Research methods are the ‘blueprint’ of the study, they decide how research will be conducted and how data will be gathered (Coughlan et al., 2013). They should be detailed within the methods section, including why the researcher has chosen the particular design (Gray et al., 2017). Patterson B., Morin K. (2012) Methodological considerations for studying social processes. Nurse Researcher, 20, 33–38. [ PubMed] [ Google Scholar]

For questionnaires to be of any use within research, they need to produce valid and reliable data. Validity relates to the questionnaire asking and finding out information relating to the aims of the study (Parahoo, 2014). Reliability relates to the participant’s understanding of the questions and responding to them in the same way. (Parahoo, 2014). Lowes L., Gill P. (2006). Participants’ experiences of being interviewed about an emotive topic. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 55, 587–595. [ PubMed] [ Google Scholar] Gray, J., Grove., S and Sutherland, S. (2017). The Practice of nursing Research: Appraisal, Synthesis and Generation of Evidence. 9 th ed. Missouri: Elsevier. Within the aims section, the objectives are reinforced using one unambiguous sentence, displaying clear intentions of the study to the reader (Nieswiadomy, 2012). Also, within the findings section the results reflect the aims, the questions are related to competency of physical assessment skills.Quantitative research is underpinned by positivism, based on scientific laws and truths which emerge from research that is observed and measured (Gerrish and Lathlean, 2015). Findings from research with minimal or no bias hold greater validity (Gerrish and Lathlean, 2015). Whilst the closed-questions were clear and unambiguous, response was limited to two answers whereas a scale of competence could have been used providing a more detailed range of response e.g. Like-RT type scale (Gray et al., 2017). The open-questions were also clear and unambiguous and trends appeared in the responses indicating the participants interpreted the questions similarly. This concludes the questionnaire holds reliability. However, the questionnaire includes qualitative methodology and mixes the two methods.

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