NURS 6052 Week 7 Discussion Qualitative Research Designs
For the past 2 weeks, you have focused on the features and considerations of quantitative research designs. However, quantitative designs are not appropriate for all research questions. Perhaps you are concerned with how patients react when confronted with negative test results, or you wish to study how views on a certain health topic change over time. In each of these cases, the emphasis is more on understanding the thinking and experiences of an individual or group than on numerical measurements. For these types of questions, a qualitative or mixed methods research design is the most appropriate.NURS 6052 Week 7 Discussion Qualitative Research Designs
For this Discussion, you focus on the different types of qualitative research designs, when they are used, and why they are important.
To prepare:
Reflect on the comments made by Dr. Mauk in this week’s media presentation on the value of qualitative research in nursing.
Locate the journal Qualitative Health Research in the Sage Premier database in the Walden Library.
From this journal, select an article of interest to you that was published within the last 3 years.
Review the information on different qualitative research designs in Chapter 21 of your course text.
Determine what qualitative research design was used in your selected article and evaluate whether it was the best choice.
Consider ethical issues involved in the study and how the researchers addressed them.
Think about how using a quantitative design would have affected the type of data gathered.
By Day 3
Post an APA citation for the article that you selected and provide a brief summary of the content and the qualitative research design used. Evaluate the appropriateness of the design, and explain how ethical issues in the study were addressed. Analyze how the study would have been different if a quantitative design had been used.
Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.
By Day 6
Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days using one or more of the following approaches:
Ask a probing question, substantiated with additional background information, and evidence.NURS 6052 Week 7 Discussion Qualitative Research Designs
Make a suggestion based on additional evidence drawn from readings or after synthesizing multiple postings.
Expand on your colleagues’ postings by providing additional insights or contrasting perspectives based on readings and evidence.
Qualitative research design varies depending upon the method used; participant observations, in-depth interviews (face-to-face or on the telephone), and focus groups are all examples of methodologies which may be considered during qualitative research design. Although there is diversity in the various qualitative methodologies, there are also commonalities between them.
The underlying reason for carrying out any qualitative research is to gain a richly detailed understanding of a particular topic, issue, or meaning based on first-hand experience. This is achieved by having a relatively small but focused sample base because collecting the data can be rather time consuming; qualitative data is concerned with depth as opposed to quantity of findings. A qualitative research design is concerned with establishing answers to the whys and hows of the phenomenon in question (unlike quantitative).
Due to this, qualitative research is often defined as being subjective (not objective), and findings are gathered in a written format as opposed to numerical. This means that the data collected from a piece of qualitative research cannot usually be analyzed in a quantifiable way using statistical techniques because there may not be commonalities between the various collected findings. However, a process of coding can be implemented if common categories can be identified during analysis.
Although the questions/observations in qualitative research are not managed to gain a particular response the ability to code findings occurs more often than you may originally think. This is because the researcher ‘steers’ the research in a particular direction whilst encouraging the respondent to expand, and go into greater detail on certain points raised (in an interview/ focus group), or actions carried out (participant observation).NURS 6052 Week 7 Discussion Qualitative Research Designs
Qualitative research design should also not only account for what is said or done, but also the manner in which something is spoken or carried out by a participant. Sometimes these mannerisms can hold answers to questions in themselves and body language and the tone of voice used by respondents are key considerations.
Below are the three key elements that define a qualitative research study and the applied forms each take in the investigation of a research problem.
The Design
- Naturalistic — refers to studying real-world situations as they unfold naturally; non manipulative and non controlling; the researcher is open to whatever emerges [i.e., there is a lack of predetermined constraints on findings].
- Emergent — acceptance of adapting inquiry as understanding deepens and/or situations change; the researcher avoids rigid designs that eliminate responding to opportunities to pursue new paths of discovery as they emerge.
- Purposeful — cases for study [e.g., people, organizations, communities, cultures, events, critical incidences] are selected because they are “information rich” and illuminate. That is, they offer useful manifestations of the phenomenon of interest; sampling is aimed at insight about the phenomenon, not empirical generalization derived from a sample and applied to a population.NURS 6052 Week 7 Discussion Qualitative Research Designs
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The Collection of Data
- Data — observations yield a detailed, “thick description” [in-depth understanding]; interviews capture direct quotations about people’s personal perspectives and lived experiences; often derived from carefully conducted case studies and review of material culture.
- Personal experience and engagement — researcher has direct contact with and gets close to the people, situation, and phenomenon under investigation; the researcher’s personal experiences and insights are an important part of the inquiry and critical to understanding the phenomenon.
- Empathic neutrality — an empathic stance in working with study respondents seeks vicarious understanding without judgment [neutrality] by showing openness, sensitivity, respect, awareness, and responsiveness; in observation, it means being fully present [mindfulness].
- Dynamic systems — there is attention to process; assumes change is ongoing, whether the focus is on an individual, an organization, a community, or an entire culture, therefore, the researcher is mindful of and attentive to system and situationational dynamics.
The Analysis
- Unique case orientation — assumes that each case is special and unique; the first level of analysis is being true to, respecting, and capturing the details of the individual cases being studied; cross-case analysis follows from and depends upon the quality of individual case studies.
- Inductive analysis — immersion in the details and specifics of the data to discover important patterns, themes, and inter-relationships; begins by exploring, then confirming findings, guided by analytical principles rather than rules.NURS 6052 Week 7 Discussion Qualitative Research Designs
- Holistic perspective — the whole phenomenon under study is understood as a complex system that is more than the sum of its parts; the focus is on complex inter dependencies and system dynamics that cannot be reduced in any meaningful way to linear, cause and effect relationships and/or a few discrete variables.
- Context sensitive — places findings in a social, historical, and temporal context; researcher is careful about [even dubious of] the possibility or meaningfulness of generalizations across time and space; emphasizes careful comparative case analyses and extrapolating patterns for possible transfer ability and adaptation in new settings.
- Voice, perspective, and reflexivity — the qualitative meteorologist owns and is reflective about her or his own voice and perspective; a credible voice conveys authenticity and trustworthiness; complete objectivity being impossible and pure subjectivity undermining credibility, the researcher’s focus reflects a balance between understanding and depicting the world authentically in all its complexity and of being self-analytical, politically aware, and reflexive in consciousness.NURS 6052 Week 7 Discussion Qualitative Research Designs