Introduction

• The need for valid and reliable nursing research instruments is vital.
• Research instruments serve as measurement tools and are an integral component of any nursing research study.
• A research instrument must be reliable (ie, consistent) and valid (ie, measure what it intends to measure) and contribute to the scientific integrity of a research project.

Types

Research instruments may include:(Leslie H. Nicoll, Suzanne C. Beyea;1997)

• physiologic or biologic measurements
• self-report instruments
• scales, or questionnaires
• interviews
• diaries
• structured or unstructured observations
• Q methodologies
• psychologic measurements
• other specialized measures.

References

1. Polit, D. F. & Beck, C. T. (2004). Nursing research: Principles and methods. (7
   ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins.
2. Leslie H. Nicoll, Suzanne C. Beyea . Selecting research instruments to measure the reliability and validity of nursing research studies AORN Journal, Nov, 1997.