The listener's guide to research presentations.

Abstract

RE YOU A CLINICIAN who likes to stay abreast of the latest research results so you can provide the best care possible? Do you find yourself frustrated at research conferences because the presentations are overly technical or do not address the implications for practice? If so, this column is for you. The goal in attending research presentations is to learn the latest research-based knowledge-knowledge that will help you intervene more effectively, assess more accurately, or understand the patient’s situation more thoroughly. Nursing today is conducting exciting research that has the potential for tremendous impact if it can be effectively communicated to those who wish to use it. However, nurse clinicians find that the way in which research is presented is the second greatest barrier to using research findings in practice-second only to barriers of the practice setting (Funk, Champagne, Wiese, & Tornquist, 1991). So if you have problems gleaning what you need to know from a research presentation. you are not alone. This column provides hints and tips about how to negotiate a research presentation and maximize what you take away from the experience. Every research presentation contains the four parts of what Huth (1982) calls a “critical argument”: (1) the question to be answered, or problem to be solved; (2) the evidence for the researcher’s answer or solution; (3) a discussion of the credibility of that evidence; and (4) the researcher’s conclusion or answer/solution. The standard parts of a presentation reflect this organization with a slightly different arrangement. The presentation begins with an Introduction or Review of the Literature (which gives the question or issue); then the Study Methods indicate the credibility of the evidence; the Findings provide the evidence; and the Discussion gives the author’s conclusions about the problem or question based on the evidence and its credibility. Because the purpose of research presentations is