Nursing
Consider the ethnographic example. How do the research methods described in that study compare to the procedures described in your text?
The article of Pugh et al. (2000) on an ethnographic examination of the management of the Kettering General Hospital employed a partnership between two analysts, one was situated to be part of the institution being examined and the other was positioned outside the medical institution. The insider-outsider approach to the ethnographic study provided a means of avoiding bias in their research because it has often been observed that researchers that perform studies of their own institutions tend to be biased in their data collection and interpretation. In addition, the insider researcher of this study may not be very well adept in the research methods hence an outsider may serve as a monitoring individual that can look into the entire investigation without any bias to the institution. The insider-outsider approach also facilitates the difficulty in researchers in employing specific jargon with respect to the workplace, and the insider thus may serve as a mediator that could explain the specific intricacies that take place within the medical institution. Furthermore, the use of a two-tiered approach of having an insider and an outsider in examining governance of a medical institution provides a more comprehensive and unbiased collection, interpretation and analysis of their research data and any conclusions that may be generated from such research effort would be more credible mainly because of the approach that they have employed.
Consider the grounded theory example. How do the research methods described in that study compare to the procedures described in your text? On quality of grounded theory research is that it `moves from a description of what is happening to understanding the process . . .` Did the researchers generate an understanding of the process they studied? In what ways were they successful (or not successful)?
The study conducted by Jeng et al. (2004) involved interviewing 12 women who have reached their menopausal age. The interviews contained questions about what exercises these 12 women were engaged in and what they felt about taking the exercises. In addition, the participants were also asked about how they perceived exercise to be, what it meant to their lives and their daily routines. The participants were also asked about what they understood about menopause and the role of exercise in association with the symptoms of menopause. The effects of the exercises the women engaged in were also questioned. The research method used in this study was more of the open-ended approach, wherein the subjects can express any kind of reaction to the questions, unlike other surveys that were provided preset answers and that the subjects would only need to pick the answer that best describes their responses. In such types of surveys with preset answers, there are always situations wherein the participant may not have the exact answer as what has been provided in the questionnaire hence the grounded theory provides ample freedom for the participant to give any answer that they feel like providing. The researchers were able to provide a better understanding of the connection of exercise and menopausal age. However, their sample population was only composed of 12 women and whatever they have collected may not be representative of the general society of women, hence it is important that they perform the same investigation on a bigger study population. Their study involved interviewing women that they interacted with in the park and not all menopausal women go to the park hence their data may be a bit biased with regards to sampling criterion. The grounded theory approach of this research article generates a descriptive mode of analysis of their subjects by collecting the perceptions and value of a certain issues, such as exercise and menopause.
3. Consider the phenomenological research example. How do the research methods described in that study compare to the procedures described in your text? The key question you will find in phenomenological research is `What is the meaning of ones lived experience?` Whenever you see this phrase, it is almost guaranteed to be phenomenological. How does understanding women’s experiences during the first year following diagnosis of
breast cancer add to the body of nursing knowledge?
The research of Lyons et al. (2002) involved the phenomenological approach to determining the experiences that women go through once they have been positively diagnosed with breast cancer. The phenomenological approach, similar to the grounded theory approach, involves a series of interviews that are conducted in order to gather information from the subjects. The approach also involves open-ended questions wherein the subjects can provide any amount of response that they feel are appropriate to answer every question that has been delivered to them during the interview. The approach is not very rigid because it provides the participant enough freedom of choices in what to say in order to express what is on their minds and hearts regarding breast cancer and living through the disease. The phenomenological approach also allows the subjects to reflect on the issue itself, which is breast cancer, and how it relates to the rest of their lives. Such type of research approach also provides another view on how a certain disease affects a patient and that through this approach, researchers may have the chance to observe that the input of family members and friends are also helpful in making the patient survive such difficult ordeal.
4. How is rigor defined and achieved in the example studies? (select one of example studies to answer)
Rigor pertains to the validity and credibility of the study that was conducted by a researcher (Boyd, 1999). The term trustworthiness may also be used interchangeably with rigor. It is therefore important that the research results do illicit rigor or the truth with respect to the way the data was collected, as well as the criterion for inclusion and exclusion of subjects or information and the basis of interpretation and analysis of data. The most simple and straightforward basis for rigor is the duration of experience an investigator has delegated into the study of that particular topic. Thus the report of a well-recognized investigator who has spent 30 years analyzing a specific phenomenon will be more appreciated that the report of a struggling investigator who has only spent 2 years working on that same topic. Rigor may also be tested by presenting the results generated by one investigator to other specialists of that same field of study, so that in this way, the data collection, analysis and interpretation may be properly checked and any clarifications may be addressed. Other fields of research may also be applied to a research in order to determine the degree of rigor of the project, such as statistical tests that will determine the robustness and significance of the results of the investigation. Statisticians also have the training to determine whether there is any correlation between two variables that are mentioned in the study. The sample size of the study population can also be determined to be significant enough to generate a credible report or not.
5. How are data collected and analyzed for the following qualitative research approaches: phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, historical research? (select two of qualtitative research methods to answer)
Data collection in ethnography involves the employment of two types of investigators, one is the “insider”, a researcher who is strategically situated within the study area or population and knows the jargon of the study group. The other investigator in ethnography is the “outsider”, who is positioned outside the study area and may have a detached or unbiased approach to the topic of study. The analysis of ethnography thus makes use of a checking system from both within and outside the study area. Ethnography generally employs questionnaires that list possible answers and the participants need only to simply check the answer that best fits his response to the question. In the case of phenomenology, there is no insider or outsider investigators, but the data collection is performed by interviewing subjects and asking questions that are open-ended and the participants may answer in any way they want. The phenomenological approach thus provides a way of determining the perception and meaning of a particular issue to the subject. Analysis of phenomenologically-generated data is thus more tedious because the researcher has to meticulously and carefully analyze the data that has been collected in the interviews, including audio and videotapes of the interviews.
6. How is a decision trail or auditability used to ensure the creditability of qualitative data analysis?
A decision trail or auditability is employed in order to ensure that the qualitative data of the research is credible. This process involves checking the actual raw data that were gathered from the research, as well as how that same raw data was processed in terms how the entire databases was reduced into a conclusive report that should summary the entire project. The process of synthesizing hundreds and even thousands of pieces of information into a small number of general observations and conclusions is reviewed in order to determine whether the research is due of its credibility and trustworthiness. In addition, a researcher must be capable of explaining in detail how the data collection and interpretation was performed, in order that the reviewers understand how the conclusions were generated and to also determine whether sufficient caution was applied during the entire research process.
8. Debate the pros and cons of mixing methods from various qualitative research methods.
The amalgamation of different qualitative methods in research has pros and cons. The utilization of at least two or more approach may provide a stronger means of data collection and analysis, yet there is also a greater chance that the data that has been collected using different methods will be put together in a disorderly fashion because each method has a unique way for collection and interpretation. For example, the phenomenological approach may be difficult to describe in terms of numerical representations and thus statistical tests for robustness and significant will be even harder to perform. On the other hand, ethnographic data was straightforward to gather and analyze and the data collected by this means can be tested with statistical software. A researcher should thus employ utmost caution when employing at least two methodological approaches in research because combining the data that have been collected from different methods can result in a bigger chaos, amidst the intention of the researcher to strengthen his research through the use of multiple approaches.
Reference
Boyd C (1999): Philosophical foundations of qualitative research. In: Munhall PL and Boyd C (eds.), Nursing research: A qualitative perspective. New York: National League for Nursing.