Qualitative Research In Nursing Practice

Which method of research provides the best evidence for nursing practice? Is there a place for both quantitative and qualitative research in evidence-based practice? How do these research methods improve patient outcomes?

Return to and reflect on your thoughts and postings from Week 1’s Discussion on the respective characteristics, strengths, and limitations of quantitative and qualitative research. Consider the uses of each type of research in the health care field. Also reflect on the amount of quantitative versus qualitative research that exists in the health care field in particular. There is an impression among some researchers that qualitative research is inferior to, easier than, or not as rigorous as quantitative research.

In this Discussion, you consider the idea of rigor, or thoroughness and scope of study, with regard to qualitative research. You examine the methods of qualitative research outlined and recommended in this week’s Learning Resources and how they aim to create standards of rigor by which to assess qualitative studies. You also have the opportunity to assess an article of your choice in terms of rigor and recommended methods of qualitative data collection.

To prepare:

• Consider your readings about and understanding of quantitative and qualitative research. If you had to choose, which type of research (quantitative or qualitative) do you think is more rigorous and why? Do you think it is useful to make such generalizations and comparisons?
• Locate an article describing a qualitative research study related to a health care topic.
• Formulate a research question to address the problem and that would lead you to employ correlational statistics.
• With information from the Learning Resources in mind, critically analyze your selected study. Ask yourself: How rigorous was the study in terms of the researchers’ efforts, the data collected, and the conclusions drawn? What might the researchers have done to improve the rigor?

By Day 3

Post a cohesive response that addresses the following:

• Do you think there is one type of research (quantitative or qualitative) that is inherently more rigorous than the other? If so, identify which one and why. If not, discuss your reasoning.
• Post a brief summary of your research article analysis and the correct APA citation for the article.
• Outline how the study’s qualitative data collection and analysis did, or did not, promote rigor, provide scientific or systematic scaffolding, and/or generate a more thorough analysis of the research topic.