Qualitative And Mixed Methods Research Designs

Imagine that you work in a clinic that has recently implemented a new program to support the family members of patients with brain injuries. You have been tasked with determining the success of the new program. What are your options? You could create a brief questionnaire for family members, or possibly have semi-structured interviews. How would your techniques differ if you were researching patient experiences with wait time in an emergency room setting? Reflect on how the particular circumstances of a research study dictate the most appropriate approach.

This week, you are introduced to qualitative and mixed method approaches to research design, including when to use these research designs to address specific PICOT questions. You also critique qualitative and mixed methods research studies for validity and reliability.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Evaluate appropriateness of qualitative research designs for research questions

• Analyze ethical issues in qualitative research studies

• Critique quantitative and qualitative or mixed methods research studies

Photo Credit: [AJ_Watt]/[iStock / Getty Images Plus]/Getty Images

Learning Resources

Note: To access this week's required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.

Required Readings

Polit, D. F., & Beck, C. T. (2017). Nursing research: Generating and assessing evidence for nursing practice (10th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.

• Chapter 21, "Qualitative Research Design and Approaches"

This chapter introduces qualitative research designs. It provides an overview of the different types of qualitative research and then describes each one in greater detail, outlining how and when they should be used.

Houghton, C. E., Casey, D., Shaw, D., & Murphy, K. (2010). Ethical challenges in qualitative research: Examples from practice. Nurse Researcher, 18(1), 15-25.

Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

This article explores ethical challenges associated with qualitative research. Specifically, the authors examine the challenges of informed consent procedures, the researcher-participant relationship, risk-benefit ratio, confidentiality, and the dual role of the nurse-researcher.
Pringle, J., Hendry, C., &McLafferty, E. (2011). Phenomenological approaches: Challenges and choices. Nurse Researcher, 18(2), 7-18.
Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

Media

Laureate Education (Producer). (2012l). Qualitative and mixed methods research designs. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 8 minutes.

This video features Dr. Kristen Mauk's overview of how she applied qualitative research designs and methods to her doctoral dissertation work. Dr. Mauk explains the advantages of qualitative research as well as strategies for increasing credibility when conducting qualitative or mixed methods research.

Accessible player

Discussion: Qualitative Research Designs

For the past 2 weeks, you have focused on the features and considerations of quantitative research designs. However, quantitative designs are not appropriate for all research questions. Perhaps you are concerned with how patients react when confronted with negative test results, or you wish to study how views on a certain health topic change over time. In each of these cases, the emphasis is more on understanding the thinking and experiences of an individual or group than on numerical measurements. For these types of questions, a qualitative or mixed methods research design is the most appropriate.

For this Discussion, you focus on the different types of qualitative research designs, when they are used, and why they are important.

To prepare:

• Reflect on the comments made by Dr. Mauk in this week's media presentation on the value of qualitative research in nursing.

• Locate the journal Qualitative Health Research in the Sage Premier database in the Walden Library.

• From this journal, select an article of interest to you that was published within the last 3 years.

• Review the information on different qualitative research designs in Chapter 21 of your course text.

• Determine what qualitative research design was used in your selected article and evaluate whether it was the best choice.

• Consider ethical issues involved in the study and how the researchers addressed them.

• Think about how using a quantitative design would have affected the type of data gathered.

Post an APA citation for the article that you selected and provide a brief summary of the content and the qualitative research design used. Evaluate the appropriateness of the design, and explain how ethical issues in the study were addressed. Analyze how the study would have been different if a quantitative design had been used.