Sample
Murrells, Robinson, and Griffiths (2008) choose the following sample for their study: they focus on “all qualifiers from the adult, child, and mental health branches of the diploma program in England in 1997/98” (p. 3). At first, Murrells et al. have to elaborate the information about 986 child figures, 7214 adult figures, and 1396 mental health figures. Then, it is necessary to consider the time frame chosen for the research (that is 6, 8, and 36 months). As a result, among a variety of available resources, the researchers choose only 3669 nurses to participate in the study. During the experiment, the answers of the chosen nurses are analyzed by means of ANOVA and MANOVA methods to clear up how job satisfaction and nurse intentions are connected and define the level of nursing turnover. It is a non-probability type of sampling method that presupposes the combination of different tools within the frames of one study.
Demographics (Sample Characteristic)
The demographics section is considered to be one of the most important sample characteristics. In the article, the authors provide several brief facts about the population chosen for the study. First, it is mentioned that the nurses from England are chosen for the questionnaires. Second, it is mentioned that these nurses have different working experiences in (6, 8, and 36 months). It means that the age of the population varies considerably. The authors fail to consider such crucial factors as gender and race (ethnicity) as this kind of differentiation can also explain how crucial or insignificant job satisfaction and personal intentions can actually be. This is why it is hard to give a full description of demographics on the basis of the chosen article only.
Data Collection Process
The authors admit that they use a postal type of questionnaire as a data collection tool. Several strategies need to be taken into consideration to maintain the responses of nurses and their rates. It is decided to send the questionnaires via the mail addresses mentioned by the participants twice. If no answers are given, the third time, the questionnaire is sent to the alternative addresses mentioned by the participants as well. In case the answers are not got, it is allowed to use services of the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing and the Nursing and Midwifery Council and rely on the answers sent by these organizations (Murrells et al., 2008). As soon as the representatives of the councils provide the researchers with the necessary answers, the investigation may be continued as these are the nurses, who send the material for analysis themselves.
Setting (Sample Design)
In the article, the authors underline that the chosen research design is of correlational and longitudinal type. The subjects of the study are analyzed from a qualification perspective and regarding the periods of time identified (6 months, 18 months, and 3 years). During such a long period of time, repeated data has to be gathered. It is not an observational study but a necessity to find out a kind of correlation between different factors that explain how and why job satisfaction and personal intentions influence nursing turnover. The peculiar feature of the work is that the variables cannot be manipulated in the study with the chosen setting but used as crucial definers of the quality and appropriateness of the answers given.
Instrument (Tool)
The authors make a decision to use an instrument that can be specifically developed for nurses at different stages of their careers. If the point concerning the duration of the work is omitted while choosing the instruments, it is possible to expect the findings of different quality. In the study, a job satisfaction instrument is chosen. This kind of instrument turns out to be a significant part of a huge questionnaire available for adults, children, and people with mental disabilities. With the help of the instrument, seven main factors such as “client care, staffing, development, relationships, education, work-life interface, resources” (Murrells et al., 2008, p. 3) are considered. Another important issue of the study is the attention to pay and grades. The main task for the researchers is to identify the time frames, quality of nurses, and the reasons why they are satisfied or dissatisfied with the jobs they have.
Validity and Reliability of the Instrument
In the study, the chosen instrument measures what it should measure from a theoretical point of view. The main task of the article is to prove that job satisfaction is the factor that defines the level of nursing turnover. The results of the study show that job satisfaction is actually not the only determiner of the process of turnover. Nurse intentions also play an important role. This is why it is wrong to question the validity and reliability of the instruments chosen in this study. The hypothesis is not poor as well as the steps are taken. The main obstacle is that the results are not similar to those they are expected to be. However, it may be explained and approved by a thorough kind of work performed by the researchers.
Reference
Murrells, T., Robinson, S., & Griffiths, P. (2008). Is satisfaction a direct predictor of nursing turnover? Modeling the relationship between satisfaction expressed intention and behavior in a longitudinal cohort study. Human Resources for Health, 6(22), 1-12. Web.