Reasons for Choosing Qualitative Methods in Research

This article discusses the reasons why researchers may choose qualitative methods in their research. It provides an example of a qualitative paper that explores the perceptions and experiences of care providers in providing care for children with medical complexity. The article also highlights the flexibility and ability of qualitative methods to capture changing attitudes within a group.

Questions Your own Answers
1. Give one reason
why a researcher
may choose
qualitative methods
for their research
and illustrate your
answer with one
example
Qualitative research is defined as the method that mainly emphasize on acquiring
data through informal and open communication. This methodology aids in telling
about the perception as well as behaviour of target audience regarding specific
topic. The investigator may select qualitative research method for the
investigation as it is a flexible approach and assists in capturing changing
attitudes within group. For example, in the given qualitative paper, qualitative
research helped researcher in exploring perceptions ad experiences of care
providers in providing care (Burls, 2014). The qualitative methodology is
appropriate for research as it included semi structured interviews and group
discussions to seeking views on the given topic. Yes, the researchers seek to
interpret subjective experiences of research participants. The study has explored
experiences and perceptions of care professionals in facilitating care for CMC.
No, the clear justification of the research design was not discussed in the
provided qualitative paper.
2. In the chosen
paper, was there a
clear statement of
the research
question and/ or
aims of the study?
Do they match with
the overall design
and methods
chosen?
There was no precise statement of aim of study and research questions in the
selected qualitative paper.
The goal of the research was to explore the experiences and perceptions of care
providers on the health care provision for CMC aged between 0 to 18 years. It is
important as this helps in changing the experience of children with medical
complexity and their families and providing best care to CMC. This assists in
developing an integrated care approach or framework for patients with CMC and
their families which will allow child and family oriented care all across the
spectrum of health care. It also helps in bringing the care proximal to the home
and community and improve communication.
3.Were all
elements of
sampling and
recruitment
clearly
described and
justified?
No, the elements of recruitment and sampling were not delineated and justified
clearly in the paper. However, which recruitment plan of action was used by
researcher in a qualitative research is mentioned. In this paper, the individuals
who have broad experience were selected as they may provide variety of insights
to researcher. The recruitment strategy selected in research was not suitable to the
aim of research (Crowe, Sheppard and Campbell, 2012).
4.Is there a clear
explanation of
the methods of
data collection
and analysis
used by the
researcher to
collect
information?
Identify any
strengths or
weaknesses in
these
Yes, there is clear explanation of data gathering and analysis method utilised by
the investigator in qualitative research paper to collect information. In the
research, the data is collected through using semi structured interview of groups
and individuals and conducting forum. Apart from this, thematic analysis method
was taken into consideration in an iterative process in which the manager of
project was searched for feeling and behaviours that are expressed commonly.
Moreover, inductive approach was used in data analysis process. The strength of
forum method used by researcher is that a particular time is fixed for forum
which helps investigator in ensuring that the activity of collecting data will be
completed on time and allowed them to gain detailed exploration experiences of
individuals and small groups. Systematic approach used in data collection and
analysis and sampling is also the strength of research. However, there is also a
weakness of interview process which is that there were 31 individual interviews
were conducted which takes a lot of time in collecting data (Hannes and
Macaitis, 2012).
5. Did the researcher
acknowledge their
own role in the
research i.e. did
they address
reflexivity? If yes,
Yes, the own role is acknowledged by researcher in the qualitative research. This
role was named as integrated care project manager (LA).They address reflexivity
which helps researcher to become aware of the way opinions, experiences and
values they have bought to the investigation can be a optimistic thing. Research
questions were formulated to elicit experiences and context. Interview sessions
and stakeholder forum were conducted in proper way for gaining responses of

how? If not, how
do you think this
might have
influenced the
findings?
respondents on research topic. Audio recordings of stakeholders forum were
properly against the transcript. Apart from this, field notes of interviews were
also reviewed. Moreover, thematic inductive analysis was used and the interviews
were shared with respondents for getting their feedback. The reliability and
validity of developed theme was evaluated by using feedbacks to respondents.
No, there is no conflict of interest in research paper. The kinship between
investigator and respondents has been appropriately considered in the qualitative
research paper (Houghton and et. al., 2017).
6. Has the researcher
addressed ethical
issues? Were these
comprehensively
addressed?
The researcher was obtained the ethical and governance approval of project from
Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network Human Research Ethics Committee. The
potential participants were contacted through email and researcher explained the
intent of conducting forums and interviews. Researcher was also taken the
consent of respondents by provided them with consent form and information
sheet was also provided to them. During or before interview the signed consent
form was returned by participants to researcher. Respondents were provided with
the option that they can withdraw any time from the study. Researcher also assure
anonymity and confidentiality to participants of their data and information. In
this manner, all the ethical issues were addressed comprehensively by researcher
at the time of conducting qualitative research. This helped researcher in ensured
that the research was conducted in ethical manner.
7. Are the findings
appropriately
presented? Do you
consider that the
findings presented
answer the research
questions or aim of
the study?
Yes, the findings of qualitative research were conferred appropriate in the
research paper. No, the findings conferred did not answer the investigation
questions in adequate way as there were no clear questions and aim of study. The
investigator has discussed the credibility of findings in paper by triangulation
among coders by consensus. Moreover, the discussion of evidence was adequate
and both for and against arguments were presented by researcher in qualitative
paper (Shelton, Smith and Mort, 2014).
8. After reading this
paper, do you
consider the
findings reported to
have any a wider
relevance in the
context of health or
social care?
After reading the qualitative paper, it is determined that the findings reported
have relevance in relation to health and social care. This researcher helps in
exploring the perceptions and experiences of health and social care suppliers in
giving care for CMC patient who are aged between 0 to 18 years. This also helps
in enhancing the integration of health care system. By this research paper, the
issues in providing care for CMC patients were identified and assists in
determining adequate solutions.
9. Identify one aspect
of the paper that
you would improve
in relation to the
criteria specified
above, describe how
and why in your
answer
The facet of the qualitative paper that I would enhance in relation to specified
criteria is proper presentation of qualitative research paper. The presentation is
not appropriate due to which methods used in were not determined clearly. Apart
from this, there was no aims and questions in research paper due to which it
lacks clarity. Proper aim and questions based on research topic provides direction
to conduct research in adequate way and attain its objective effectively (Beail and
Williams, 2014).
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Burls, A., 2014. What is critical appraisal?. Hayward Medical Communications.
Beail, N. and Williams, K., 2014. Using qualitative methods in research with people who have intellectual
disabilities. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities. 27(2). pp.85-96.

Crowe, M., Sheppard, L. and Campbell, A., 2012. Reliability analysis for a proposed critical appraisal tool
demonstrated value for diverse research designs. Journal of clinical epidemiology. 65(4). pp.375-
383.
Hannes, K. and Macaitis, K., 2012. A move to more systematic and transparent approaches in qualitative
evidence synthesis: update on a review of published papers. Qualitative Research. 12(4). pp.402-
442.
Houghton and et. al., 2017. From screening to synthesis: using nvivo to enhance transparency in qualitative
evidence synthesis. Journal of clinical nursing. 26(5-6). pp.873-881.
Shelton, C.L., Smith, A.F. and Mort, M., 2014. Opening up the black box: an introduction to qualitative
research methods in anaesthesia. Anaesthesia. 69(3). pp.270-280.