QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Respond to two of your colleagues with a comment that asks for clarification, provides support for, or contributes additional information.
Qualitative research looks at a more in-depth response from participants. Gray and Grove (2021), point out that with qualitative research the researchers are looking at what was of value or what did the participants take away from the experience. Qualitative data is considered subjective information compared to objective quantitative data. One area that differs compared to quantitative studies is the rigor the study goes through. In qualitative studies, open-ended questions allow patterns to be identified. Based on the methodology of the study the researcher may alter questions in a focus group to align with the patterns the researcher is recognizing (Gray & Grove, 2021).
Time is another aspect that Gray and Grove (2021), mentioned with not only needing a relationship with the participants to be established but also the audit trail for qualitative studies. Interpretation of qualitative studies requires several procedures such as how are codes going to be created, whether is software going to be used, intercoder, and bias. The validity and reliability of qualitative studies are also different than that of qualitative studies (Gray & Grove, 2021).
Qualitative studies have different controls than quantitative studies, but I feel still contribute to nursing. Medication errors is a big topic within nursing since it can cause patient harm or death. Castaldo, et al. (2022), completed a qualitative study looking at the experience student nurses had during clinicals with medication errors. The aim of the study was to look at the different discouraging factors that the students felt to reporting medical errors. The data analysis stated that no software was used and that the interviews from the focus groups were transcribed word for word. Rigor is another section to show validity, credibility, and reliability. Castaldo, et al. (2022), stated how each author contributed to the rigor, and the triangulation they took to strengthen trustworthiness and validity. The results from the focus groups quoted what some of the students stated happened and why the medication errors were made (Castaldo, et al., 2022).
While quantitative studies have their own strengths with statistics there is also a weakness as I feel qualitative studies can give more in-depth answers as to what the participant was feeling at the time. An example with Castaldo, et al. (2022), is the participants were able to indicate what stresses they were feeling, what the distractions were, and what other factors may have contributed to the medication error that may not be able to be seen statistically with quantitative analysis.
References
Castaldo, A., Ferrentino, M., Ferrario, E., Papini, M., & Lusignani, M. (2022). Factors contributing to medication errors: A descriptive qualitative study of Italian nursing students. Nurse Education Today, 118, 105511. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2022.105511
Gray, J. R., & Grove, S. K. (2021). The practice of nursing research appraisal, synthesis, and generation of evidence (9th ed., pp. 75-100, 314-357). Elsevier.