DOI: 10.1097/SGA.0b013e3181e37aea

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PMID: 20531114

Issn Print: 1042-895X

Publication Date: 2010/05/01


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GETTING INVOLVED IN RESEARCH: My Experience as a Data Collector

Marilee Schmelzer; Gaudensia Awuor

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Excerpt

I am an intensive care nurse who recently returned to school for a master of science in nursing degree. As part of my graduate education, I collected data for a research study about colon-cleansing preparations. I expected research to be rigid, tedious, and boring but instead found that data collection was great fun. I also discovered that the interpersonal skills I had developed as a nurse working with critically ill patients and focusing on individualized patient care translated well to data collection with outpatients who were scheduled for colonoscopy.
I was collecting data for a study about the effectiveness and side effects of a variety of colon-cleansing preparations. I also explained the study to potential subjects and asked whether they would like to participate. The purpose of the study was to describe bowel-cleansing preparations used at various institutions across the United States, their cleansing effectiveness, and any resulting discomfort. Three data collection forms were used in the study, and I was responsible for collecting data for two of them. A physician and an endoscopy nurse completed the third form during colonoscopy.
According to Burns and Grove (2009), data collection includes (1) selecting subjects; (2) obtaining informed consent; (3) ensuring that data are collected in the same way for all subjects; and (4) solving problems that occur while collecting data. The following sections describe the problems I encountered that interfered with data collection, and how I solved them.
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