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Associate Editor's Note: This is the first of a series of columns contributed by the ANNA Research Committee to assist nephrology nurses in understanding research approaches and methodologies and evaluating research.
As qualitative studies are presented and published with increasing frequency, nurses may be faced with the necessity of making critical judgments Mabout an unfamiliar research method (Burns, 1989). This column will provide a general introduction to qualitative methods, highlight key differences between qualitative and quantitative research, and explain various approaches to qualitative inquiries. Examples of how qualitative methods are being used in the field of nephrology nursing, as well as some considerations for critiquing a qualitative study will be provided. This article aims to foster more awareness of the multitude of research approaches in existence and the utility of qualitative methods in nephrology nursing research.
Historically, quantitative research methods have predominated nursing research literature. This comes as no surprise since the tradition of science itself is largely quantitative and these research approaches have been validated by their success in being able to measure, standardize, and replicate a wide range of observable events (Struebert Speziale & Carpenter, 2003). Consequently, the value of qualitative studies has often been overlooked in favor of quantitative studies, which are generally thought to be more objective and thorough. Yet, in the past few decades, qualitative research methods have been asserting themselves as sound alternatives in nursing research methodology (Heath, 1998). Qualitative methods, with their focus on investigation of human experiences from a holistic, indepth perspective are well suited to exploring the complex problems nurses encounter in practice. Further, in a discipline where theories are rarely undimensional, qualitative studies provide a valuable tool for generating and testing new hypotheses (Burns & Grove, 2008).
Qualitative and quantitative approaches to research are grounded in different paradigms, or belief systems, about the nature of reality that direct all decisions about the approach to a research question (Polit, Beck, & Hungler, 2001) (see Table 1). In simple terms, qualitative research is a "way of knowing" and learning about different experiences from the perspective of the individual. Unlike quantitative methods which assume that "truth" is objective and can be empirically revealed, qualitative research follows a naturalistic paradigm based on the notion that reality is not predetermined,...