Module 4 Discussion: Differentiating between Qualitative and Quantitative

Module 4 Discussion: Differentiating between Qualitative and Quantitative

D4R

• You should respond to at least two of your peers by extending, refuting/correcting, or adding additional nuance to their posts.
• All replies must be constructive and use literature where possible cited in current APA style with support from at least 1 academic sources for each response. Module 4 Discussion: Differentiating between Qualitative and Quantitative

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RESPONSE 1 (grace)

Module 4 Discussion: Differentiating between Qualitative and Quantitative

Nursing research is defined as enhanced trustworthy evidence derived from a systematic process related to issues of the nursing profession such as application, education, administration, and informatics (Nieswiadomy & Bailey, 2018). Evidenced-based practice (EBP) is rooted in understanding the foundation of nursing research which is an essential tool in clinical settings.  As a healthcare professional, gaining knowledge about nursing research and how it is conducted is valuable. Research studies help prepare nurses to deliver an outstanding quality of care, combat diseases, and promote healthy practices. In this assignment, the readers will gain insights into the difference between qualitative and quantitative research design.

Qualitative Research Design

Qualitative research focuses on an in-depth description of phenomena in a natural setting. It concerns the subjective meaning of an individual’s perception of experiences. Qualitative research outlines the observation and extensive details of the subject on how the person shaped his beliefs and behaviors (Lobiondo-Wood & Haber, 2018). In addition, instead of numerical measurements to define the meaning, qualitative research utilizes words and various themes to present the events. Qualitative descriptions in nursing are widely used in assessing the patient and planning the best interventions possible to achieve high-quality patient care (Lobiondo-Wood & Haber, 2018). Three methodologies are frequently used in conducting qualitative research. These are in-depth interviews, focus group discussions (FGD), and observations (Nieswiadomy & Bailey, 2018). An in-depth interview is a semi-structured one-to-one conversation between the researcher and the subject.Module 4 Discussion: Differentiating between Qualitative and Quantitative.  During an interview, open-ended questions are used to unfold more information related to the topic. The dialogue may be recorded and transcribed immediately to note the expressions and body language. In addition, the interviewer must be highly skilled, sensitive, empathic, and able to effectively communicate to establish rapport with the other individual (Nieswiadomy & Bailey, 2018). FGD, on the other hand, is a collective group of participants sharing their perceptions, ideas, beliefs, and behavior toward the topic. It aims to explore the different opinions of everyone. A successful FGD should have a neutral and skilled moderator to ensure that every opinion expressed matters and that all participants are engaged in the discussion (Nieswiadomy & Bailey, 2018). Lastly is the observation qualitative research method, in which researchers collect data by observing people’s behavior or events in their natural setting. Observers must be proficient and possess unbiased insight in data collection. This method is mostly utilized if respondents are unwilling to provide data through questionnaires or interviews (Nieswiadomy & Bailey, 2018). Qualitative research has its own strengths and weaknesses. For the most part of the research, qualitative is a valuable tool in cultivating the topic being studied that cannot be explained quantitatively. One of its strengths is the opportunity to provide an in-depth rationale behind the phenomenon. It also provides a better explanation or clarity to the questions, and importantly it can capture the cognitive and affective aspects of the subject (Lobiondo-Wood & Haber, 2018). However, this type of research can be expensive and time-consuming. The massive amount of data collected could create an inconclusive result in which the findings cannot be applied to the general population. Another weakness is that it requires highly skilled researchers that can manage accurate and reliable information (Lobiondo-Wood & Haber, 2018).

An example of qualitative research is the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) study focusing on medication error prevention (Rishoej et al., 2018). The primary purpose of the study is to explore various strategic efforts on how to minimize medication errors for the safety of the neonatal population. The researchers were able to gather valuable in-depth data through the opinions of nurses and physicians regarding the possible solutions to the alarming issue of NICU (Rishoej et al., 2018). Nurses and physicians who worked in NICU have appropriately recruited subjects to provide comprehensive information to achieve the aim of the research (Rishoej et al., 2018). The volunteers know more about dealing with medication errors based on their actual experiences in the NICU area. In terms of the data collection method, FGD was utilized. The interview was semi-structured with unbiased and open-ended questions, which is appropriate to the goal of the study. In addition, once data were gathered, the researcher used coding analysis to scrutinize the results by categorizing them into three different appropriate categories for the subject matter (Rishoej et al., 2018).

Quantitative Research Design

The research design that investigates a phenomenon by a numeric data presentation is called quantitative research. This type of research is concerned with objectivity and tight controls, which will be examined through mathematical, statistical, and computation techniques to attain its goal (Lobiondo-Wood & Haber, 2018). The utilization of quantitative design of research in healthcare is keeping track of the number of disease cases, the mortality rate of specific illnesses or testing the effectiveness of an intervention. Quantitative has two types of research design such as observational and interventional designs. Observational is applied to assess the cause and effect of the issue without acting or influencing the variables (Thiese, 2014). Module 4 Discussion: Differentiating between Qualitative and Quantitative

An example of quantitative, research study is similar in medication error in a quantitative manner. The purpose and design of this study is to evaluate the barriers related to medication error with the following attributes: socio-demographic, organizational, and attitude factors (Jember et al., 2018). The study developed by the researchers is the stratified sampling method then the simple random sampling technique with a lottery method. The sample size initially was 668 nurses working at three federal level hospitals who have six months work experience (Jember et al., 2018). After the stratified method was utilized, only 423 (63%) was left for the actual subjects being studied. Once the participants were established, the data were then collected using the sets of questions that are structured and self-administered. Prior to the distribution of questionnaire, a pilot study was conducted to validate the materials utilized (Jember et al., 2018).

In summary, qualitative research design is used as a vital component to understand better the depths of human experiences, beliefs, and opinions. In the field of healthcare, qualitative design is utilized in a thorough assessment of the patient to enhance the delivery of care. On the other hand, quantitative is significant and useful measurement allowing scientists to see patterns among the data for understanding of the quantitative study.

RESPOSE 2 (Sanna-Kay)

What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative research methods? Give an example of each.

There are two common methods for conducting research in the disciplines of business, science and technology, economics, and other areas of study. The first is qualitative study, and the second is quantitative. Qualitative and quantitative research strategies have long been treated as opposing paradigms. Qualitative research depends on written and verbal material, while quantitative research uses statistical and logical findings to reach a conclusion (Ahmad et al., 2019). To further simplify, qualitative research uses the language associated with the given data sets to convey itself, as opposed to quantitative research, which is typically articulated in numbers or shown by graphs (Ahmad et al., 2019). Both types of research are important because they are used to convey results in different ways. For example, quantitative research is helpful in gaining an understanding of the underlying opinions, motivations, and reasons. It gives insights into the problems and can help develop ideas and hypotheses. In contrast, qualitative research offers a deeper understanding of the issue and helps identify trends, ideas, and perspectives. Module 4 Discussion: Differentiating between Qualitative and Quantitative

Qualitative research is a type of study used to understand human behavior, intentions, attitudes, and experience based on the observation and interpretation of people (Ahmad et al., 2019). The different types of qualitative research are case study, ethnographic method, phenomenological method, narrative model, historical model, and grounded theory method (Aspers et al., 2019). Examples of qualitative data are taste, smell, and color. On the other hand, the quantitative research method relies on the methods of natural sciences, which develop hard facts and numerical data (Aspers et al., 2019). It establishes the cause-and-effect link between two variables by utilizing various statistical, computational, and statistical techniques. The four different types of quantitative research are descriptive research, experimental research, quasi-experimental research, and correlational research. Examples of quantitative data are age, salary, height, and shoe size (Aspers et al., 2019).

The difference between the two can be seen in the definitions alone. Qualitative research employs a subjective approach, and results are generally expressed using words. However, qualitative research employs an objective approach, and results are expressed using graphs and numbers (Aspers et al., 2019). They also differ in their data-collecting methods. Most qualitative research is conducted in naturalistic settings because qualitative researchers assume that we can only understand these things if we consider the context of their occurrence. Qualitative data collection methods involve interviews, focus groups, a literature review, and even ethnography, while quantitative data collection methods involve surveys, experiments, and observations presented as numbers (Ahmad et al., 2019). Furthermore, qualitative research aims to interact with and learn different viewpoints, while quantitative research aims to evaluate the relationship between the variables’ causes and effects (Ahmad et al., 2019). In conclusion, Qualitative researchers seek to understand the lived experience of the research participants. For instance, qualitative inquiry is often used for exploratory questions, such as how? Why? How do breast cancer survivors adapt to their post-mastectomy bodies? While quantitative research seeks explanation or causation. It aims to be more conclusive and pertain to larger populations, answering questions such as What? When? Where? For instance, when should women have their first mammogram? Module 4 Discussion: Differentiating between Qualitative and Quantitative