Planning for Data Collection

Data collection is an important part of both quantitative and qualitative research. Although the actual approach to gathering information may vary, for either research design, researchers need to plan in advance how the data will be gathered, reported, and stored, and they need to ensure that their methods are both reliable and valid.

As nurses review research when considering a new evidence-based practice, it is important to be familiar with sound collection practices in order to ascertain the credibility of the data presented.

Consider the following scenario:

Nurses and other health care professionals are often interested in assessing patient satisfaction with health care services. Imagine that you are a nurse working in a suburban primary care setting that serves 10,000 patients annually. Your organization is very interested in understanding the patient's point of view to help determine areas of care that can be improved.

With this focus in mind, consider how you would create a survey to assess patient satisfaction with the services your organization provides. You may wish to consider variables such as the ease of accessing care, patient wait time, friendliness of the staff, or the likelihood that a patient would recommend your organization to others.

For this Discussion, you generate questions and an overall plan for data collection that would be appropriate for a patient satisfaction survey in relation to the above scenario.

To prepare:

Consider the guidelines for generating questions presented in this week's Learning Resources.

Review the scenario and formulate at least five questions that you could use to evaluate patient satisfaction.

Reflect on the different methods or instruments that can be used for gathering data described in Chapter 13 and Chapter 22 of the course text.

Which methods or instruments would work well for the scenario?

Determine an appropriate sample size for the scenario.

Post the questions that you created for gathering information about patient satisfaction based on the above scenario. Explain which method or instrument you would use to gather data.

Describe the sample size appropriate for the population and how you would select participants. Provide a rationale for your choices, and explain how you can ensure high standard of reliability and validity.