Download Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches

NURSING RESEARCH
• Is a systematic inquiry designed to
develop knowledge about issues of
importance to the nursing profession,
including nursing practice, education,
administration, and informatics.
PURPOSE OF NURSING
RESEARCH
• To test, refine and advance the
knowledge
on
which
improved
education, clinical judgment, and costeffective, safe, ethical nursing care
rests.
DEVELOPMENT AND
PROGRESSION OF
NURSING RESEARCH
THE ORIGIN OF NURSING
RESEARCH
• FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE –
viewed as the person who first
elevated nursing to the status
of a PROFESSION, as
presented in her first book
NOTES ON NURSING (1859)
• Believed in the importance of
“naming nursing” by the use of
observed data to support the
need for health-care reforms.
• Methodical Data gathering
A Look at Nursing Education
• 1923 – Committee for
the Study of Nursing
Education
– Studied
educational
preparation of nurse
teachers,
administrators, public
health nurses and the
clinical experiences of
nursing students.
– Gold Mark Report – identified many
inadequacies in the educational backgrounds
of the group studied and concluded that
advanced educational preparation was
essential.
• 1940s
(WWII)
tremendous need
educated nurses
–
for
– Nursing
education
practices were evaluated
in
the
study
commissioned by the
National Nursing Council
for War Service headed
by Brown
– Brown
revealed
numerous inadequacies
in nursing education and
thus, recommended that
education of nurses occur
in the collegiate level.
CENTER FOR NURSING
RESEARCH
• 1950s
– Walter Reed Army
Institute of Research –
center for nursing
research
– Nursing Research
(journal)
SOURCE FOR NATIONAL
DATA
• 1986
– National Center for
Nursing Research
EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE
• Defined as the use of
the best clinical
evidence in making
patient care decisions
to achieve costeffective, high quality
care based on
scientific inquiry.
PARADIGMS AND
METHODS:
QUANTITATIVE AND
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
POSITIVIST PARADIGM
ASSUMPTION
POSITIVIST PARADIGM
Ontologic (what is the nature of
reality?)
Reality exists; there is a real world driven by
real natural courses
Epistemologic (How is the
inquirer related to those being
researched?)
The inquirer is independent from those being
researched; findings are not influenced by the
researcher
Axiologic (What is the role of
Values in the inquiry?)
Values and biases are to be held in check;
objectivity is sought
Methodologic (How is
knowledge obtained?)
Deductive process, emphasis on discrete,
specific concepts; fixed design, tight controls
over context, emphasis on measured,
quantitative information; statistical analysis;
seeks generalization
NATURALISTIC PARADIGM
ASSUMPTION
NATURALISTIC PARADIGM
Ontologic (what is the nature of Reality is multiple and subjective, mentally
reality?)
constructed by individuals
Epistemologic (How is the
inquirer related to those being
researched?)
The inquirer interacts with those being
researched; findings are creation of the
interactive process
Axiologic (What is the role of
Values in the inquiry?)
Subjectivity and values are inevitable and
desirable
Methodologic (How is
knowledge obtained?)
Inductive process; emphasis on entirely of
some phenomenon, holistic; emerging
interpretations grounded in participants’
experiences; flexible design; context-bound;
emphasis on narrative information
Qualitative analysis
RESEARCH METHODS
• Are the techniques used by researchers
to structure a study and to gather and
analyze information relevant to the
research question.
THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
AND QUANTITATIVE
RESEARCH
• SCIENTIFIC
METHOD – refers to
a general set of
orderly, disciplined
procedures used to
acquire information.
QUANTITATIVE
RESEARCH
•
•
•
•
•
Uses deductive reasoning
Systematic
Uses control
Uses measurements
Researchers gather empirical evidence
(objective in nature)
• Information gathered is usually (but not
always) quantitative/numerical
• Uses statistical analysis
• Cannot be used to answer moral or ethical
questions
NATURALISTIC METHODS
AND QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
• NATURALISTIC METHOD – attempt to
deal with the issue of human complexity
by exploring it directly.
– Investigations place a heavy emphasis on
understanding the human experience as it
is lived.
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
•
•
•
•
•
•
Uses inductive reasoning
Used for theory development
Approach is flexible
Always takes place in the field
Concurrent collection and analysis of data
Gathers rich and in-depth information
(subjective in nature)
• Report is written in narrative form
• Involves small group of people or subjects
• Cannot be used to answer moral or ethical
questions
KEY CONCEPTS AND
TERMS IN QUANTITATIVE
AND QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
• People who are being studied
– Quantitative – subjects, study
participants, respondents
– Qualitative – informants, key
informants, study participants
• Sample – composed of the people
being studied
• Person who undertakes the
research
– Quantitative – researcher,
investigator, scientist
– Qualitative – researcher,
investigator
• Research Settings – specific
places where data collection
occurs
– Quantitative – laboratory
setting, (sometimes) field
settings
• Example: Pierce and Clancy
(2001) studied the effects of
hypoxia on diaphragm activity
in anesthetized rats.
– Qualitative – naturalistic
setting/field
• Example: Carlisle (2000)
studied the search for meaning
in the care giving experience
among informal carers of
people living with HIV and
AIDS. The researcher
gathered in-depth information
from carers in their homes and
in HIV/AIDS org.
BUILDING BLOCKS OF A
STUDY
• Phenomena – occurrence or events
• Concept – abstract ideas
– Examples of phenomena and concepts: pain,
coping, and grief
• Constructs – abstractions that are
systematically invented by a researcher
– Example: self-care
THEORIES AND CONCEPTUAL
FRAMEWORKS
• Theory – systematic, abstract explanation of
some aspect of reality
– Example: Nightingale’s Environmental Nursing Theory
• Conceptual Frameworks/Models – interrelated
concepts or abstractions assembled together in a
rational scheme by virtue of their relevance to a
common theme.
– Example: Betty Neuman's Health Care Systems
Model
VARIABLES
• Are something that varies
– Examples: weight, body
temperature, income,
anxiety level, etc
• Are central building
blocks of a quantitative
study
• Constant – opposite of
variables
DEPENDENT and
INDEPENDENT VARIABLES
• Independent variable – presumed cause
• Dependent variable – presumed effect
• Independent and dependent variables are
used to indicate direction of influence rather
than causal link.
– The effect of initial bath timing on the
temperature of newborns
– The effect of sautéed garlic on the blood
pressure of elderly patients
– The relationship between teacher’s qualification
and student education
RESEARCH DATA
• Pieces of information
obtained in the course of
investigation
– Quantitative data – numerical
• Example: Thinking about the past week, how
depressed would you say you have been on a scale
from 0-10, where 0 means “not at all” and 10 means
“the most possible.”
– Subject 1 – 9
– Subject 2 – 0
– Subject 3 - 4
– Qualitative data – narrative descriptions
• Example: tell me about how you’ve been feeling
lately. Have you felt sad or depressed at all, or have
you generally been in good spirits?
– Participant – I’ve had a few ups and downs in the past
week, but basically things are pretty even keel. I don’t have
too many complaints.
CRITERIA IN STUDY
QUALITY ASSESSMENT
• Reliability – refers to
the accuracy and
consistency of
information obtained
in the study
• Generalizability –
asses the extent to
which the findings
can be applied to
other groups and
settings.
• Validity – complex
concept that broadly
concerns the
soundness of the
study’s evidence.
– If methods used in
the study are really
measuring the
concept/s that they
have to measure.
• Dependability – in qualitative studies, refers
to evidence that is consistent and stable
• Confirmability – is similar to objectivity; it is
the degree to which study results are derived
from characteristics of participants and study
context.
• Credibility – is achieved to the extent that the
research method engender confidence in the
truth of the data and in the researcher’s
interpretations of the data.
• Transferability – the extent to which
qualitative findings can be transferred to
other settings.
RESEARCH CONTROL
• Involve holding
constant other
influences on the
dependent variable
so that the true
relationship between
the dependent and
independent variables
can be understood.
• Attempts to eliminate
contaminating factors
that might cloud the
relationship between
the variables of central
interest.
– Example: Effect of
sautéed garlic on the
blood pressure of elderly
patients – get subjects
who are of almost the
same age and engage in
the same type of
activities.
RANDOMNESS
• A powerful tool in quantitative studies to
eliminate biases.
• Is not considered in qualitative studies
KEY TERMS USED IN QUANTITATIVE
AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
CONCEPT
QUANTITATIVE TERM
QUALITATIVE TERM
Person Contributing
Information
Subject, Study Participant,
Respondent
Study participant, informant,
key informant
Person undertaking
the study
Researcher, investigator,
scientist
Researcher, investigator
Being investigated
Concepts, constructs,
variables
Phenomena, concepts
System of organizing
concepts
Theory, theoretical and
conceptual framework,
Theory, conceptual
framework
Information gathered
Data (numerical)
Data (narrative descriptions)
Connections bet.
concepts
Relationships (cause-andeffect, functional)
Patterns of association
Quality of evidence
Reliability, Validity,
Generalizability, Objectivity
Dependability, Credibility,
Transferability, Confirmability
MAJOR CLASSES OF
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
• EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH – type of
research wherein researchers actively
introduce an intervention or treatment.
– Explicitly designed to test causal
relationships
– Offer the possibility of greater control
EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
Example:
A researcher gave
bran flakes to one
group of subjects and
prune juice to another
to evaluate which
method
facilitated
more
effective
elimination.
MAJOR CLASSES OF
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
• NONEXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH – type
of research wherein researchers collect
data without making changes or
introducing treatment.
NONEXPERIMENTAL
RESEARCH
Example: A researcher
compared
elimination
patterns of two groups of
people whose regular
eating patterns differed –
some normally took food
that stimulated bowel
elimination and others did
not – there is no
intervention.
MAJOR CLASSES OF
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
• GROUNDED THEORY – seeks to describe
and
understand
the
key
social,
psychological, and structural processes that
occur in social setting
– Focus is on a developing social experience – the
social or psychological stages and phases that
characterize a particular event of episode.
GROUNDED THEORY
Hauck and Irurita (2002)
conducted a grounded
theory study to explain
the maternal process of
managing late stages of
breastfeeding
and
weaning the child from
the breast.
MAJOR CLASSES OF
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
• PHENOMENOLOGY – concerned with
the lived experiences of humans
– An approach to thinking about what life
experiences or people are like and what
they mean.
– Answers the question: What is the meaning
of the phenomena to those who experience
it?
PHENOMENOLOGY
Example:
Sundin,
Norberg, and Jansson
(2001)
conducted
a
phenomenological study
to illuminate the lived
experiences
of
care
providers
who
were
highly
skilled
communicators in their
relationship with patients
with stroke and aphasia.
MAJOR CLASSES OF
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
• ETHNOGRAPHY – provides a
framework for studying the meaning,
patterns, and experiences of a defined
cultural group in a holistic fashion.
– Ethnographers
typically engage in
fieldwork and often
participate to the
extent possible in the
life of the culture
under study
– Aim is to learn from
members of a
cultural group.
ETHNOGRAPHY
Example: Powers (2001) undertook an
ethnographic analysis of a nursing home
residence focusing on the ethical issues of daily
living affecting nursing home residents with
dementia.