Research Report Appraisal

Research Report Appraisal Sample

Linda A. Mason Barber^[b]

University of West Georgia

Research Report Appraisal Sample^[c]

Article Summary

        In a research report of a quantitative, experimental, randomized controlled trial^[d] by Selby et al. (2012^[e]), the authors pointed out that 1-hour labor checks are often used to determine active labor in women and whether a woman presenting to the hospital with contractions should be hospitalized or sent home.  The authors noted evidence is not available to support that labor or cervical checks are an effective means of determining progression to delivery within the next 24 hours and that the decision to determine whether women should be allowed to walk or remain on bed rest during the latter stages of labor is not based on evidence, but rather on practitioner or patient preference^[f].  The purpose of the study^[g] was to determine whether walking over a one hour period led to cervical changes indicative of active labor and affected comfort levels of full term women.  The authors also assessed how well findings during a one hour labor check predicted delivery within the following 24^[h] hours.          

Research Questions/Hypothesis

        Selby et al. (2012) "hypothesized that different activity levels during a 1-hour labor check evaluation would not change the rate of cervical dilatation and thus progression to a positive 1-hour labor check" (p. 102^[i]).  Research questions for the study were not explicitly stated.  Based^[j] on the purpose of the study, one research question was whether or not there would be a difference in cervical changes and progression to delivery in women who walked versus women who were on bed rest during a 1-hour labor check evaluation.  A second question was whether there was a difference in the comfort level of mothers who were on bed rest versus actively walking between labor checks.  A final research question focused on how well the 1-hour labor check evaluation was able to predict whether the mother delivered within the following 24 hours.  

Research Variables

        The independent variables in the study by Selby et al. (2012) were the activity level (walking versus bed rest) and the sensitivity and specificity of the 1-hour labor check evaluation.  The dependent variables were the cervical changes, comfort levels of the mothers, and prediction of delivery in 24 hours.  No extraneous or confounding variables were mentioned by the authors or made obvious in the report.

Research Design^[k]

        The design chosen for the research study by Selby et al. (2012) was a quantitative, experimental, randomized controlled trial^[l].  The researchers were attempting to show whether walking by women having contractions caused cervical changes and progression of labor.  They also wanted to show whether labor checks predicted time to delivery.  A randomized controlled trial was an appropriate design to show these cause and effect relationships.