PUBH 8450 - Week 7: Addressing Qualitative Data Challenges

This discussion board post addresses the challenges faced by public health professionals when collecting qualitative data, particularly in focus groups and community health assessments. The student agrees with a classmate's assessment of uneven trust among stakeholders (healthcare professionals, the public, researchers, and community residents) and highlights open communication and transparency as effective mitigation strategies. The student also emphasizes the importance of addressing trust issues between researchers and Institutional Review Boards (IRBs), citing variations in decision-making processes as a source of frustration. Furthermore, the student argues against viewing study population perspectives as cognitive limitations and acknowledges the use of translators to overcome language barriers. The post references relevant literature to support the arguments and provides insights into improving qualitative research methods.

Running head: POSTINGS
Reply to Constance Bartu’s posting
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

POSTINGS
I agree with my classmate’s thoughts on the challenges that health care professionals
face while collecting qualitative data. There can be a disparity in the information available to
different stakeholders of the research study, including the health care professionals, the
public, researchers and the rest of the residents from the community. Furthermore, the
strategies noted by the classmate to mitigate the challenges of uneven trust amongst the
research stakeholders, which include open communication methods and greater transparency,
are effective and adequate to address the challenge effectively. Adding to this point or the
challenge, the primary trust issues, in my opinion, rises between the researchers and the
Institutional Review Boards. According to Henry, Romano, & Yarborough (2016), the
decision making and processes conducted by the board can have significant variations, which
often leaves the researchers frustrated and has been criticised,
However, looking at the second challenge and its proposed mitigation strategy, I
would like to point out that the perspective of the study population should not be looked at as
a cognitive limitation. One of the key strengths of conducting the qualitative study is that it
helps the researchers to get a better insight of the study population and their actual perception
(Rahman, 2017). On the other hand, the other point on the language acting as a barrier and
use of translators to mitigate the issue seems adequate and appropriate.

POSTINGS
References
Henry, S. G., Romano, P. S., & Yarborough, M. (2016). Building trust between institutional
review boards and researchers.
Rahman, M. S. (2017). The Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Qualitative and
Quantitative Approaches and Methods in Language" Testing and Assessment"
Research: A Literature Review. Journal of Education and Learning, 6(1), 102-112.