Guide Questions
1. Given the nature of the research
question, what type of design is most
appropriate? How does this
correspond to the type of design
used?
2. To what extent is the study internally
valid? What types of alternative
explanations must be considered (i.e.,
what are the threats to the study's
internal validity)? Does the research
design enable the researcher to draw
causal inferences about the
relationship among study variables?
3. To what extent is the study externally
valid? What are the major limitations
of the design used? Are these
limitations acknowledged by the
researcher and considered in
interpreting the results?
Answers
Since the study’s purpose is to investigate the
role of moral integrity in the enhancement of
work engagement among nurses, the most
appropriate design applicable in the study
was descriptive-correlational analysis.The
researchers planned to know and establish
the effects of moral competence to the work
engagement of nurses towards their patients.
Hence, the result stated that the hypothesis
test showed that moral competence has a
positive effect on the working engagement
especially on the confidence of the nurses.
On the top of that, the study already stated
that they utilized the descriptive-correlational
analysis which was for me the right design to
be used in the study.
Based on the study, the major threats to
internal validity were:
● Contamination by an irrelevant event
● Maturation effect on age
● Loss of subjects between the testing
● Statistical regression effect on test
scores
● Selection bias on test groups
● Unreliability of instrument for
assessment
A selection bias was utilized to gather
participants for the hazard sampling used and
the nurses were choses from the seven public
hospitals situated in Malaysia. Since they
came from different institutional locations,
there might be stereotyping that might
happen.
The study was conducted to staff nurses in
Malaysia; making the generalization only
limited. According to the researchers, the
healthcare providers experiments on different
job environments might be safer to be
performed or conducted. Moreover, the
researcher per se suggests having a
longitudinal study for different countries that
have different cultures, beliefs as well as
values. These limitations were acknowledged
by the researchers and became a
recommendation. Even if the study is
somehow lacking has limitations, it is still
considered valid since the hypothesis was
correct as per the results.