Although you will not actually perform your research in this module, you will complete a section on the research methodology best suited for your capstone project (My capstone project is: utilizing scheduled staff to sit with high risk fall patients around the clock. I will develop a roster for staff already scheduled to work, to sign up to sit every hour. They can use their time sitting to catch up on their documentations. The unit will not have to employ extra staff to sit, this method will benefit the unit financially, whiles preventing falls).

In a 3- to 4-page paper, your methodology section should include a discussion on the following areas:

• Introduce the overall proposed methodological approach for investigating your research problem.

  Will your study be qualitative or quantitative or a combination of both (mixed methods)? Describe your methodological design.

• Indicate how the approach would best fit the overall research design.

  Your methods should have a clear connection with your research problem. In other words, make sure that your methods will actually address the problem. One of the most common deficiencies found in research papers is that the proposed methodology is not suitable to achieving the stated objective of the paper.

• Describe the specific methods of data collection you would use.

  Surveys, interviews, questionnaires, observation, and archival research are some examples. If you are analyzing existing data, such as a data set or archival documents, describe how it was originally created or gathered and by whom.

• Explain how you would analyze your results. (I will analyze by the number of falls within a certain period)
  
  Will you use statistical analysis? Will you use specific theoretical perspectives to help you analyze a text or explain observed behaviors? Describe how you plan to obtain an accurate assessment of relationships, patterns, trends, distributions, and possible contradictions found in the data.

• Provide background and a rationale for methodologies that are unfamiliar for your readers. (Falls are at a higher rate on med-surg. units. My unit had 10 falls in the month of October alone.

  Very often in the social sciences, research problems and the methods for investigating them require more explanation/rationale than widely accepted rules governing the natural and physical sciences. Be clear and concise in your explanation.

• Provide a justification for subject selection and sampling procedure. (subject selection is patients with a high risk of fall in a med-surg. unit)

  For instance, if you propose to conduct interviews, how do you intend to select the sample population? If you are analyzing texts, which texts have you chosen, and why? If you are using statistics, why is this set of statistics being used? If other data sources exist, explain why the data you chose is most appropriate to addressing the research problem.

• Describe potential limitations.

  Are there any practical limitations that could affect your data collection? How will you attempt to control for potential confounding variables and errors? If your methodology may lead to problems you can anticipate, state this openly and show why pursuing this methodology outweighs the risk of these problems cropping up.