Urgent 350 words

Sampling and Data Collection Plan

Member B

November 24 2014

QNT/561

Jesus Cardenas

Sampling and Data Collection Plan

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Senior management of First Physicians had observed that the clinic wait times is above the standard average, and it is concerned with how this situation will further affect the customer satisfaction scores and most importantly, their loyalty. To further understand why the clinic has long wait times and draw a conclusion for improvements, a survey in needed.

Research question: How long the patients are willing to wait to see their doctor’s?

a) The clinic is serving over 10,000 households with family members of various ages, ranging from 0 years to 99.

b) The population is too large to survey all of them; therefore the clinic will focus on surveying the working adults, with ages between 30 and 55. This population was chosen because they are working individuals, and carry health insurance through their employees. They are visiting the doctors for yearly physicals, routine follow-up visits and emergencies.

c) Sampling will be done through survey, the clinic schedule will be pulled for a week in advance of the appointments and patients that will fit in the target population will be approached at the check in window, and will be asked a few questions about their expectations.

Survey Questionnaire

1. Was an appointment available with us at the time of your call? (yes, no, n/a)

2. How long are you willing to wait to be seen for an urgent matter? (1, hour, 1 day, a week,)

How long for a non-urgent matter? (1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month)

3. If an appointment was not offered at the time of your call, would you visit an urgent clinic? (yes, no, n/a)

4. How long are you willing to wait in a clinic to be “worked-in”? (between 1-3 hours, longer, n/a)

5. Would you recommend your physician to your friends and family members? (yes, no, n/a)

d) The sample size is comprised of 385 of observations, all the patients that are scheduled to visit the clinic in a week period of time, and are representing the target, as described above. See calculations in the appendix.

e) The method of random sampling that will be used is stratified sampling. A stratum is a subset of the population that shares at least one common characteristic. Random sampling is then used to select a sufficient number of subjects from each stratum. "Sufficient" refers to a sample size large enough for us to be reasonably confident that the stratum represents the population.

Validity is the extent to which an instrument measures what it is supposed to measure and performs as it is designed to perform. As a process, validation involves collecting and analyzing data to assess the accuracy of an instrument. How validity will be achieved? For Quantitative studies: measurements, scores, instruments used, research design. Qualitative studies: member checking, triangulation, thick description, peer reviews, external audits.

Reliability will be achieved as follows: for Quantitative studies by Assumption of repeatability, and for Qualitative studies -Reframe as dependability and confirmability.

Human subjects will not be protected, as the information’s collected are not confidential in nature and the patients are willingly and openly responding to the survey. No personal data will be attached to any survey, and patient’s responses will remain anonymous.

The data will be physically collected in the clinic, as the patients check in for their appointments, they will be presented with the survey. They will be advised that their responses are used to improve the outcomes of the clinic, and they are invited to provide their feedback, only if they would like to do so.

Once completed, each survey will be placed in a confidential folder until the end of the business day, at the check-in window. This procedure will ensure that the employee will approach each patient and the survey will be offered to all the targeted participants. At the end of the day, the confidential folder containing the surveys will make its way to the office manager, and will be locked in a file cabinet until all the survey responses are ready to be processed for analysis.

Appendix:

Calculation for the sample size assuming 95% confidence level, 0.5 standard deviation, and a margin of error of+/- 5%

((1.96)² x .5(.5)) / (.05)²


(3.8416 x .25) / .0025


.9604 / .0025


384.16


385 respondents are needed