Research Hypothesis on Paralytic Attack in Patients

SECTION A – Designing a Study

1. State the research hypothesis. Identify the independent and dependent variables. The variables must be categorical.

An example of such a research question would be, where one would analyse the effects of mild exercise on the certain parameters of patients following the paralytic attack and how long it would take for the parameters to reach back to normal levels. A group of patients would be chosen, of a particular gender and age group (to keep it simple) who have suffered a paralytic stroke within two weeks. The independent variable is the amount of exercise and the effect of a fixed duration of exercise on patients who have suffered from stroke would be monitored for three months. The dependent variables are those which are used to monitor the effect of stroke. The three dependent variables chosen would be lesion volume, motor strength, and cognition. All these three can be measured using various instruments such as Imaging techniques, Instruments for the assessment of cognition such as the MMSE, and the NIHSS scale for measuring motor strength. The variables are categorical and can be quantified. (Nursing Research Theory, 2014) (Hinkle, 2006)

2. A non-parametric test used to test this hypothesis.

A chi square test can be used to test this hypothesis. The following conditions have to be satisfied so that the chi test can be performed.

1. Samples have to be randomly selected
2. The samples have to be selected from a population which is atleast 10 times as large as it

3.Categorical variables are studied (Chi square test of independence, 2014)

3. How the Chi square nonparametric test is used to test the above research hypothesis

The chi square test would be used to test whether the null hypothesis stands true or not. The null hypothesis, in this case, is that the level of exercise (the independent variable) has no significant effect on the recovery of stroke patients (as measured by the three dependent variables).

This can be written as

If the null hypothesis is not true, then the alternative hypothesis remains valid i.e. exercise has a significant effect on the recovery from stroke in patients of a particular age group and gender. (Chi square –test of independence, 2014)

The significance level for this analysis is set to a value between 0 and 1, usually 0.05. The sample analysis is then carried out. The degrees of freedoms, expected frequency counts and the chi-square statistic is calculated. P- value is determined which will prove whether the hypothesis is accepted or rejected. The chi square distribution calendar is used to compute the P value. (Chi square –test of independence, 2014)

List of References

Hinkle, J. (2006). Variables explaining functional recovery following motor stroke. Journal Of Neuroscience Nursing, 38(1), 6–12.

Stattrek.com,. (2014). Chi-Square Test of Independence. Retrieved 7 May 2014, from http://stattrek.com/chi-square-test/independence.aspx

Utexas.edu,. (2014). NORR | Web Links | Nursing Research/Theory. Retrieved 7 May 2014, from http://www.utexas.edu/nursing/norr/html/links/research_qua.html