title: Finding and evaluating potential research instruments.
abstract: In this column, I have outlined some of the basic strategies for finding appropriate research instruments and for evaluating them so that you can determine the best one to use for your own research. These strategies, as basic as they are, will help to guide you as you make decisions. Of course, there are complex issues surrounding the development and refinement of research instruments and you would do well to review reliability, validity, and sensitivity in research texts before choosing an instrument.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Nursing, Department of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Alberta.
authors.forename: Priscilla M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Koop
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D015399:Nursing Research / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000592:standards; D015588:Observer Variation; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity