Research W7 Flashcards
What is qualitative research
study of research questions about human experiences.
Conducted in natural settings. Not controlling or manipulating.
Uses data that are in words or texts instead of #’s to describe experience being studied.
What is the purpose of qualitative nursing methods?
Concept Development- develop concepts & ideas about the social world and how it works.
Theory Building - Hypothesis generation
Guide Practice - personal stories
What are the assumptions of qualitative research?
- Multiple realities that are socially constructed by humans. No single objective reality ( no bias, no such truth exisits)
- Socially constructed realitites are derived from the persons continous , ongoing interaction with their enviroment.
What are the “common features” in qualitative research methods?
- Flexible
- Data Collection Procedures
- Variables
- No control of I.V.
- Naturalistic Setting
- Interviews, direct observation, artifacts, documents, cultural records.
- Bracketing
- Self reflection
- Makes own beliefs explicit
What is orientational qualitative inquiry? What are the different types?
An ideology directs the inquiry & research process.
Types:
FEMINIST: focus on sex gender
QUEER THEORY: also sex & gender, LGBTIQ
CRITICAL THEORY: focus on power and justice issues
POSTCOLONIAL: Focus on power and justice thru lens of legacy of the colonization of aboriginal indigenous ppls.
Research traditions come from what 3 disciplines?
Anthropology
Psychology
Sociology
What does Phenomenolgy look at in terms of research?
Asks:
what is the essence of the phenom & what it means
What does it mean to exist/be?
(time & place)
Investigates:
subjective phenom. beliving that crutial truths about reality are in ppls everyday lived experiences.
Goal: understand meanings - decipher lived experience
What does Phenomenolgy look at in terms of Data Sources ?
In depth conversations of a sampleof 10 ppl -audio taped
Written communication -respondant journaling i.e. pain journal
Answers questions like:
What is experience/ meaning of pain, grief, restlessness, bedrest…?
Trys to understand a human phenomenon, experience or condition
What does Phenomenolgy look at in terms of Data Making ?
” Bracketing” puts aside prior knowledge & experience inorder to understand the phenom percieved by the participate by:
- Making them expicit
- Recording- journals, field notes, memos.
- Reflecting
Follows the conversation of the participants so the conversation & questions flow naturally.
What does Ethnography look at in terms of research?
Based on theory of culture
Developed by Anthropologists
Goal: understand culture/ “thick desription”
What are the assumptions of qualitative research?
Cultural beliefs, norms, values, behaviours are learned.
Maybe overt /known /tacit
Culture guides the way we see the world.
Context important
Answers questions about: values beliefs, & practices of a culture group. i.e. what is going on in this group? what is the social construction of a health or illness experience?
Define Macroethnography and Microethnography
Macroethnography: a community or village
Microethnography: smaller unit of community i.e. homeless shelter, unit of a hospital
What does Ethnography look at in terms of “Data Sources” ?
Cultural Behaviour: what members do Cultural Artifacts: What they make and use Cultural Speech: What they say * Participate observation * Field notes * 1:1 / focus groups(25-50) * Policies * Photo/ video/art *Organizational charts , sociograms, maps, schedules etc.
What does Ethnography look at in terms of “Data Making” ?
Enthongraphers try to:
Gain entry into a group but still an outsider
Participant in social life of the group (mths-yrs)
Trys to attain some level of intimacy with the group
Keep extensive notes of what was observed and learned about aspects of the culture and recorded interviews with KEY INFORMENTS
What is Gounded Theory?
” A general methodology for developing theory that is grounded in data. Theory evolves during actual research and it does this thru continous interplay b/w sampling and data collection and analysis”
Based on symbolic interactionism
Study of social interactions
Context important-b/c social interactions based on meanings that are embedded in context.
What kinds of questions are asked in grounded theory?
Asks a process of questions about changing experience over time or its stages/phases such as:
What is the process of making a decision to stay on bed rest?
What influences PSW to use knowledge about person centered care as a basis of their practice?
What does Grounded Theory look at in terms of “Data Sources” ?
Interviews ( audio taped/ transcribed verbatium 25-50 informants).
Participant Observation
Existing documents
Conversation, impression, ideas recorded in diaries & field notes
What does Grounded Theory look at in terms of “Data Making” ?
Data Collecting & Sampling occur simultaneously ( constant back & forth b/w phases).
Collaboration
*participant has the “insider” view
- Researcher is the “outsider” bringing research knowledge
- Degree & nature of collaboration varies from simple, periodic, to indepth continous.
Interviews & Observations collected prospectivly or retrospectivly about what happened and changes that evolved.
Define population in qualitative and quantitiative sampling
Entire set of indiviuals ( aka elements or sampling unit) defined by the sampling criteria establised for the study
Define Sample Criteria
The descriptors used for deciding who from the population is eligable and not eligable
Its used to select the sample
List some of the population descriptors that are determined by the researcher
gender age marital status education health status diagnoses co-morbidities
What is a Sampling Frame?
A list of every member of the target population defined by the sampling criteria established for the study
What is Sampling?
The process of selecting:
A portion of subset of the population to represent the entire population as the study sample.
Representitive units (people) of a population for a study in research
What is a Study Sample?
A portion of a population that gets into a study and represents the population to which the researcher generalizes his/ her study results
Define Stratum
Stratum is a subset of a population defined along some characteristic such as, age ( e.g. RN/RPN, Rural/urban, teaching/ non-teaching)
Define Elements
Elements are indiviual units of a population e.g. a person….also called sampling units, participants, respondants etc.
What is Sampling Bias?
Characteristics of a sample that may lead to erroneous conclusions i.e. mixing up interviewing stats. RN’s = 72% RPN’s = 28% but it got recorded as RN’S = 28% and RPN’s =72% i
List 2 sampling strategies
Probability and Non-Probability
Define Probability
Probability is the likelyhood that something is going to happen
Everyday use: the extent in which something is likely to happen
Research use: the likelyhood that any member of the population will be selected to participte in a study
Refers to the process of how participants are selected from the population ( not how they are assigned to groups)
Probability = Random
Define “probability sampling”
List the common types
Process of randomly selecting elements/participants for inclusion in the study.
Simple Random-selected from samling frame at random so = chance of being selected
Systematic - every xth of an ordered list at fixed intervals are choosen.
Stratified - uses variables in population that are critical in representation of population to define strata (sub groups/ clusters)
What are the advantages and disadvantages of probability sampling?
Advantages: differences b/w sample and population due to chance; increased representative.
Disadvantage: may not be able to get all names, time concuming.
Define Non-Probability
Every member/element of the population does not have = chance of being selected for hte study
List/define the different types of Non-Probability sampling strategies
Convenience: participants in the right place at the right time. ( most common , less expensive)
Quota Sampling: stratified random sampling but not random
identify the stratum.
Purposive: conscious selction of participants (hand picked) i.e ppl with rare disease, have knowledge about phenomenon
Snowballing: ask participates to identify others who meet eligibility criteria. good for hard to find ppl.
Matched Sample: (matching): pair subjects on some extrenous variable so that end up with equivalent groups on that extrenous variable so that they could be compared on some other variable.
What things are considered for sample studies in quantitative studies?
Study Charactersistics: nature of investigation, data analysis tech,sub group analysis, #variables
Population Characteristics: homogenity ( fewer ppl. needed to obtaina homogenous sample)
Measurment Issues: expected effect size ( strength of relationship b/w variables) & power analysis very important
Practical Issues: resources (time & $)
What are some” rules of thumb:” to determine if sample size is large enough in quantitative research?
less than 30 is usually consisdered small
Count the # of independant variables in the study
Look for 5 ( at least) to 10 participants per independant variable ( e.g. 5 variables sample 25 to 50 close to 50 is better)
What are some sample size considerations in qualitative studies?
Cannot predict exact sample size b/f start of study.
Sample size is guided by:
1. Quality of the information obtained
- Informational saturation of data
- Type of qualitative method
