submitted.
Graphs and Histograms: Both can be used to compare two variables. However, graphs show continuous change, whereas histograms show discrete variables only. You can compare groups of data by plotting two or even three lines on one graph, but avoid cluttered graphs that are hard to read, and do not plot unrelated trends on the same graph. For both graphs, and histograms, plot the independent variable on the horizontal (x) axis and the dependent variable on the vertical (y) axis. Label both axes, including units of measurement except in the few cases where variables are unitless, such as absorbance.
Drawings and Photographs: These are used to illustrate organisms, experimental apparatus, models of structures, cellular and subcellular structure, and results of procedures like electrophoresis. Preparing such figures well is a lot of work and can be very expensive, so each figure must add enough to justify its preparation and publication, but good figures can greatly enhance a professional article, as your reading in biological journals has already shown.

3.2.5 Discussion (taken from Steingraber et al. 1985)

The function of this section is to analyze the data and relate them to other studies. To "analyze" means to evaluate the meaning of your results in terms of the original question or hypothesis and point out their biological significance.

1. The Discussion should contain at least:

the relationship between the results and the original hypothesis, i.e., whether they support the hypothesis, or cause it to be rejected or modified
an integration of your results with those of previous studies in order to arrive at explanations for the observed phenomena
possible explanations for unexpected results and observations, phrased as hypotheses that can be tested by realistic experimental procedures, which you should describe

2. Trends that are not statistically significant can still be discussed if they are suggestive or interesting, but cannot be made the basis for conclusions as if they were significant.

3. Avoid redundancy between the Results and the Discussion section. Do not repeat detailed descriptions of the data and results in the Discussion. In some journals, Results and Discussions are joined in a single section, in order to permit a single integrated treatment with minimal repetition. This is more appropriate for short, simple articles than for longer, more complicated ones.

4. End the Discussion with a summary of the principal points you want the reader to remember. This is also the appropriate place to propose specific further study if that will serve some purpose, but do not end with the tired cliché that "this problem needs more study." All problems in biology need more study. Do not close on what you wish you had done, rather finish stating your conclusions and contributions.

3.2.6 Title

The title of the paper should be the last thing that you write. That is because it should distill the essence of the paper even more than the abstract (the next to last thing that you write).

The title should contain three elements:

1. the name of the organism studied;

2. the particular aspect or system studied;

3. the variable(s) manipulated.

Do not be afraid to be grammatically creative. Here are some variations on a theme, all suitable as titles:

THE EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE ON GERMINATION OF ZEA MAYS

DOES TEMPERATURE AFFECT GERMINATION OF ZEA MAYS?

TEMPERATURE AND ZEA MAYS GERMINATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR AGRICULTURE

Sometimes it is possible to include the principal result or conclusion in the title:

HIGH TEMPERATURES REDUCE GERMINATION OF ZEA MAYS

Note for the BSCI 1510L class: to make your paper look more like a real paper, you can list all of the other group members as co-authors. However, if you do that, you should list you name first so that we know that you wrote it.

3.2.7 Literature Cited

Please refer to section 2.1 of this guide.

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Last Updated: Apr 19, 2023 2:37 PM
URL: https://researchguides.library.vanderbilt.edu/bsci1510L

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Online Guide to Writing and Research

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Online Guide to Writing

Structuring the Research Paper

Formal research structure.

These are the primary purposes for formal research:

enter the discourse, or conversation, of other writers and scholars in your field

learn how others in your field use primary and secondary resources

find and understand raw data and information

Top view of textured wooden desk prepared for work and exploration - wooden pegs, domino, cubes and puzzles with blank notepads, paper and colourful pencils lying on it.

For the formal academic research assignment, consider an organizational pattern typically used for primary academic research. The pattern includes the following: introduction, methods, results, discussion, and conclusions/recommendations.

Usually, research papers flow from the general to the specific and back to the general in their organization. The introduction uses a general-to-specific movement in its organization, establishing the thesis and setting the context for the conversation. The methods and results sections are more detailed and specific, providing support for the generalizations made in the introduction. The discussion section moves toward an increasingly more general discussion of the subject, leading to the conclusions and recommendations, which then generalize the conversation again.

Sections of a Formal Structure

The introduction section.

Many students will find that writing a structured  introduction  gets them started and gives them the focus needed to significantly improve their entire paper.

Introductions usually have three parts:

presentation of the problem statement, the topic, or the research inquiry

purpose and focus of your paper

summary or overview of the writer’s position or arguments

In the first part of the introduction—the presentation of the problem or the research inquiry—state the problem or express it so that the question is implied. Then, sketch the background on the problem and review the literature on it to give your readers a context that shows them how your research inquiry fits into the conversation currently ongoing in your subject area.

In the second part of the introduction, state your purpose and focus. Here, you may even present your actual thesis. Sometimes your purpose statement can take the place of the thesis by letting your reader know your intentions.

The third part of the introduction, the summary or overview of the paper, briefly leads readers through the discussion, forecasting the main ideas and giving readers a blueprint for the paper.

The following example provides a blueprint for a well-organized introduction.

Example of an Introduction

Entrepreneurial Marketing: The Critical Difference

In an article in the Harvard Business Review, John A. Welsh and Jerry F. White remind us that “a small business is not a little big business.” An entrepreneur is not a multinational conglomerate but a profit-seeking individual. To survive, he must have a different outlook and must apply different principles to his endeavors than does the president of a large or even medium-sized corporation. Not only does the scale of small and big businesses differ, but small businesses also suffer from what the Harvard Business Review article calls “resource poverty.” This is a problem and opportunity that requires an entirely different approach to marketing. Where large ad budgets are not necessary or feasible, where expensive ad production squanders limited capital, where every marketing dollar must do the work of two dollars, if not five dollars or even ten, where a person’s company, capital, and material well-being are all on the line—that is, where guerrilla marketing can save the day and secure the bottom line (Levinson, 1984, p. 9).

By reviewing the introductions to research articles in the discipline in which you are writing your research paper, you can get an idea of what is considered the norm for that discipline. Study several of these before you begin your paper so that you know what may be expected. If you are unsure of the kind of introduction your paper needs, ask your professor for more information. The introduction is normally written in present tense.

THE METHODS SECTION

The methods section of your research paper should describe in detail what methodology and special materials if any, you used to think through or perform your research. You should include any materials you used or designed for yourself, such as questionnaires or interview questions, to generate data or information for your research paper. You want to include any methodologies that are specific to your particular field of study, such as lab procedures for a lab experiment or data-gathering instruments for field research. The methods section is usually written in the past tense.

THE RESULTS SECTION

How you present the results of your research depends on what kind of research you did, your subject matter, and your readers’ expectations. 

Quantitative information —data that can be measured—can be presented systematically and economically in tables, charts, and graphs. Quantitative information includes quantities and comparisons of sets of data.

Qualitative information , which includes brief descriptions, explanations, or instructions, can also be presented in prose tables. This kind of descriptive or explanatory information, however, is often presented in essay-like prose or even lists.

There are specific conventions for creating tables, charts, and graphs and organizing the information they contain. In general, you should use them only when you are sure they will enlighten your readers rather than confuse them. In the accompanying explanation and discussion, always refer to the graphic by number and explain specifically what you are referring to; you can also provide a caption for the graphic. The rule of thumb for presenting a graphic is first to introduce it by name, show it, and then interpret it. The results section is usually written in the past tense.

THE DISCUSSION SECTION

Your discussion section should generalize what you have learned from your research. One way to generalize is to explain the consequences or meaning of your results and then make your points that support and refer back to the statements you made in your introduction. Your discussion should be organized so that it relates directly to your thesis. You want to avoid introducing new ideas here or discussing tangential issues not directly related to the exploration and discovery of your thesis. The discussion section, along with the introduction, is usually written in the present tense.

THE CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS SECTION

Your conclusion ties your research to your thesis, binding together all the main ideas in your thinking and writing. By presenting the logical outcome of your research and thinking, your conclusion answers your research inquiry for your reader. Your conclusions should relate directly to the ideas presented in your introduction section and should not present any new ideas.

You may be asked to present your recommendations separately in your research assignment. If so, you will want to add some elements to your conclusion section. For example, you may be asked to recommend a course of action, make a prediction, propose a solution to a problem, offer a judgment, or speculate on the implications and consequences of your ideas. The conclusions and recommendations section is usually written in the present tense.

Key Takeaways

For the formal academic research assignment, consider an organizational pattern typically used for primary academic research.
The pattern includes the following: introduction, methods, results, discussion, and conclusions/recommendations.

Mailing Address: 3501 University Blvd. East, Adelphi, MD 20783 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License . © 2022 UMGC. All links to external sites were verified at the time of publication. UMGC is not responsible for the validity or integrity of information located at external sites.

Table of Contents: Online Guide to Writing

Chapter 1: College Writing

How Does College Writing Differ from Workplace Writing?

What Is College Writing?

Why So Much Emphasis on Writing?

Chapter 2: The Writing Process

Doing Exploratory Research

Getting from Notes to Your Draft

Introduction

Prewriting - Techniques to Get Started - Mining Your Intuition

Prewriting: Targeting Your Audience

Prewriting: Techniques to Get Started

Prewriting: Understanding Your Assignment

Rewriting: Being Your Own Critic

Rewriting: Creating a Revision Strategy

Rewriting: Getting Feedback

Rewriting: The Final Draft

Techniques to Get Started - Outlining

Techniques to Get Started - Using Systematic Techniques

Thesis Statement and Controlling Idea

Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Freewriting

Writing: Getting from Notes to Your Draft - Summarizing Your Ideas

Writing: Outlining What You Will Write

Chapter 3: Thinking Strategies

A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone

A Word About Style, Voice, and Tone: Style Through Vocabulary and Diction

Critical Strategies and Writing

Critical Strategies and Writing: Analysis

Critical Strategies and Writing: Evaluation

Critical Strategies and Writing: Persuasion

Critical Strategies and Writing: Synthesis

Developing a Paper Using Strategies

Kinds of Assignments You Will Write

Patterns for Presenting Information

Patterns for Presenting Information: Critiques

Patterns for Presenting Information: Discussing Raw Data

Patterns for Presenting Information: General-to-Specific Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Problem-Cause-Solution Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Specific-to-General Pattern

Patterns for Presenting Information: Summaries and Abstracts

Supporting with Research and Examples

Writing Essay Examinations

Writing Essay Examinations: Make Your Answer Relevant and Complete

Writing Essay Examinations: Organize Thinking Before Writing

Writing Essay Examinations: Read and Understand the Question

Chapter 4: The Research Process

Planning and Writing a Research Paper

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Ask a Research Question

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Cite Sources

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Collect Evidence

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Decide Your Point of View, or Role, for Your Research

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Draw Conclusions

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Find a Topic and Get an Overview

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Manage Your Resources

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Outline

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Survey the Literature

Planning and Writing a Research Paper: Work Your Sources into Your Research Writing

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Human Resources

Research Resources: What Are Research Resources?

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found?

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Electronic Resources

Research Resources: Where Are Research Resources Found? - Print Resources

Structuring the Research Paper: Formal Research Structure

Structuring the Research Paper: Informal Research Structure

The Nature of Research

The Research Assignment: How Should Research Sources Be Evaluated?

The Research Assignment: When Is Research Needed?

The Research Assignment: Why Perform Research?

Chapter 5: Academic Integrity

Academic Integrity

Giving Credit to Sources

Giving Credit to Sources: Copyright Laws

Giving Credit to Sources: Documentation

Giving Credit to Sources: Style Guides

Integrating Sources

Practicing Academic Integrity

Practicing Academic Integrity: Keeping Accurate Records

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Paraphrasing Your Source

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Quoting Your Source

Practicing Academic Integrity: Managing Source Material - Summarizing Your Sources

Types of Documentation

Types of Documentation: Bibliographies and Source Lists

Types of Documentation: Citing World Wide Web Sources

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - APA Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - CSE/CBE Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - Chicago Style

Types of Documentation: In-Text or Parenthetical Citations - MLA Style

Types of Documentation: Note Citations

Chapter 6: Using Library Resources

Finding Library Resources

Chapter 7: Assessing Your Writing

How Is Writing Graded?

How Is Writing Graded?: A General Assessment Tool

The Draft Stage

The Draft Stage: The First Draft

The Draft Stage: The Revision Process and the Final Draft

The Draft Stage: Using Feedback

The Research Stage

Using Assessment to Improve Your Writing

Chapter 8: Other Frequently Assigned Papers

Reviews and Reaction Papers: Article and Book Reviews

Reviews and Reaction Papers: Reaction Papers

Writing Arguments

Writing Arguments: Adapting the Argument Structure

Writing Arguments: Purposes of Argument

Writing Arguments: References to Consult for Writing Arguments

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Anticipate Active Opposition

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Determine Your Organization

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Develop Your Argument

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Introduce Your Argument

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - State Your Thesis or Proposition

Writing Arguments: Steps to Writing an Argument - Write Your Conclusion

Writing Arguments: Types of Argument

Appendix A: Books to Help Improve Your Writing

Dictionaries

General Style Manuals

Researching on the Internet

Special Style Manuals

Writing Handbooks

Appendix B: Collaborative Writing and Peer Reviewing

Collaborative Writing: Assignments to Accompany the Group Project

Collaborative Writing: Informal Progress Report

Collaborative Writing: Issues to Resolve

Collaborative Writing: Methodology

Collaborative Writing: Peer Evaluation

Collaborative Writing: Tasks of Collaborative Writing Group Members

Collaborative Writing: Writing Plan

General Introduction

Peer Reviewing

Appendix C: Developing an Improvement Plan

Working with Your Instructor’s Comments and Grades

Appendix D: Writing Plan and Project Schedule

Devising a Writing Project Plan and Schedule

Reviewing Your Plan with Others

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Library Instruction

Structure of typical research article.

The basic structure of a typical research paper includes Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. Each section addresses a different objective.

the problem they intend to address -- in other words, the research question -- in the Introduction ;
what they did to answer the question in Methodology ;
what they observed in Results ; and
what they think the results mean in Discussion .

A substantial study will sometimes include a literature review section which discusses previous works on the topic. The basic structure is outlined below:

Author and author's professional affiliation is identified
Introduction
Literature review section (a discussion about what other scholars have written on the topic)
Methodology section (methods of data gathering are explained)
Discussion section
Conclusions
Reference list with citations (sources of information used in the article)

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Preparing your submission

Structure for research articles (quantitative and mixed methods).

Maximum length: 3,000 words.

Descriptive title

The title should include a core finding or argument of the article.

Article’s lead [50 to 100 words]

The “lead” of an article attracts the curiosity of the readers. It presents one or two highlights from the article. For example, the lead could focus on one of the most important findings or implications discussed in the paper. This is NOT an abstract and it should NOT provide a comprehensive overview of the paper.

Research questions

Summarize your research questions in bullet points (no more than 4).

Essay summary [200 words]

Summarize the research methods you used in one or two sentences (surveys, experiments, interviews, observations, document analysis, etc.).
Summarize the most important findings of this study in one or two sentences each.
Summarize the real-world implications of this study in one or two sentences each.

Implications [1,000 words]

First, briefly present the key argument(s) that you are deriving from your findings in formatting and language that are easily understandable for a non-specialist audience with a professional interest in misinformation (e.g., journalists, educators, policymakers, politicians).

Second, discuss the significance and implications of your argument and findings. What recommendations can you provide, and to whom, based on your argument and findings? For example, can your argument and findings inform the design of novel policies, infrastructural interventions, or educational programs?

Remember: Use clear, accessible language that avoids academic jargon.

Findings [1,000 words]

This section corresponds to the “findings or results” section of a traditional academic publication. However, you must present your findings in formatting and language that are easily understandable for a non-specialist audience with a professional interest in misinformation.

To complete this section:

List and describe the key findings or major points, from the more generalizable to the more specific;
Each finding should be separately described in one or two paragraphs;
Start each paragraph with a topic sentence, then describe the finding(s) with a few sentences;
Add as many paragraphs and findings as needed, within the word limit;
Add images, data, tables, videos, and audio files “inline” immediately after the paragraph presenting the corresponding finding or set of findings (for non-embeddable interactive files, mark where in the text they should appear and send a link to the file itself separately).

Finding 1: … (state your most important finding/point in one sentence)

CONTENT (describe this finding in a few sentences)

CORRESPONDING VISUAL (add if necessary)

Finding 2: … (state your next most important finding/point in one sentence)

Methods [500 to 1,000 words]

This section corresponds to the “research design and methods” sections of a traditional academic publication.

Please answer the following questions (when appropriate):

What are your research questions? (mandatory)
What hypotheses did you investigate or test? (if appropriate)
What methods for data collection and analysis did you use? (mandatory)
How did you select your population sample? (if appropriate)
How and why are these methods appropriate to answer your research questions? (mandatory)

NOTE: If you need more space to describe your methodology, submit a separate methodology appendix. The appendix has no word limit. Supplemental appendices should be included in the text of the submission (after the Data Availability statement) AND submitted as separate files. Please use our template for appendices when submitting.

Bibliography

All citations must be listed at the end of the text file, in alphabetical order of authors’ surnames. Citations should be submitted in APA 7 format (Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th Edition).

Acknowledgements [optional]

Any acknowledgements must be headed and in a separate paragraph, placed after the main text but before the bibliography.

Should the research have received a funding grant, then the grant provider and grant number should be detailed. If no funding was received, please state: “No financial support was received for this study.”

Competing interests

Authors are required to declare any competing interests that may be perceived as contributing to potential bias. Examples include funding for a research program or employment by, consulting for, or stocks/shares in an organization that could be financially affected by the publication of a paper, as well as patents or patent applications whose value may be affected by the publication of the paper. Authors are required to provide a statement listing any competing interests, which will be published in their article. If there are no competing interests to declare, then please state: “The authors declare no competing interests.”

Where applicable, studies must have been approved by an appropriate ethics committee, and the authors should include a statement within the article text detailing this approval, including the name of the ethics committee and reference number of the approval. The identity of the research subject(s) should be anonymized whenever possible. For research involving human subjects, informed consent to participate in the study must be obtained from participants (or their legal guardian) and added to this statement. If a study involving human subjects/tissue/data was exempt from requiring ethical approval, a confirmation statement from the relevant body should be included within the submission.

When ethnicity/gender are reported, define who determined ethnicity/gender categories, whether the options were defined by the investigator and, if so, what they were and why ethnicity/gender are considered important in the study.

Copyright and publishing rights remain with the author/s of the article/s. All articles published in the journal can be reused under the following CC license: CC BY-SA Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License .

Data availability

The HKS Misinformation Review requires, as a condition for publication, that all data necessary to replicate published results should be archived in the Harvard Dataverse repository, within IRB restrictions.

Please consult our data sharing policy before submission.

What is Research?: Parts of a Research Article

The Truth about Research
Research Steps
Evaluating Sources
Parts of a Research Article

While each article is different, here are some common pieces you'll see in many of them...

The title of the article should give you some clues as to the topic it addresses.
The abstract allows readers to quickly review the overall content of the article. It should give you an idea of the topic of the article, while also providing any key details--such as the questions address in the article and the general results of the studies conducted.
The introduction introduces the general topic and provides some background information, eventually narrowing it down to the specific issues addressed in the article.
The literature review describes past research on the topic and relates it to the specific topic covered by the article. Not all articles will have a literature review.
The methods section addresses the research design and methodology used by the author to come to the conclusions they have in this article. This gives others the ability to replicate the study. Not all articles will have this, since there will be many articles that don't involve an actual study.
The results section presents the results of any studies or analysis that has been conducted. Not all articles will have this, either.
The discussion/conclusion addresses the implications or future of the field. It may also address where future research is needed.
The list references or bibliography is the alphabetized list of resources used for the article. The format of the citations is often determined by what that field's preferred format is. Common citations formats include APA, Chicago, and MLA. This is a necessity in an article--and it helps you identify more possible resources for your own paper.
Components of a Research Paper Useful site that goes more in depth on these sections.
Parts of a Citation A really wonderful site by the Nash Community College Library.
<< Previous: Evaluating Sources
Last Updated: Jul 20, 2017 9:23 PM
URL: https://libguides.uno.edu/whatisresearch

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Research articles

Selenium alloyed tellurium oxide for amorphous p-channel transistors.

Yong-Sung Kim
Yong-Young Noh

ROS-dependent S-palmitoylation activates cleaved and intact gasdermin D

Liam B. Healy

Ghost roads and the destruction of Asia-Pacific tropical forests

An effort to map roads in the Asia-Pacific region finds that there are 3.0–6.6 times more roads than other sources suggest, and that unmapped ‘ghost roads’ are a major contributor to tropical forest loss.

Jayden E. Engert
Mason J. Campbell
William F. Laurance

Force-controlled release of small molecules with a rotaxane actuator

A rotaxane-based mechanochemical system enables force-controlled release of multiple cargo molecules that are appended to its molecular axle.

Robert Nixon
Guillaume De Bo

Sex differences orchestrated by androgens at single-cell resolution

The effects of sex and androgens on the molecular programs and cellular populations are explored using a single-cell transcriptomic atlas comprising over 2.3 million cells from different tissues in Mus musculus .

Xudong Xing

Emergence of fractal geometries in the evolution of a metabolic enzyme

Citrate synthase from the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus is shown to self-assemble into Sierpiński triangles, a finding that opens up the possibility that other naturally occurring molecular-scale fractals exist.

Franziska L. Sendker
Georg K. A. Hochberg

FOXO1 enhances CAR T cell stemness, metabolic fitness and efficacy

Increased effectiveness of anti-cancer chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy is associated with a stem-like phenotype through increased expression of FOXO1.

Jack D. Chan
Christina M. Scheffler
Phillip K. Darcy

Mid-ocean ridge unfaulting revealed by magmatic intrusions

Recent sequences of reverse-faulting earthquakes at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Carlsberg Ridge show that tectonic extension at mid-ocean ridge axes can be partially undone by tectonic shortening across the ridge flanks.

Jean-Arthur Olive
Göran Ekström
Manon Bickert

Metabolic rewiring promotes anti-inflammatory effects of glucocorticoids

Glucocorticoids reprogram the mitochondrial metabolism of macrophages, resulting in increased and sustained production of the anti-inflammatory metabolite itaconate and, as a consequence, inhibition of the inflammatory response.

Jean-Philippe Auger
Max Zimmermann
Gerhard Krönke

Cell-type-resolved mosaicism reveals clonal dynamics of the human forebrain

Using mosaic variant barcode analysis, clonal dynamics of specific cell types are deconvolved in the human forebrain.

Changuk Chung
Xiaoxu Yang
Joseph G. Gleeson

Phononic switching of magnetization by the ultrafast Barnett effect

Ultrafast light-induced driving of phonons at resonance in a substrate facilitates the permanent reversal of the magnetic state of a material mounted on it.

C. S. Davies
F. G. N. Fennema
A. Kirilyuk

Distal colonocytes targeted by C. rodentium recruit T-cell help for barrier defence

The murine enteropathogen Citrobacter rodentium targets a specific subset of absorptive intestinal epithelial cells in the mid–distal colon, which stimulate T cells to produce sustained IL-22 signals to mitigate further spread of the pathogen.

Carlene L. Zindl
C. Garrett Wilson
Casey T. Weaver

FSC-certified forest management benefits large mammals compared to non-FSC

Camera-trap images of 55 mammal species in 14 logging concessions in western equatorial Africa reveal greater animal encounter rates in FSC-certified than in non-certified forests, especially for large mammals and species of high conservation priority.

Joeri A. Zwerts
E. H. M. Sterck
Marijke van Kuijk

Ligand efficacy modulates conformational dynamics of the µ-opioid receptor

Studies on the µ-opioid receptor using fluorescent labelling of intracellular residues and energy transfer experiments in the presence of different ligands with or without G-protein binding reveals conformational changes that correlate to ligand efficacy.

Jiawei Zhao
Matthias Elgeti
Chunlai Chen

Direct observation of a magnetic-field-induced Wigner crystal

A magnetic-field-induced Wigner crystal in Bernal-stacked bilayer graphene was directly imaged using high-resolution scanning tunnelling microscopy and its structural properties as a function of electron density, magnetic field and temperature were examined.

Yen-Chen Tsui
Ali Yazdani

A hybrid topological quantum state in an elemental solid

A hybrid topological phase of matter is discovered in the simple elemental-solid arsenic and explored using tunnelling microscopy, photoemission spectroscopy and a theoretical analysis.

Md Shafayat Hossain
Frank Schindler
M. Zahid Hasan

Terahertz electric-field-driven dynamical multiferroicity in SrTiO 3

We demonstrate the emergence of magnetism induced by a terahertz electric field in SrTiO 3 .

M. Pancaldi

Bitter taste receptor activation by cholesterol and an intracellular tastant

Cryo-electron microscopy structures of the type 2 taste receptor TAS2R14 in complex with Ggust and Gi1 identify cholesterol as an orthosteric agonist and the bitter tastant cmpd28.1 as a positive allosteric modulator and agonist.

Yoojoong Kim
Ryan H. Gumpper
Bryan L. Roth

Necroptosis blockade prevents lung injury in severe influenza

A newly developed RIPK3 inhibitor blocks necroptosis of lung cells, reduces lung inflammation and prevents mortality in a mouse model of influenza A virus infection.

Avishekh Gautam
David F. Boyd
Siddharth Balachandran

FOXO1 is a master regulator of memory programming in CAR T cells

The transcription factor FOXO1 has a key role in human T cell memory, and manipulating FOXO1 expression could provide a way to enhance CAR T cell therapies by increasing CAR T cell persistence and antitumour activity.

Alexander E. Doan
Katherine P. Mueller
Evan W. Weber

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Knowledge Base

Methodology

Research Methods | Definitions, Types, Examples

Research methods are specific procedures for collecting and analyzing data. Developing your research methods is an integral part of your research design . When planning your methods, there are two key decisions you will make.

First, decide how you will collect data . Your methods depend on what type of data you need to answer your research question :

Qualitative vs. quantitative : Will your data take the form of words or numbers?
Primary vs. secondary : Will you collect original data yourself, or will you use data that has already been collected by someone else?
Descriptive vs. experimental : Will you take measurements of something as it is, or will you perform an experiment?

Second, decide how you will analyze the data .

For quantitative data, you can use statistical analysis methods to test relationships between variables.
For qualitative data, you can use methods such as thematic analysis to interpret patterns and meanings in the data.

Methods for collecting data, examples of data collection methods, methods for analyzing data, examples of data analysis methods, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about research methods.

Data is the information that you collect for the purposes of answering your research question . The type of data you need depends on the aims of your research.

Qualitative vs. quantitative data

Your choice of qualitative or quantitative data collection depends on the type of knowledge you want to develop.

For questions about ideas, experiences and meanings, or to study something that can’t be described numerically, collect qualitative data .

If you want to develop a more mechanistic understanding of a topic, or your research involves hypothesis testing , collect quantitative data .

You can also take a mixed methods approach , where you use both qualitative and quantitative research methods.

Primary vs. secondary research

Primary research is any original data that you collect yourself for the purposes of answering your research question (e.g. through surveys , observations and experiments ). Secondary research is data that has already been collected by other researchers (e.g. in a government census or previous scientific studies).

If you are exploring a novel research question, you’ll probably need to collect primary data . But if you want to synthesize existing knowledge, analyze historical trends, or identify patterns on a large scale, secondary data might be a better choice.

Descriptive vs. experimental data

In descriptive research , you collect data about your study subject without intervening. The validity of your research will depend on your sampling method .

In experimental research , you systematically intervene in a process and measure the outcome. The validity of your research will depend on your experimental design .

To conduct an experiment, you need to be able to vary your independent variable , precisely measure your dependent variable, and control for confounding variables . If it’s practically and ethically possible, this method is the best choice for answering questions about cause and effect.

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

Your data analysis methods will depend on the type of data you collect and how you prepare it for analysis.

Data can often be analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. For example, survey responses could be analyzed qualitatively by studying the meanings of responses or quantitatively by studying the frequencies of responses.

Qualitative analysis methods

Qualitative analysis is used to understand words, ideas, and experiences. You can use it to interpret data that was collected:

From open-ended surveys and interviews , literature reviews , case studies , ethnographies , and other sources that use text rather than numbers.
Using non-probability sampling methods .

Qualitative analysis tends to be quite flexible and relies on the researcher’s judgement, so you have to reflect carefully on your choices and assumptions and be careful to avoid research bias .

Quantitative analysis methods

Quantitative analysis uses numbers and statistics to understand frequencies, averages and correlations (in descriptive studies) or cause-and-effect relationships (in experiments).

You can use quantitative analysis to interpret data that was collected either:

During an experiment .
Using probability sampling methods .

Because the data is collected and analyzed in a statistically valid way, the results of quantitative analysis can be easily standardized and shared among researchers.

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Chi square test of independence
Statistical power
Descriptive statistics
Degrees of freedom
Pearson correlation
Null hypothesis
Double-blind study
Case-control study
Research ethics
Data collection
Hypothesis testing
Structured interviews

Research bias

Hawthorne effect
Unconscious bias
Recall bias
Halo effect
Self-serving bias
Information bias

Quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics, while qualitative research deals with words and meanings.

Quantitative methods allow you to systematically measure variables and test hypotheses . Qualitative methods allow you to explore concepts and experiences in more detail.

In mixed methods research , you use both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods to answer your research question .

A sample is a subset of individuals from a larger population . Sampling means selecting the group that you will actually collect data from in your research. For example, if you are researching the opinions of students in your university, you could survey a sample of 100 students.

In statistics, sampling allows you to test a hypothesis about the characteristics of a population.

The research methods you use depend on the type of data you need to answer your research question .

If you want to measure something or test a hypothesis , use quantitative methods . If you want to explore ideas, thoughts and meanings, use qualitative methods .
If you want to analyze a large amount of readily-available data, use secondary data. If you want data specific to your purposes with control over how it is generated, collect primary data.
If you want to establish cause-and-effect relationships between variables , use experimental methods. If you want to understand the characteristics of a research subject, use descriptive methods.

Methodology refers to the overarching strategy and rationale of your research project . It involves studying the methods used in your field and the theories or principles behind them, in order to develop an approach that matches your objectives.

Methods are the specific tools and procedures you use to collect and analyze data (for example, experiments, surveys , and statistical tests ).

In shorter scientific papers, where the aim is to report the findings of a specific study, you might simply describe what you did in a methods section .

In a longer or more complex research project, such as a thesis or dissertation , you will probably include a methodology section , where you explain your approach to answering the research questions and cite relevant sources to support your choice of methods.

Is this article helpful?

Other students also liked, writing strong research questions | criteria & examples.

What Is a Research Design | Types, Guide & Examples
Data Collection | Definition, Methods & Examples

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v.4(4); 2017 Oct

Patient involvement for improved patient safety: A qualitative study of nurses’ perceptions and experiences

Janna skagerström.

1 Research and Development Unit in Region Östergötland and Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

Carin Ericsson

2 Centre of Heart and Medicine, Region Östergötland, Linköping, Sweden

3 Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

Mirjam Ekstedt

4 Department of Health and Caring Sciences, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden

5 Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

Kristina Schildmeijer

To explore nurses’ perceptions and experiences of patient involvement relevant to patient safety.

Qualitative design using individual semi‐structured interviews.

Interviews with registered nurses ( n = 11) and nurse assistants ( n = 8) were conducted in 2015–2016. Nurses were recruited from five different healthcare units in Sweden. The material was analysed using conventional content analysis.

The analysis resulted in four categories: healthcare professionals’ ways of influencing patient involvement for safer care; patients’ ways of influencing patient involvement for safer care; barriers to patient involvement for safer care; and relevance of patient involvement for safer care. The nurses expressed that patient involvement is a shared responsibility. They also emphasized that healthcare provider has a responsibility to create opportunities for the patient to participate. According to the nurses, involvement can be hindered by factors related to the patient, the healthcare provider and the healthcare system. However, respondents expressed that patient involvement can lead to safer care and benefits for individual patients.

Why is this research needed?

The patient has an overall perspective of their care and observes the whole care process.
Most research on patient involvement concern the patient perspective and there is limited knowledge about the healthcare professionals’ views on patient participation for patient safety.

What are the key findings?

The nurses believed that healthcare professionals and patients had a shared responsibility for patient participation to occur.
The nurses emphasized the importance of their own initiatives to achieve patient involvement for enhanced patient safety by initiating dialogue and inviting the patients to ask questions.
The nurses expressed that barriers to achieve patient participation for safer care were seen both within patients, healthcare professionals and the healthcare system.

How should the findings be used to influence policy/practice/research/education?

The healthcare system should allocate time and supportive environments to facilitate open dialogue between healthcare professionals and patients.
Healthcare professionals should be offered training in how to encourage the patients to be involved in their health care.

1. INTRODUCTION

Patient safety has progressed over the last 15 years from being a relatively insignificant issue to a position high on the agenda for healthcare professionals, managers and policy makers as well as the public. Sweden has seen increased patient safety efforts since 2009 when a national study on adverse events in Swedish hospital care was published (Soop, Fyksmark, Köster, & Haglund, 2009 ). The study estimated the percentage of preventable adverse events as high as 8.6% in hospital care, demonstrating that the magnitude of the patient safety problem was not smaller in Sweden than elsewhere. Efforts for improved patient safety in Sweden were further enhanced in 2011 with the introduction of a new law on patient safety and a financial incentive for county councils (responsible for providing health care in Sweden) that performed certain patient safety‐enhancing activities (Ridelberg, Roback, Nilsen, & Carlfjord, 2016 ).

There is increasing interest in involving patients in safety‐related initiatives, premised on the assumption that their interaction with healthcare professionals can improve the safety of health care in many ways (Berger, Flickinger, Pfoh, Martinez, & Dy, 2014 , World Health Organization, 2013a a). The importance of eliciting and acting on patients’ concerns has been emphasized. The patients are privileged witnesses of health care because they are at the centre of the process of care and observe the whole process (Schwappach & Wernli, 2010 ). Patients also carry out hidden work to compensate for inefficiencies of the healthcare system, such as relaying information between healthcare professionals (Vincent & Davis, 2012 ). Various policy initiatives have been undertaken aimed at encouraging patients in a range of safety‐relevant behaviours. The World Health Organization (WHO) promotes the program “Patients for Patient Safety” to bring together patients and various stakeholders to improve patient safety through advocacy, collaboration and partnership (WHO, 2013 ). In Sweden, the National Board of Health and Welfare and Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Region (SALAR), representing the county councils and municipalities, have emphasized the importance of a new perspective on the patient for improved quality and effectiveness of health care (National Board of Health and Welfare, 2015 , SALAR, 2011 ). Healthcare professionals are also obliged by the law to give patients an opportunity to take part in patient safety work (SFS, 2010 ).

1.1. Background

Research indicates that there is a potential for patients to improve safety (Davis, Jacklin, Sevdalis, & Vincent, 2007 ; Vincent & Coulter, 2002 ) and that patients are willing and able to be involved in safety‐related work (Waterman et al., 2006 Wright et al., 2016 ). However, several barriers to involving patients in improving patient safety has been identified and organized into three key barriers: (i) patients are not always willing or prepared to commit their time and energy to improve their care because they have enough to worry about being ill; (ii) healthcare professionals represent traditional medical authority and questioning or advising professionals about what they do is unacceptable for many patients; and (iii) patients may be apprehensive about reporting problems in their care when providers’ responses are unappreciative or when the patients believe that their feedback may jeopardize the providers’ goodwill towards the patient (Iedema, Allen, Britton, & Gallagher, 2012 ). Organizational factors such as a busy setting, lack of continuity of care and patients being unaware of incident reporting systems have also been identified as barriers to active patient participation (Doherty & Stavropoulou, 2012 ).

Nurses comprise the largest professional group in health care in Sweden. The main categories of nurses in Swedish health care are registered nurses and nurse assistants, who differ with regard to their level of education, work duties and responsibilities. Registered nurses are critically important to achieve patient safety since they often have a role as coordinator of multidisciplinary care and are involved with many aspects of patient care, from providing comfort and hygiene to administering injections, updating medical records, as well as handling some therapeutic and diagnostic procedures. Several studies have stressed the importance of nurses’ role for identifying, interrupting and correcting medical adverse events (Gaffney, Hatcher, & Milligan, 2016 ) and for reducing patients’ feelings of being unsafe and vulnerable in the health care setting (Kenward, Whiffin, & Spalek, 2017 ).

Thus far, very few studies have investigated nurses and other healthcare professionals’ attitudes, beliefs and behaviours concerning patient involvement for improved patient safety. Research conducted hitherto suggests that providers may be willing to support patient involvement in safety‐relevant behaviours, although the factors behind these preliminary findings remain largely unexplored (Davis, Briggs, Arora, Moss, & Schwappach, 2014 ; Hochreutener & Wernli, 2010 ; Schwappach, Frank, & Davis, 2012 ). A previous Swedish study assessing nurses’ perceptions of factors influencing patient safety found that patient‐nurse interaction was an important factor that could hinder or facilitate enhanced patient safety depending on the quality of the communication (Ridelberg, Roback, & Nilsen, 2014 ). This study provides an in‐depth investigation into nurses’ perspectives on patient involvement for safer care in meetings with healthcare professionals, being the first Nordic study on this topic. The aim was to explore nurses’ experiences and perceptions with regard to patient involvement of relevance for patient safety.

2. THE STUDY

2.1. study setting.

The study was set in Sweden. Health care in Sweden is mainly tax‐funded although private health care also exists. All residents are insured by the state, with equal access for the entire population. Out‐of‐pocket fees are low and regulated by law. The responsibility for health and medical care in Sweden is shared by the central government, county councils and municipalities throughout Sweden. The health care system is financed primarily through taxes levied by county councils and municipalities.

2.2. Study design

A qualitative study approach using standardized (also referred to as structured) open‐ended interviews was deemed appropriate regarding the explorative aim of the study. This qualitative descriptive study is grounded in the assumption that human beings construct the meaning of their experiences in social interaction with their environment. Qualitative descriptive studies comprise a valuable methodologic approach, by using open‐ended interviews where the phenomenon under study is explored in an interaction between the interviewer and the interviewee (Sandelowski, 2000 ).

2.3. Participants

We used a purposeful sampling strategy to achieve a heterogeneous sample of nurses working in different healthcare facilities, with patients who varied in terms of health status (from patients seen in primary health care to ill patients receiving hospital care and, for example, surgery patients), length of stay in health care (from patients visiting outpatient facilities to in‐hospital patients) and age. The aim was to achieve a sample of nurses that represented a broad spectrum of perceptions and experiences concerning patient involvement in relation to patient safety.

The nurses were recruited using an email that briefly described the study. The email request was sent to the manager of each work unit, explaining that we wanted a sample of three or four nurses. The manager in turn forwarded the request to all or a sample of registered nurses and nurse assistants at the unit. An information letter describing the study was sent to interested nurses and the interviews were scheduled. No respondents declined involvement after receiving the information letter.

2.4. Data collection

The interview guide used in the study was developed by the authors and concerned the nurses’ experiences and perceptions regarding patient involvement of relevance for patient safety. There were general questions on patient involvement of relevance for patient safety. There were also specific questions on the respondent's own experiences and examples of patients who have observed and highlighted something of importance for patient safety. The interview guide ended with questions on existing routines to account for patients’ views and experiences and on the nurses’ suggestions on how patient involvement for safer care can be achieved.

Patient safety was defined in accordance with the definition used in Swedish law (SFS, 2010 ), that is: “protection against adverse events” where adverse events is defined as “suffering, bodily or mental harm or illness and deaths that could have been avoided if adequate measures had been taken at the patient contact with the healthcare system”. The definition was read to the nurses at the beginning of the interview and a printed definition was placed on the table during the interview so that the respondents could read it.

The questions were pilot tested in one test interview, not analysed. The test interview indicated that the questions were generic enough to be used in different healthcare contexts and that the wording was clear. The interviews were conducted by KS, CE and JS and were digitally recorded using a Dictaphone. Interviews were held during regular working hours to facilitate involvement. Each interview lasted between 18–53 min. The interviews were transcribed verbally by a firm specialized in transcription. The researchers checked the transcripts and removed statements that could reveal the identity of the informant.

Before starting the interviews, the participants were asked to re‐read the information letter and give their written informed consent to participate. Each interview started with an open question asking the participants to describe their thoughts on how patients can influence patient safety. The questions were open ended to stimulate narratives of the participants’ own experiences. During the interviews, probing questions were asked, for example: “what do you mean?” and “can you explain this a little further?” to deepen or clarify the descriptions or drawing the attention back to the topic (Kvale & Brinkman, 2009 ).

2.5. Data analysis

Data were analysed using content analysis. We followed the analytical procedure for conventional content analysis as detailed by Hsieh and Shannon ( 2005 ). The analysis was data driven and based on the participants’ unique perspectives rather than guided by a pre‐defined theory or hypothesis. Investigator triangulation was used to validate the findings. All researchers read and re‐read the transcripts to gain a sense of the content and an overview of the whole material. With the aim of the study in mind, the researchers highlighted text and made notes and headings in the margins to include all aspects of the content. Initial thoughts and impressions regarding the material were written down. No pre‐defined structures were used as the codes were derived from the data to capture key concepts. Codes that were related to each other were grouped and organized into subcategories and categories. This process was iterative, going back and forth checking the codes against the whole material. The subcategories and categories were subsequently compared for differences and similarities, with the aim of being as internally homogeneous and as externally heterogeneous as possible.

2.6. Rigour

Credibility in the data analysis was strengthened by the fact that the initial coding of the data was performed by several researchers independently (JS, CE and KS). The classification of categories and subcategories was then discussed by two researchers (JS and CE). After they reached consensus, the classification was discussed by all the authors and adjustments were made until all were satisfied. The multidisciplinary research team allowed different perspectives on the issue of patient involvement in relation to patient safety. The team consisted of a nurse with experience in clinical patient work as well as work with miscellaneous patient safety issues (KS), a public health researcher (JS), a behavioural science practitioner working with organizational development and experience in developing and implementing patient involvement policies (CE), a nurse experienced in qualitative methods, patient involvement and system safety issues (ME) and an experienced implementation and patient safety researcher (PN).

2.7. Ethical considerations

The study was performed according to the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. All the participants gave their consent to participate in the interviews. The study did not require ethical approval because it did not involve sensitive personal information, as specified in Swedish law regulating ethical approval for research concerning humans (SFS, 2003 ).

3. FINDINGS

Interviews were conducted with 19 nurses, of which 11 were registered nurses and 8 were nurse assistants. They were employed in five different work units: (i) pulmonary medical unit in a university hospital (550 beds); (ii) surgery unit in a mid‐sized hospital (350 beds), (iii) ear, nose and throat unit in a mid‐sized hospital (500 beds); (iv) one maternity care unit (outpatient care); and (v) one nursing home (18 residents). Table 1 provides information on the participants. The interviews were carried out from May 2015 – February 2016 at the participants’ work units.

Participant characteristics

Analysis of the data yielded four categories related to patient involvement for enhanced patient safety: healthcare professionals’ ways of influencing patient involvement for safer care; patients’ ways of influencing patient involvement for safer care; barriers to patient involvement for safer care; and relevance of patient involvement for safer care (Table 2 ).

Categories and subcategories

3.1. Healthcare professionals’ initiatives to achieve patient involvement for safer care

The nurses expressed that there were a few ways they and other healthcare professionals can influence patient involvement of potential relevance for patient safety. They believed that they could facilitate patient involvement by ensuring favourable conditions for dialogue with the patients, making sure that information is received and understood by the patients and creating a trustful relationship with the patients.

3.1.1. Dialogue

The nurses described that they can facilitate patient involvement by providing conditions that are conducive to this involvement, including taking sufficient time to listen to patients and inviting them to ask questions and be active in the dialogue. Specific ways of achieving this included telling the patients that they are happy to answer any questions they might have, informing the patients that there will be time for their questions or concerns at the end of the consultation (after finishing medical examinations) and encouraging the patients to share their opinions regarding the health care:

Instead you have to be inviting and show a friendly response, encourage conversation and dialogue. You have to make sure it doesn't become a monologue, where you just sit and talk without… We, the staff, must encourage them to ask questions and to become involved. Participant 24

Some nurses mentioned that it is important to adapt to each individual patient they meet. It is especially important to be observant and take in facial expressions with patients who are unable to express themselves verbally.

3.1.2. Information

The nurses expressed that they can influence the patients’ potential to be involved in their care by making sure that the patients receive and understand information provided to them. The information should be given in a language that can be understood by the patients and without medical terms that may be unfamiliar to the patients. The nurses mentioned that the patients’ abilities to assimilate information vary considerably and it may be necessary to repeat information at several time points. Patients with new diagnoses or treatments, patients with fatigue and patients discharged after a longer stay in hospital were all mentioned as groups that could benefit from repeated information:

Sometimes I think you could ask…”Do you think you got the information you needed, did you understand it?” or something like that, so it's not too much [information]. Participant 23

3.1.3. Trustful relationship

The importance of a trustful relationship between the healthcare professional and patient to make the patients feel comfortable raising any concerns was made clear in the interviews. Although the nurses believed that the provider and patient have a shared concern for creating this relationship, the nurses argued that the ultimate responsibility to facilitate a trustful provider‐patient relationship rested with the providers of health care.

The importance of building a trustful relationship was primarily mentioned by nurses working in specialties which patients visit several times. Continuity of healthcare staff to ensure that the patient can meet the same professionals over time was mentioned as a factor that influenced the opportunity to establish a trusting relationship. The presence of a specific contact person to whom the patient could turn with their thoughts or questions was believed to enhance the patients’ confidence to engage in issues of potential relevance for patient safety.

Specific personal behaviours such as being empathic and humble as well as the ability to facilitate an open climate and allow sufficient time were seen as important to build a trustful relationship:

Yes, you have to be open, responsive in order for them [the patients] to open up. You can't just walk in and be really tough…that's not going to make it easy to open up if you have problems. Participant 16

3.2. Patients’ initiatives to achieve patient involvement for safer care

The nurses’ perceptions about what the patients can do differed somewhat depending on the healthcare context and what types of patients they typically meet. However, in general, nurses conveyed that the patients can assume responsibility for their health and treatment and be active in communication with healthcare professionals.

3.2.1. Assuming responsibility for one's treatment and care

The nurses expressed that the patients can participate in their care and enhance patient safety by taking an active interest in their health and treatment. The interest could be manifested as searching for information or actively reading information. Further, using and asking for medical aids such as rollators, reading user manuals for medical devices used in home care or watching out for complications or abnormalities when in treatment were provided as examples of responsible patient actions to increase patient safety:

They [the patients] could get more involved in… to make sure things aren't forgotten, because we have a lot of different hoses and drainage, venous catheters and things like that, where they could help and be observant to prevent infections. Participant 4

3.2.2. Being active in communication with healthcare professionals

Nurses stated that patients who are active in dialogue with healthcare professionals can improve patient safety. Writing down questions and thoughts or bringing a relative to appointments were tips for patients to prepare for communication with the professionals. Also, the nurses stated that the patients could be active by attending regular check‐ups, reminding staff about return visits or treatments and reporting any side effects:

They [the patients] have to tell us about, for example, side effects and things like that, that's nothing we can see ourselves. So, if I don't get that feedback, they might get medications that don't make them feel so good. Participant 3

Sharing detailed information about their medical conditions, heredity and side effects was viewed as important because this could help the healthcare professionals to understand the patients’ symptoms and healthcare needs and reduce the risk of important aspects being neglected:

Well, how it feels and… how they understand the situation, both physically and mentally, how they describe an ailment, how detailed they are… can actually make me reconsider and think otherwise. Participant 21

3.3. Interaction between healthcare professionals and patients to achieve patient involvement for safer care

The nurses were generally in favour of patient involvement and believed that it could lead to improved patient safety. However, they identified numerous potential problems and disadvantages associated with patient involvement, including problems relating to the patients’ lack of will and ability to participate, constraints related to the healthcare system and healthcare professionals’ ambivalent feelings concerning patient involvement.

3.3.1. Patients’ hesitancy to interact

The nurses described that there are many obstacles to patients being active and participating in their care. They argued that some patients are unwilling to question healthcare professionals because they view them as authorities and reason that they, the doctor in particular, know what is best for them. Nurses believed that some patients might refrain from offering criticisms for fear of receiving suboptimal treatment or care. Patients who perceive that the healthcare professionals are stressed are unwilling to ask questions or start a dialogue because they feel that they might disturb or interrupt more important tasks:

When we seem stressed, they [the patients] feel they should not ask that simple question. You often hear that “I won't bother you [the staff] about this”. Participant 1

For some patients, participating in their treatment or care is hindered by health problems, difficulties with understanding, language problems or feeling uncomfortable with disclosing sensitive issues.

3.3.2. Constraints related to the healthcare system

Several factors in the healthcare system were brought up by the nurses as hindering patient involvement to achieve safer care. Lack of privacy was a problem mentioned by nurses working in clinical wards where patients often share rooms. Shortage of the healthcare professionals’ time was another limitation for patient involvement. Appointments are sometimes just long enough for physical examinations but leave little time for dialogue or questions from the patients. The nurses thought that problems with availability and staff discontinuity can lead to disenchantment for the patients. Further, the possibility of building trustful relationships is decreased:

Temporary doctors mean that they [the patients] won't meet the same [doctor] next time and then they [the patients] say, “It's no use asking.” You often hear that. Participant 12

3.3.3. Healthcare professionals’ ambivalent feelings

The nurses described a range of feelings towards active patients who are informed and may ask more critical questions. By and large, the nurses were pleased to learn from the patients. If they made a mistake, they were grateful that someone pointed it out to them, although the mistake itself could make them ashamed. Some informed and active patients could make the nurses feel incompetent or question their profession. Some nurses expressed concern that patients who question a great deal or want detailed information can take too much time:

They [the patients] have too little knowledge. At the same time, they want to be involved, which requires a lot… a sort of pedagogical responsibility rests with me that demands a lot [of time and energy]. Participant 21

3.4. Relevance of patient involvement for safer care

This category concerns the nurses’ perceptions of the “results” of patient involvement. Some of the nurses could not think of any example where a patient had recognized or reported something relevant for patient safety. They described situations where the patients’ involvement had not directly affected patient safety but had led to positive effects for the patients. Others shared examples of varying relevance for patient safety, for example, how patients’ involvement had directly prevented a mistake or eliminated potential patient safety hazards.

3.4.1. Patients receiving personal benefits

The nurses believed that patients who were active and questioned aspects of their treatment or care, such as long waiting times or outdated medical aids, could gain advantages compared with patients who did not raise any complaints or concerns. Advantages such as getting help quicker, shorter waiting times for medical examinations or receiving a more modern type of medical aid were brought up in the interviews:

If you're active as a patient and ask when you can get an appointment that could definitely shorten the waiting time compared with if you remain quiet and wait. Participant 8

3.4.2. Safer care

Several nurses shared examples of situations when involvement by patients led to improvements in patient safety. The examples included patients reminding about allergies, asking for aids to avoid fall injuries, observing defects in medical devices and asking about referrals that their healthcare provider had forgotten about:

There was one [patient] with coeliac disease who almost ate food that she should certainly not have. And, of course it was [detected] because she asked, “Is this really gluten‐free?” Participant 9

Another example of indirect patient involvement was when the nurses themselves thought of some hazard, such as giving a patient a double dose of medication and asked the patient to verify whether the mistake had been made or not. Although the patients did not notice the error themselves, they could participate by confirming the nurses’ suspicions.

4. DISCUSSION

The aim of this study was to explore nurses’ perceptions and experiences with regard to patient involvement of potential relevance for patient safety. The study contributes to the research field by addressing the nurses’ perspective in contrast to much previous work that has concerned patient views. Further, the study provides insights into how patient involvement for safer care can be achieved in the provider‐patient interaction. In general, the nurses expressed positive attitudes to patient involvement and believed it could have a positive impact on patient safety. However, patient involvement does not occur by itself. Rather, both patients and healthcare professionals must take responsibility if patient involvement for safer care is going to be realized.

The nurses in our study emphasized the importance of their own initiatives to achieve patient involvement. They stated that healthcare professionals can facilitate this involvement by initiating dialogue and inviting the patients to ask questions. Our findings are consistent with previous research from the patient perspective, which has shown the importance of healthcare professionals encouraging patients to speak their opinion (Davis, Koutantji, & Vincent, 2008 ; Entwistle et al., 2010 ; Rainey, Ehrich, Mackintosh, & Sandall, 2015 ). It has been suggested that patients, due to imbalance of power and health literacy, are unwilling to speak their mind if they fear negative or judgemental reactions from the providers, or being ignored or not taken seriously (Davis, Sevdalis, Jacklin, & Vincent, 2012 ). This is supported by our findings from the nurses’ viewpoint, because the nurses highlighted the relevance of building a trustful relationship with the patient by actively listen to them and encourage them to express opinions and ask questions.

Further, the nurses pointed to the importance of providing individualized information to the patients. In a previous Swedish study examining facilitators and barriers to patient safety, nurses expressed that providing well‐structured information to patients is a facilitator for patient safety (Ridelberg et al., 2014 ). Further, research from the patient perspective has highlighted the value of patients understanding of information for them to participate in their care and to make informed decisions (Davis et al., 2012 ; Eldh, Ehnfors, & Ekman, 2006 ; Longtin et al., 2010 ). Patients who have been comprehensively informed are also more likely to feel confident and trust their own decisions (Forsyth, Maddock, Iedema, & Lessere, 2010 ; Longtin et al., 2010 ). Provision of appropriate and sufficient information in a supportive environment are key points in patient involvement (Larsson, Sahlsten, Sjostrom, Lindencrona, & Plos, 2007 ). Patients who have access to information on their health and care are more willing and able to be involved in safety issues (Forsyth et al., 2010 ; Iedema et al., 2012 ). It is likely that patients who receive adequate information become more knowledgeable about what to expect from nursing activities, treatment and care, which enables them to detect potential deviations of relevance for patient safety.

The hindering factors associated with patient involvement for safer care that we found in this study are largely consistent with the barriers identified in research on patient involvement from the patient perspective (Howe, 2006 ; Iedema et al., 2012 ; Larsson, Sahlsten, Segesten, & Plos, 2011 ). With regard to shared decision making in health care, Joseph‐Williams, Elwyn, and Edwards ( 2014 ) concluded in a systematic review that patients’ participation depends on their knowledge (about the condition, options for care, outcomes and personal preferences) and power, that is, perceived influence on decision making. The two factors, knowledge and power, are in turn influenced by interpersonal patient‐provider factors, patient characteristics, trust and time allocated for discussions. Assessing nurses’ opinions of factors influencing patient safety in general, Ridelberg et al. ( 2014 ) found factors relating to both patient interactions and healthcare providers skills and feelings to be potential barriers for patient safety.

It has been suggested that nurses believe patients lack sufficient medical knowledge, making it necessary for nurses to retain power and control (Henderson, 2003 ). Grimen ( 2009 ) has highlighted the interconnection between power and trust, arguing that many healthcare professionals fail to recognize the power associated with professional autonomy, which makes equal dialogue between patients and healthcare professionals unrealistic; patients are in an inferior position vis à vis healthcare professionals. Hence, being a patient is to trust that professionals know what they are doing and to temporary delegate power to them. On the other hand, knowledge and power is a two‐edged sword, which if used wisely in a patient‐provider encounter, can foster mutual respect for the knowledge possessed by both patients and healthcare professionals (Eldh, Ekman, & Ehnfors, 2010 ).

Ignorance of this provider‐patient power imbalance could make nurses resistant to patient involvement because they do not believe in and inform themselves about the patients’ opportunities to make informed contributions. This in turn contributes to creating a culture of professional defensiveness towards patient involvement (Henderson, 2003 ; Howe, 2006 ). Some nurses in this study mentioned that active patients can be time consuming and that too much time is wasted on explaining irrelevant matters to the patients. Communication with patients cannot always be prioritized, because nurses also need to focus on taking care of risk situations and complete tasks (Tobiano, Marshall, Bucknall, & Chaboyer, 2016 ). As pointed out by Ekdahl, Hellström, Andersson, and Friedrichsen ( 2012 ), the remuneration system used in Swedish health care favours treating a large number of patients, which leads to time restrictions and insufficient time for many patients. Time barriers exist not only in Sweden. In a study on patient involvement conducted in 15 European countries, time spent with patients and communications were perceived as the most important areas for improvement of patient involvement (European Commission, 2012 ). Organizational factors such as time constraints (Bolster & Manias, 2010 ; Entwistle et al., 2010 ) and lack of continuity in care (Unruh & Pratt, 2007 ) have previously been suggested to have a negative impact on patients’ active involvement in safety work. For individual healthcare professionals to be able to invite patients to be involved in their care, as suggested by the nurses in our study, requires a shift in the healthcare system to allow more time for conversations with each patient. Our study also pointed to the relevance of the nurses’ ambivalent feelings towards patient involvement. Perceiving that one's professionalism is questioned could hinder providers from actively involving patients in some situations.

4.1. Limitations

This study has several shortcomings that must be considered when interpreting the results. The recruitment strategy could have led to a bias towards participation by nurses who were more interested in patient involvement and/or patient safety issues. The importance of patient involvement has recently been highlighted in Sweden. This might have led to the participants providing more positive answers in the interviews because they want to provide responses that are somehow politically correct. On the other hand, the interview guide was constructed to give the responders the opportunity to answer in general terms rather than revealing their personal opinions.

Nineteen individual interviews with registered nurses and nurse assistants working in different types of healthcare settings were conducted. Various ages, work experience and types of patients contribute to a large variation in the sample. This heterogeneity increases the possibility of viewing patient involvement for improved patient safety from different angles, which can be considered a strength in the study. Inclusion of male nurses in the sample would have increased the heterogeneity further. However, the lack of male participants was deemed acceptable since 88% of registered nurses and 84% of nurse assistants working in Swedish health care are female (SALAR, 2015 ). Transparency was sought by describing the sampling procedure and data analyses in detail.

During the interviews and data analysis, it became evident that the nurses did not always share our definition of patient safety. Although the official definition of patient safety was read to the participants at the beginning of the interview, they tended to interpret the concept more broadly to encompass various aspects of health care in general. This was especially common among the nurse assistants; they provided examples that had more to do with regular health care provision than with patient safety as defined. We found this interesting and did not want to interrupt to impede the nurses’ willingness to tell stories they found important. However, our findings primarily relate to various aspects of patient safety, as defined in this study.

5. CONCLUSIONS

We found that nurses are in general positive to patient involvement and believe it can contribute to increased patient safety. The nurses believe that they can influence patient involvement and that they have a responsibility to do so, but that the patients are responsible for being active in meetings with healthcare professionals. Patient involvement also depends on a well‐functioning provider‐patient interaction. The finding also suggest that healthcare professionals need support from the healthcare system to achieve patient involvement of relevance for patient safety.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interests.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors thank all registered nurses and nurse assistants who participated in the interviews.

Skagerström J, Ericsson C, Nilsen P, Ekstedt M, Schildmeijer K. Patient involvement for improved patient safety: A qualitative study of nurses’ perceptions and experiences . Nursing Open . 2017; 4 :230–239. https://doi.org/10.1002/nop2.89 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]

This study was funded by The Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare, FORTE, 2014‐4567

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4 Reasons Why Managers Fail

Swagatam Basu,
Atrijit Das,
Vitorio Bretas,
Jonah Shepp

Nearly half of all managers report buckling under the stress of their role and struggling to deliver.

Gartner research has found that managers today are accountable for 51% more responsibilities than they can effectively manage — and they’re starting to buckle under the pressure: 54% are suffering from work-induced stress and fatigue, and 44% are struggling to provide personalized support to their direct reports. Ultimately, one in five managers said they would prefer not being people managers given a choice. Further analysis found that 48% of managers are at risk of failure based on two criteria: 1) inconsistency in current performance and 2) lack of confidence in the manager’s ability to lead the team to future success. This article offers four predictors of manager failure and offers suggestions for organizations on how to address them.

The job of the manager has become unmanageable. Organizations are becoming flatter every year. The average manager’s number of direct reports has increased by 2.8 times over the last six years, according to Gartner research. In the past few years alone, many managers have had to make a series of pivots — from moving to remote work to overseeing hybrid teams to implementing return-to-office mandates.

Swagatam Basu is senior director of research in the Gartner HR practice and has spent nearly a decade researching leader and manager effectiveness. His work spans additional HR topics including learning and development, employee experience and recruiting. Swagatam specializes in research involving extensive quantitative analysis, structured and unstructured data mining and predictive modeling.
Atrijit Das is a senior specialist, quantitative analytics and data science, in the Gartner HR practice. He drives data-based research that produces actionable insights on core HR topics including performance management, learning and development, and change management.
Vitorio Bretas is a director in the Gartner HR practice, supporting HR executives in the execution of their most critical business strategies. He focuses primarily on leader and manager effectiveness and recruiting. Vitorio helps organizations get the most from their talent acquisition and leader effectiveness initiatives.
Jonah Shepp is a senior principal, research in the Gartner HR practice. He edits the Gartner HR Leaders Monthly journal, covering HR best practices on topics ranging from talent acquisition and leadership to total rewards and the future of work. An accomplished writer and editor, his work has appeared in numerous publications, including New York Magazine , Politico Magazine , GQ , and Slate .

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Design and Analysis of Experiments Conference comes to Virginia Tech

The statistical conference attracts researchers from around world.

Melissa McKeown

11 Apr 2024

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Side view of the Data & Decision Sciences Building, which features alternating Hokie Stone and tall windows.

The Virginia Tech Department of Statistics will host the 12th event in the Design and Analysis of Experiments conference series, slated to take place May 15-17. The conference will focus on emerging areas of research in experimental design as well as novel innovations in traditional areas.

This year’s event, which will be held primarily in the Data and Decision Sciences Building on the Blacksburg campus, will feature invited sessions, poster sessions, mentoring sessions, roundtable sessions, and a panel discussion.

What is the conference series?

The Design and Analysis of Experiments conference series began in 2000 with a regional event hosted by the Ohio State University and has since expanded to be international in scope, attracting leading researchers from across North America and the world.

Among the goals of the conference series is the provision of support and encouragement to junior researchers in the statistical field of design and analysis of experiments as well as stimulating interest in topics of practical relevance to science and industry. Notably, this year's events will pair junior and senior researchers for mentoring purposes.

Invited sessions

The agenda includes 10 invited sessions featuring national and global experts in the field of design and analysis of experiments:

Advancements in Screening Design, Nonregular Design, and Space-Filling Design
Causal Inference and Experimental Design
Covering Arrays and Combinatorial Testing
Design Issues in Uncertainty Quantification
Experimental Design for Transportation Studies
Factorial/Multi-level Design
Online Experimentation
Optimal Experimental Design
Orthogonal Arrays and Related Designs
Sequential Design, Active Learning, and Bayesian Optimization

Registration and information

Registration for this year’s event is currently open. Early bird registration closes April 15.

For more information, visit the event website or contact organizers Xinwei Deng , Anne Driscoll , or J.P. Morgan .

While sponsorship opportunities are still available, the following organizations are currently supporting the success of this year’s event:

National Science Foundation
National Security Agency
Virginia Tech Academy of Data Science
Virginia Tech National Security Institute

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Academy of Data Science
College of Science

Could Togo’s New Constitution Jeopardize its Stability?

Komlan Avoulete
April 4, 2024
Africa Program

Bottom Line

The recent constitutional changes in togo have shifted the balance of power from a presidential to a parliamentary system. this move has raised concerns about the potential for the ruling regime to perpetuate in power., the economic community of west african states, through its silence, appears to accept the change of the constitution and confirm its role as a club of presidents., togo’s future will remain uncertain and the regime might face domestic and international challenges..

Togo’s political landscape has undergone a significant shift with the adoption of a new constitution on March 25, 2024. This revision marks a fundamental change, transitioning the nation from a presidential system to a parliamentary one. The adoption has sparked controversy, with both potential benefits and serious concerns being raised. Given Togo’s history of simmering political and social tensions, coupled with the growing terrorist threat in the north, this change ushers in a period of uncertainty for a nation striving for peace and a strengthened democracy.

A New Constitution to Remain in Power?

Lawmakers from the ruling Union for the Republic (UNIR) party overwhelmingly approved the proposed constitutional change in the national assembly. With only two dissenting votes, the measure passed with near-complete support. This is because the opposition, which boycotted the 2018 elections due to alleged irregularities, has minimal representation in the current assembly. The new constitution embodies key changes. First, it removes the direct election of the president by the people. Instead, the National Assembly, the country’s legislative body, would be responsible for electing the president. Additionally, the president’s term would increase from five to six years, for a single six-year term.

Moreover, the new constitution establishes a new powerful executive position: the president of the Council of Ministers. Elected by the National Assembly, this individual will be responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the government and will be held accountable for its performance.

The president of the Council of Ministers will come from the party with the most seats in parliament or lead a coalition of parties if there is no single-party majority. The term of office will be six years.

Tchitchao Tchalim, Chairman of the National Assembly’s Committee on Constitutional Laws, Legislation, and General Administration stated , “The head of state is practically divested of his powers in favor of the president of the Council of Ministers, who becomes the person who represents the Togolese Republic abroad and effectively leads the country in its day-to-day management.”

This is radically different from the recent amendment of the constitution that occurred in 2019, which stipulated that the president of the republic is elected by universal suffrage for a term of five years, renewable once, and made the presidential election a two-round race.

“This is the umpteenth preparation of a constitutional coup by a monarchical regime that has held the country’s destiny hostage for almost sixty years,” one of Togo’s opposition parties, the Democratic Forces of the Republic, said while the new constitution was still being debated.

Beyond legal concerns, many opponents view the proposal as a self-serving maneuver by the ruling party, UNIR. The timing, just weeks before legislative elections due on April 20, raises concerns. Critics , particularly opposition parties like the National Alliance for Change, suspect the UNIR is attempting to exploit the outgoing parliament’s single-party majority to solidify its grip on power.

Eric Dupuy, a spokesman for the opposition National Alliance for Change party states , “We know that the struggle will be long and hard, but together with the Togolese people, we will do everything we can to prevent this constitutional coup d’état.” He added, “We’re calling on the population to reject this, to oppose it massively.”

Togo’s ruling party, in power since 1967 under the Gnassingbé family, could hold onto power until at least 2031 thanks to the new constitution. Critics call this a “constitutional coup d’état,” alleging it unfairly extends the Gnassingbé family’s long rule.

ECOWAS and Democracies Look the Other Way

Many crises in West Africa were the result of unilateral constitutional changes, postponing of elections, or succession crises like in Guinea and Togo . The recent unrest in Senegal remains an interesting example. The deafening silence of regional organizations like Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regarding the constitutional change in Togo is appalling for many Togolese and West Africans, but not genuinely surprising. ECOWAS’s Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance stipulates in its Article 2.1, “No substantial modification shall be made to the electoral laws in the last six months before the elections, except with the consent of a majority of Political actors.”

Despite the existence of arguments for and against related to this article about Togo’s case, the ECOWAS silence on the matter could be interpreted as tacit acceptance. Additionally, the absolute silence from those who usually champion civilian rule, condemn military takeovers, and call for sanctions against non-democratic changes in Africa—including several Western organizations and vocal nations like France—is further proof of the double standards they have been accused of.

President Faure Gnassingbé’s future participation in the US-Africa Business Summit fuels a growing sentiment among the majority of Togolese. Many observers perceive this as indicative of a broader issue: a lack of genuine commitment from Western organizations and countries to uphold democratic values on the continent. Critics argue that these external actors prioritize their interests, even when it necessitates supporting questionable and authoritarian regimes. Such regimes, exemplified by those in Cameroon and Congo, are seen as threats to democratic freedoms, exemplified by the suppression of free speech, imprisonment of journalists, and the manipulation of elections to retain power. In these cases, the West and its experts may lack the credibility to impart lessons on democracy to others.

This perceived hypocrisy—particularly from ECOWAS, the Mike Tyson of democracy in the region, which, recently, was prepared to deploy troops to defend democracy in Niger—undoubtedly might lead to two consequences. Firstly, ECOWAS’s inaction on Togo undermines its credibility as a champion of regional stability and development. The perception that the organization prioritizes incumbent leadership over genuine democratic processes could lead West African nations to view alternative regional bodies, such as the Alliance of Sahel States, as more promising avenues for achieving development and self-determination.

Secondly, ECOWAS’s silence risks creating an environment conducive to military interventions as a response to perceived authoritarian rule. This, coupled with a growing rejection of Western influence, could open doors for Russia to expand its presence in the region, potentially destabilizing the fragile security landscape.

The United States, as a key partner in West Africa, should consider a calibrated response that condemns unilateral constitutional changes and reaffirms its commitment to supporting democratic processes. This will be crucial in maintaining its image as a champion of democracy among African nations.

Promulgating the New Constitution Might Lead to Instability

The West African nation of Togo, commended for its pro-business environment and regional peace initiatives, is at a critical juncture. Togo became a permanent member of the growing number of African countries that have undertaken constitutional or legal reforms to extend presidential term limits, including the Central African Republic, Rwanda, and Côte d’Ivoire. Even though the Catholic bishops of Togo on Tuesday, March 26 urged “the head of state to postpone the promulgation of the new constitutional law,” the recent constitutional change raises legitimate concerns about democratic backsliding and the true nature of the regime in power. While the proposed parliamentary system features a collaborative executive and legislature, with a symbolic head of state and a prime minister leading national policy, the timing and Togo’s political history raise legitimate concerns.

A successful and legitimate transition to a parliamentary system necessitates inclusive public discourse, broad-based popular support, and the active participation of all political stakeholders. This ensures a process driven by the will of the people, rather than by opaque maneuvers within the political elite.

By removing the public’s right to elect the president and giving that power to lawmakers which mostly come from the ruling party, the regime reveals its fear of universal suffrage and potential defeat in the upcoming elections, especially the presidential election due in 2025. Furthermore, the swift timing of the adoption of the new constitution before the upcoming legislative elections in weeks, in which the opposition plans to participate, suggests a potential strategy by the ruling party to maintain its grasp on the small West African nation. This umpteenth undemocratic move of the ruling party risks escalating domestic tensions, further jeopardizing Togo’s fragile social unity.

In response to widespread criticism from citizens, political parties, and religious leaders, Gnassingbé has requested a second reading of both the newly adopted law and constitution from the president of the National Assembly. Despite the ruling party’s insistence on a second reading, it is clearly determined to maintain the core principles of the constitution in some form. The adoption of the new constitution appears to be a calculated move by those in power to gauge the reactions of national and international opinions. While there may be minor amendments resulting from a re-reading, they are unlikely to significantly impact the core desire of the regime, which is to hold on to power for as long as possible.

Should Gnassingbé promulgate this new constitution after the second or third review without a referendum, it is likely to erode confidence in Togo’s current leaders. This could lead some citizens to seek alternative, potentially undemocratic solutions for ending the Gnassingbé era. Such actions would risk instability and plunge the country into chaos. Hopefully, reason will win over ego.

The significant hardships faced by the Togolese people make it imperative to prioritize their well-being over political or personal agendas. Throughout history, attempts to manipulate the lives of millions for such reasons have resulted in instability. The promulgation of a new constitution, coupled with the rise of terrorist groups in northern Togo and existing societal tensions, casts a dark cloud over Togo’s future stability.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, a non-partisan organization that seeks to publish well-argued, policy-oriented articles on American foreign policy and national security priorities.

Image Credit: Togo National Assembly

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A research article usually has seven major sections: Title, Abstract, Introduction, Method, Results, Discussion, and References. The first thing you should do is to decide why you need to summarize the article. If the purpose of the summary is to take notes to later remind yourself about the article you may want to write a longer summary ...
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The analysis shows that you can evaluate the evidence presented in the research and explain why the research could be important. Summary. The summary portion of the paper should be written with enough detail so that a reader would not have to look at the original research to understand all the main points. At the same time, the summary section ...
Structure of a Scholarly Article
A scholarly article, also known as a research or original article, is one of the main ways new knowledge and discoveries are communicated to a scientific or academic community. ... Analysis: A statistical analysis of the study and its findings, including types of statistics used. May include many charts or tables of the analysis. Discussion ...
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Analyzing Research Articles: A Guide for Readers and Writers1 Sam Mathews, Ph.D. Department of Psychology The University of West Florida The critical reader of a research report expects the writer to provide logical and coherent rationales for conducting the study, concrete descriptions of methods, procedures, design, and analyses, accurate and clear reports of the findings, and plausible ...
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Breaking Down Academic Articles is a webcomic tutorial that walks you through the most important aspects of an academic article, to help you prepare for class discussion on the article (s) or take away essential information from the article to support future research. Note: a transcript for each slide can be located at the bottom of each slide.
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Knowing these elements and the purpose of each serves help you to read and understand academic texts efficiently and effectively, and then apply what you read to your paper or project. Social Science (and Science) original research articles generally follow IMRD: Introduction- Methods-Results-Discussion. Introduction. Introduces topic of article.
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Parts of a Research Article. While each article is different, here are some common pieces you'll see in many of them... Title. The title of the article should give you some clues as to the topic it addresses. Abstract. The abstract allows readers to quickly review the overall content of the article. It should give you an idea of the topic of ...
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The Virginia Tech Department of Statistics will host the 12th event in the Design and Analysis of Experiments conference series, slated to take place May 15-17. The conference will focus on emerging areas of research in experimental design as well as novel innovations in traditional areas.
Could Togo's New Constitution Jeopardize its Stability?
Togo's political landscape has undergone a significant shift with the adoption of a new constitution on March 25, 2024. This revision marks a fundamental change, transitioning the nation from a presidential system to a parliamentary one. The adoption has sparked controversy, with both potential benefits and serious concerns being raised.