The Single-Group, Pre- and Posttest Design in Nursing Education Research: It's Time to Move on

摘要

Studying the effectiveness of educational interventions is centrally important to building the science of nursing education. Yet, the design most commonly used in the study of nursing education interventions-the single-group, pre- and posttest design-provides limited evidence to support claims of intervention effectiveness. In this Methodology Corner installment, the limitations of the single-group, pre- and posttest design are outlined and a review of the requirements for establishing stronger arguments for causality is presented. To overcome the limitations of single-group, pre- and posttest designs, nursing education researchers are encouraged to employ study designs and procedures that can significantly strengthen researchers' claims of intervention effectiveness.