This upcoming task will ideally, but not necessarily, be focused on a topic you are interested in as a possible topic for the project you will conduct.

 This upcoming task will ideally, but not necessarily, be focused on a topic you are interested in as a possible topic for the project you will conduct. The purpose of this project is not for you to draft parts of the project you will conduct. The purpose is for you to demonstrate how to formulate a data analysis plan that will fulfill the purpose of a practice change project. Here is the outline of part of the content of a proposal for a hypothetical DNP project with a focus on statistical analysis. DNP projects are a type of translational research – translating previous research into practice. For this task, you should use a previously published project or research study as the basis for the methodology of a hypothetical project. When this is done in an actual project, the previous research methodology is adopted to the specific setting, patients, and time frame for the project. Cite the research study that you are using as a basis for your proposal Use this outline to organize your contribution this week. 

• State the purpose of the project. Cite the research that is the basis for the proposal.
• Transform the purpose statement into a PICOT-formatted project question (See the Gallagher & Melnyk, 2019, editorial for additional information cited under the Instructional Resources for this week.).
  • P = Population – who will be included in the project and how many groups will be studied in the project.
  • I = Intervention – the treatment or intervention that will be manipulated or changed during the implementation phase of the project.
  • C = Comparison – the usual treatment or intervention used prior to the project.
  • O = Outcome – the characteristic that will be measured to determine the effect of the intervention.
    • Find or identify a data collection instrument to measure this variable and give the name of the instrument.
    • Indicate what type of variable this instrument collects (categorical or continuous) and what level of measurement it is (nominal, ordinal, interval, variable).
  • T = Time: Total time for data collection from the start of data collection to the end. 
• Data analysis – Descriptive statistics:
  • Identify the descriptive statistics that will be used to organize and summarize the data collected that will fulfill the purpose of the study – choose one of the descriptive statistics listed below and give the rationale for your choice based on the type of data produced by the data collection instrument:
    • Measure of central tendency with measure of variability and range.
    • Frequency with percentages.
• Describe the most effective method to use for illustrating the descriptive statistics with a graph or histogram.
• Data analysis – inferential statistic:
  • Name the most appropriate inferential statistic to use to fulfill the purpose of the study:
  • Give the rationale for your choice based on the purpose statement, PICO-formatted project question, and the type of data produced by the data collection instrument.
  • What are the assumptions for this test?
• Write the null and alternative hypotheses for the inferential statistic in words and in an equation using the same designations of the population, variables, and time that were used in the purpose statement and PICOT-formatted project question.
• How will the effect size of the findings be determined? Give the rationale for your choice based on the inferential test used.