Question

A researcher tests a new fall prevention protocol on a nursing unit with patients who are at very low risk of falling. Which term

describes the problem with this study?
a. This type of study is better suited for qualitative research.
b. The subjects are at risk of being harmed by participating in the study.
c. The study is biased because the subjects are already at low risk of falling.
d. The study results will be inaccurate due to placebo effects on the subjects.

Answer 1

The issue with the study is that it is biased due to testing a fall prevention protocol on patients already at low risk of falling, lacking a control group and proper randomization which could lead to non-generalizable results.

Step-by-step explanation:

The problem with testing a new fall prevention protocol on a nursing unit with patients who are at very low risk of falling is that the study is biased because the subjects are already at low risk of falling. Since the patients are not representative of the general population at risk for falls, any results obtained may not be generalizable.

Additionally, the study lacks a control group to compare against, which is a key component in producing reliable data in experimental design. This could result in observing differences that are not due to the experimental intervention but to other factors. To mitigate such issues, researchers could ensure a randomized control trial with a representative sample and ensure blinding to reduce bias.