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Qualitative research methodology health and social care
Critically analyse the qualitative research in nursing practice
Critically analyse the qualitative research in nursing practice
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Qualitative research aims to comprehend the meaning of human action and investigates phenomenon as it occurs in its natural context through subjective means of inquiry (Carter & Little, 2001 & Hoft, 2011). This paper sets out to identify four features of research as they apply to qualitative research: ontology, epistemology, methodology, and sampling, through the investigation of the article "The health-care environment on a locked psychiatric ward: An ethnographic study" (Johansson, Skarsater & Danielson, 2006).
Idealist ontology holds the belief that research knowledge is made up of subjective experiences obtained through observation that is consistently influenced by the researcher's interpretations (Giacomini, 2010). Qualitative research is intrinsically idealistic. In the study by Johansson, Skarsater, and Danielson (2006), the researchers utilized an ethnographic methodology which allowed the observer to view the phenomena "in the context in which it occurred" (p 243) in order to describe various aspects of the health-care environment in a locked psychiatric ward. In addition, the study acknowledges that findings were influenced by the researchers' interpretations and attempts to prevent this, as the study states, "the researcher tried to avoid becoming too familiar in order to minimize her influence on the course of events" (Johansson et al, 2006, p 245). With the idealist ontological view, the study acknowledges that information about the participants is gained through subjective observation, which is influenced by the researchers' presence and interpretation.
Interpretive epistemology, which stems from idealist ontology, asserts that the world is made up of ideas: about oneself, others, society, or nature (Giacomini, ...
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.... Premises, Principles, and Practices in Qualitative Research: Revisiting the
Foundations. Qualitative Health Research, 14 (7), 976-993.
Curtis, S., Gesler, W., Smith, G. and Washburn, S. (2000). Approaches to sampling and case selection in qualitative research: Examples in the geography of health. Social Science and Medicine, 50 (7), 1001-14.
Doyle, S. (2013). Reflexivity and the capacity to think. Qualitative health research, 23 (2), 248- 255. doi: 10.1177/1049732312467854
Giacomini, M. (2010). Theory matters in qualitative health research (chapter 7). In I. Bourgeault, R. Dingwall & R. de Vries. The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Methods in Health Research. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Hoff, T. J. (2011). Toward a culture of qualitative thinking in health services research. Medical care research and review: MCRR, 68 (1), 49-55. doi: 10.1177/1077558710383431
The Ottawa Model of Research Use (OMRU) offers a “comprehensive, interdisciplinary framework of elements that affect the process of health-care knowledge transfer, and is derived from theories of change, from the literature, and from a process of reflection” (Graham & Logan, 2004, p. 93). It promotes research use, and could be used by policymakers and researchers (Logan & Graham, 1998). The OMRU is an example of a planned change theory, which helps “administrators control factors that will influence the likelihood of changes occurring at the organizational level and how these changes occur” (Graham & Logan, 2004, p. 2).
A critical appraisal was completed to assess the value of the research study conducted by Batch & Windsor (2015). This was completed through the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP). The CASP tool is used to evaluate different research articles. I assessed that this article has benefit, particularly for the nursing profession. Nevertheless, sections of this article could have been further developed by expanding the topic through a greater variety of hospital settings and more diverse patient populations (add more). Ethnography in the healthcare setting has often been examined in the Nursing 1028 course. This article used an ethnographic framework assess elements such as culture, disparities and gain comprehension of how nurses communicate
Parse, R. R., Bournes, D. A., Barrett, E. A. M., Malinski, V. M., & Phillips, J. R. (1999). A better way: 10 things health professionals can do to move toward a more personal and meaningful system. On Call, 2 (8), 14-17.
Ryan, F., Couglan, M. & Cronin, P. (2007). Step-by-step guide to critiquing research. Part 2: qualitative research. British Journal of Nursing, 16(12), 738-744.
The approaches given by Pierce and Nagel to the epistemological questions of doubt and belief, though diverse in that they are strictly pragmatist and Cartesian, contain a similar underlying principle. They both serve to show that belief cannot come from any source that appeals to one’s feelings or purposes, experiences or impressions. Beliefs must arise from a non-personal means. Although this is a commonality between the two approaches in epistemology, they are greatly different arguments in their focuses. Pierce’s pragmatist approach surfaces along the lines of techniques people use to found their beliefs of reality, here assuming reality from the start, and using that as a foundation to delve into questions of the unknown. Nagel’s look at the Cartesian approach primarily doubts reality, and uses that as the grounds for the rest of his argument, asking how we can know anything beyond ourselves. These approaches lead to very different views on epistemology.
Reflexivity is a qualitative method of research that takes an ethnography one step further, displaying the personal thoughts and reflections of the anthropologist on his informants. Ethnographies generally take an outside or foreign perspective of a culture, like reading a text, and reflexivity introduces a new component of inside description. Here, the anthropologist may describe personal interactions and experiences with natives and use this inside information to make additional conclusions about the people being studied. The ethnographer may also reflect on his ethnic connections with his informants, or his acceptance into the society, explaining that it provides valuable, inside knowledge of the culture and ultimately leads to a greater understanding of the native people as a whole.
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that studies knowledge. It is mainly concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge. It attempts to answer the basic question of what distinguishes true or adequate knowledge from otherwise false or inadequate knowledge (Heylighen). The major branches of epistemological theory are rationalism, empiricism and mysticism. Rationalism implies that knowledge is obtained through reason and introspection. Ones ideas are justified by sense experience, but if the senses and intuition are in conflict, the sensory evidence must be discarded. In empiricism, knowledge is obtained through observation and experiment. Models and theories may be used to organize this sensory experience, but if theories contradict experience they are wrong. In mysticism, knowledge is obtained through faith, emotions or revelation but if observation or intuition contradict, the knowledge is thus deemed wrong (“Rationalism”). Doubt, as a Persian Proverb once said, is the key to knowledge. It is one of the influencing factors in the expansion of knowledge. A fact that is conside...
First of all, I demonstrate that epistemology is the study of all that encompasses knowledge. Furthermore, I support the traditional epistemological concept of justified true belief by arguing that this model is largely relied on in the expectations of current empirical data.
The unstructured interview approach, is an excellent way of creating multiple realities by giving the control of the interview over to the participants being interviewed and inviting them to tell their stories peaked by only an open-ended question. This method requires an environment in which the participants readily open up (Hill, 2001). To the credit of the current study, the interviewees did provide detailed accounts when interviewed. Additionally, as the stories are elicited by the participants own volition, they can cover a broad range of topics allows for unplanned comments and topics to come up that may have otherwise been left untouched in a more structured methodology (Kvale, 1983). However, because the responses are so gloriously open ended they are difficult to compare across different cases, and large amounts of irrelevant data must be sifted through in a time consuming manner. The benefit of qualitative phenomenological research is that while most scientific methods focus on what can be physically observed and quantitatively measured, this leaves a gapping hole in our ability to evaluate the human condition as most of what we do is determined by unseen forces in our psyches (Kvale, 1983). Therefore, open-ended phenomenology allows researchers to break the restrictive mold and attempt to discover insights into lived experience that would normally remain invisible to more traditional scientific study (Dale,
Qualitative research is an approach that attempts to situate an activity that locates the observer in the world by providing the study to occur in their natural setting and by attempting to make sense of, or interpret information (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005). A characteristic of qualitative research is to use a variety of empirical materials such as personal experience, interviews, and questionnaires. It is imperative to understand the task at hand and how to fully carry out the study when using a qualitative research approach in order to find out the information needed. One view of qualitative research is it involves examining individual’s experiences and documenting those experiences in detail (Jones, 2011). By documenting these observations the researcher is ensuring validity in his or her data and giving the correct creditability to those who participated in the study.
Most wonder if the moment they are currently living in is the beginning, middle, or end of their existence. Did we live a previous life in another time or another place? What awaits us in the afterlife, or is there an after life at all? If our spirit can be held in the physical world, what allows that? There is an abundance of studies that suggest there is an after life that awaits us, but with what proof? Some of these sources that we read aren’t credible, yet we’re more prone to believing it. Will we all find the answer when we die? Can we find the answer while we still live? Philosophers or not, we all know that our life will one day cease to exist and every individual will one day meet their death. Truth is, most of us don 't even know what life is. We are brought into this world, we live it, we reproduce in our best years and then our bodies slowly deteriorate. We call this last phase our death, but do
Marshall, C, Rossman, Gretchen B, (2006). Designing qualitative research, 4th edition, Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.
Stejskal, S.M. (2010) Quatiative and Qualitative Research Methods are not and should not be Mutually Exclusive, Grinn Verlag.
Chapter four and five in Creswell (2013) helped me realize how important it is to focus on one type of qualitative research. This leads to writing a coherent paper in the approach chosen. It was also interesting to learn that because subjective and objective experiences, phenomenology lies somewhere in between both qualitative and quantitative research.
First a person must decide and realize where their beliefs lie. Also it is important to understand what both Ontology and Epistemology mean. According to Hatch (2013), ontology is defined as a “branch of philosophy that studies assumptions about existence and definitions of reality” (p.11). While this quote allows one to know the definition of ontology, it does not delve