Grounded Theory Appraisal

Article for appraisal

• Ostaszkiewicz, J, O`Connell, B & Dunning, T, 2014, 'Ethical challenges associated with providing continence care in residential aged care facilities: findings from a grounded theory study', The Australian and New Zealand continence journal, 20(4), pp. 179-186.

• Appraisal based on the CASP tool 10 questions to help you make sense of qualitative research

1. Was there a clear statement of the aims of the research? Yes

Its relevance and justification are provided. The authors of the study describe the goal of the research as ‘to develop a grounded theory to describe and explain how residents of Australian residential aged care facilities (RACFs) have their continence care needs determined, delivered and communicated’ (p. 180).

Despite the high prevalence of

179).

6. Has the relationship between researcher and participants been adequately considered? NO?

The authors adopted the interpretive qualitative methods – ‘entering the research participants’ worlds’ (Charmaz, 2014) (p. 33) to learn about their perspectives. However, the researchers didn’t attempt to critically examine their own role/relationship, thus leaving potential bias and influence unchecked. In the qualitative research method, the researchers’ personal beliefs and values may distort the result (Holloway and Wheeler, 2013), therefore, it is best to clarify this in the report (Lockwood, Munn & Porritt, 2015).

7. Have ethical issues been taken into consideration? Yes/No

The report didn’t contain enough information about how the ethical standards were upheld and/or about seeking approval from the ethics committee. It stated that ‘information sessions were convened…to ensure open disclosure about the study and organisational consent was provided for the researchers’ presence’ (p.