Labrada, Arvin Y. BSN Nursing Research I Introduction To Qualitative Research What Is Qualitative Research?

Labrada, Arvin Y.
BSN
Nursing Research I
Chapter 4
INTRODUCTION TO QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
What is Qualitative Research?

● Seeks to answer difficult “why” questions
● Explanatory and descriptive
● Often used when just beginning to understand a phenomenon or if a new perspective is
needed
● Phenomena studied in naturalistic settings
● Attempts to interpret phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them
● Used when attempting to understand the nature of a phenomenon
Naturalistic Settings
● The setting that people live in daily
● Important because qualitative researchers consider the context to be very important in
understanding a phenomenon
Beliefs of Qualitative Researchers

● There are multiple realities
● There are similarities and differences in every person’s experience
● Reality is socially constructed and context dependent
● Meaning of an observation is defined by its circumstance or context
Research Paradigms
Review of the literature
- Similar to quantitative reports but usually there is less published literature available
- May need to review studies with related or similar subjects, populations or concepts
- May wait to do the literature review until after study, but still need a basic review for
justification
Components of a Qualitative Research Report

● Explanation of the study design
- Should be congruent with the philosophy of the qualitative researcher
- May use a particular qualitative method or may follow the general tenets of
qualitative research
● Description of the sample

- Usually a purposive sample (not random) because the researcher is looking for the
particular person who can elucidate the phenomena being studied
- Inclusion and exclusion criteria - description of what characteristics a person must
have to be selected or excluded from the study
- Sample size is determined when data saturation occurs, that is, when information
being shared with the researcher becomes repetitive
● Data collection
- The data are usually words, either an interview or a description
- Describes the steps from when the participant contacted the researcher until the
end of the study
● Description of the setting

- There may be descriptions of two settings: the place where recruitment occurred
and the place where data collection occurred
- The setting is a rich source of data in qualitative research
● Data collection
- Contains details about how long the researcher spent collecting data
- Description of how the researcher decided that data saturation had been reached
- The kinds of questions that were asked
● Data analysis
- How raw data were handled, usually transcripts of taped interviews
- Goal is to find commonalities and differences and then group these into broader
categories that capture the phenomena
● Findings
- Usually describe a process, a set of conditions, or a description of an experience
- Themes are identified and the process used to distinguish themes is described
- Quotes are used to support themes
● Conclusions
- Summarization of results
- Similarities and differences with existing literature
- New findings or conceptual conclusions
- Suggest how to use the findings in practice or future research
How Can Nurses Use Qualitative Evidence?

● To understand experiences of patients
● To assess the patient's status or progress
● To understand the range of responses from patients
● To provide anticipatory guidance
● To provide information helpful for coaching patients
● To improve communication between nurses and patients
Qualitative Research
- Does NOt test interventions
- Seeks to understand the patient’s experience
- May provide information necessary to pursue quantitative studies
- May be used for theory development or extension
Summary
Qualitative research:
- Seeks to understand a phenomena
- Considers context as very important
- Uses purposive samples
- Collects data until saturation occurs
- Usually describes a process, a set of conditions, or an experience
- Identifies themes
Chapter 5
QUALITATIVE APPROACHES TO RESEARCH
- Researchers do not control for variables

- Data are collected in “naturalistic” settings
- Goal is to understand the phenomenon as those participants who are immersed in the
experience
IMPORTANT: FINDINGS ARE NOT GENERALIZED OUTSIDE OF THE STUDY AS
IS DONE WITH QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH!
- Sample size is smaller than for quantitative studies
Qualitative Research
Data collection methods:
- Interviews, observation, text, open-ended questionnaires
Data analysis:
- Description, coding, interpretation
- Themes and patterns
- Computer software programs
4 Methods:
- Phenomenology
- Grounded Theory
- Ethnography
- Historical
Phenomenological
Purpose: Answers questions of meaning; describes an experience
Identifying the Phenomenon:
- Found in everyday life
- Intersubjectivity
Research Question: “Lived experience”
Sample Selection:
- Purposive
Data Gathering:
- Audio-taped and transcribed verbatim
- Open-ended questions
- No leading questions
- Saturation
Analysis
- Dwell with the data; read and re-read the data
- Identify relationships among statements
Describing the Findings

- Exhaustive description of the phenomenon
Grounded Theory
From sociology; study social processes and human interactions
Purpose: develop a theory; conceptual framework
Research Question is refined as data is collected and analyzed; original question only lends a
focus to the study
Researcher’s Perspective: Minimal literature review
Sample Selection: Participants who are involved in a social process
Data Gathering/ Analysis: Occurs simultaneously; Constant comparative method
Describing the Findings
- Core variable
- Emerging theory
Ethnographic Theory
Identifying the Phenomenon
Research Question: R/T patterns of behavior within a social cultural context
Researcher’s Perspective: Interpreter; participant in the culture; set aside personal values
Sample Selection: People living the phenomenon being investigated; key informants
Data Gathering/ Analysis: Simultaneously; Cyclic; Fieldwork; Face-to-Face interviews; cultural
immersion
Describing the Findings: Finding similarities; interpreting the cultural group
Historical
Purpose:
- Not to predict
- To understand the past in order to explain the present or future
- To derive insight from past lived experiences so new ideas can be generated
Data Sources: Private letters, personal and professional journals, books, magazines
Data Collection: Takes months to years
Present mindedness:
- Using a contemporary perspective when analyzing data collected from an earlier period
-> inaccurate conclusions
- Researchers must study each period within the context of its age to avoid judging or
interpreting the past without respect to changes made over time
Standards - Qualitative Research
● Ethics
- As with all studies, qualitative researchers must respect the rights of participants
by having the study approved by an IRB.
● Credibility
- Truth of findings as judged by participants and others within the discipline
- The researcher returns to the participants to share their interpretation of findings
● Auditability
- Adequacy of information leading the reader from the research question and raw
data to the interpretation of findings
- You should be able to follow the reasoning of the researcher step-by-step
● Fittingness
- Faithfulness to everyday reality of the participants, described in enough detail so
that otters in the future discipline can evaluate importance
- Experience being reported should “ring true”

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Labrada, Arvin Y.

What is Qualitative Research?

Beliefs of Qualitative Researchers

Components of a Qualitative Research Report

● Description of the sample

● Description of the setting

How Can Nurses Use Qualitative Evidence?

- Researchers do not control for variables

Describing the Findings

Standards - Qualitative Research

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