NURS 8200 Week 10: Qualitative Methods: Collecting, Analyzing, and Interpreting Essay Assignment Paper
NURS 8200/NURS 8200F/NURS 8200M/NURS 8200C/NURS 8200A Week 10: Qualitative Methods: Collecting, Analyzing, and Interpreting Essay Assignment Paper
Consider the process of interviewing prospective candidates for a job position. The interviewer should have a good understanding of the job position—its duties, requirements, and dynamics. From that understanding, the interviewer can develop a strategy for questioning the candidates to determine their attributes, skills, and knowledge that are applicable to the job position. After the interviews have been conducted, the interviewer reviews his/her notes on each candidate, compares the candidates’ strengths and weaknesses, and finally makes a decision regarding who to hire.
You can consider this process as a form of qualitative research; the interviewer acts as the researcher and tries to answer the research question (“Who should I hire?”) by gathering descriptive data on the research subjects (the prospective candidates), analyzing that data, and drawing a conclusion (deciding who to hire). Just as an interviewer develops a strategy for gathering information about candidates and then making a hiring decision based on that information, qualitative researchers also formulate data collection tactics and employ strategic methods of analyzing the data after they have been collected.
This week, you delve into the methods of qualitative data collection, analysis, and interpretation. You consider how the various methods of data collection promote rigor and credibility in qualitative research studies. You also have the opportunity to apply the strategies of coding and analyzing the data in your classmates’ Introduction posts in the Class Café.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
- Evaluate the rigor of qualitative research and methods therein
- Apply the techniques of coding and analyzing qualitative data
Discussion 1: 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.
Read a selection of your colleagues’ postings.
By Day 5
Respond to at least one of your colleagues, critiquing their research question and hypotheses and pointing out factors that may influence the strength of the correlation of the variables. Be sure to provide a rationale for your responses in one or more of the following ways:
- Ask a probing question, substantiated with additional background information, evidence, or research.
- Share an insight from having read your colleagues’ postings, synthesizing the information to provide new perspectives.
- Offer and support an alternative perspective using readings from the classroom or from your own research in the Walden Library.
- Validate an idea with your own experience and additional research.
- Make a suggestion based on additional evidence drawn from readings or after synthesizing multiple postings.
- Expand on your colleagues’ postings by providing additional insights or contrasting perspectives based on readings and evidence.
Note: Please see the Course Syllabus and Discussion Posting and Response Rubric for formal Discussion question posting and response evaluation criteria.
Return to this Discussion in a few days to read the responses to your initial posting. Note what you learned and/or any insights you gained as a result of the comments made by your colleagues.
Be sure to support your work with specific citations from this week’s Learning Resources and any additional sources.
Post your responses to the Discussion based on the course requirements.
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NURS 8200 Week 10: Qualitative Methods: Collecting, Analyzing, and Interpreting Essay Assignment Paper
