Evidence Based Nursing Research: A Critical Analysis of Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

Running head: EVIDENCE BASED NURSING RESERACH
EVIDENCE BASED NURSING RESERACH
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

1EVIDENCE BASED NURSING RESERACH
Written critical analysis
Introduction to the topic
This report is has been prepared in context of a debate on "avoiding the use of the opioids
for chronic pain would improve patient safety". Each of the participants were allowed to speak
for or against the topic. On the other hand, the second part of the assignment consists of a critical
analysis of the different research approaches used in answering the particular clinical issue. The
main aim of the second part of the assignment is to critically analyze both the qualitative and the
quantitative approaches used in this research. This paper would finally inform how the
alternative arguments have influenced my thinking process.
Compare and contrast quantitative and qualitative approaches
Research can be considered as an academic activity that is mainly done in order to
answer an issue. Research refers to defining and redefining of the questions, formulation of the
suggested solution or hypothesis, collection, organization and evaluation of the data and finally
reaching a conclusion based upon the findings of the research (Allwood, 2012). Research forms
the base of medical science and has been classified in to several types based on the better
understanding of the different concepts. One of the most important types of researches are
qualitative or quantitative research methods. It is mostly applied to the incidents that has to be
expressed quantitatively. The qualitative research on the other hand is applicable to phenomenon
that is determined by its quality (Allwood, 2012). For example motivation research is an
essential qualitative research that is based on in depth interviews. This kind of researches mainly

2EVIDENCE BASED NURSING RESERACH
aims to understand the underlying motives or the designs using face to face interviews. Some of
the other methods of such researches are word association test , sentence completion tests and
story completion test. Qualitative researches are of special importance in behavioral science,
understanding the underlying human behaviors (Yilmaz, 2013). Qualitative research method is a
process of enquiry that helps to develop an understanding of human and social sciences. It is
holistic in nature unlike the quantitative research and is subjective; the perception of the
participants might differ from the thought process of the researcher or the actual truth. The
qualitative research type is exploratory and inductive unlike the qualitative researches where the
research type is conclusive and the reasoning type is deductive. The sampling method used in a
qualitative research is purposive, whereas in case of quantitative method random sampling is
used (Choy, 2014). Most of the data obtained in quantitative research is measurable. Since
qualitative data analysis is mainly done on the basis of the interviews, the data is collected
verbally. The methods used in qualitative studies are non-structured techniques, in depth
interviews and group discussions, whereas quantitative studies use surveys, questionnaires and
observations (Choy, 2014).
The results obtained in a qualitative research helps to develop an initial understanding.
Whereas the results of a quantitative research are straightforward and recommends a final course
of action.
Importance of qualitative and quantitative researches surrounding this practice issue
Some of the importance of the quantitative research is that the statistics can be used to
generalize the findings and reducing and restructuring complex problems to a limited number of
variables. Since the topic is based on the use of opioids in treating chronic pain. Randomized