South College: Nursing Research - Research Design Critique

This assignment analyzes a nursing research study, critically evaluating its design and methodology. The study employs a mixed-method approach, combining a quasi-experimental design with both quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques. The purpose of the research is to understand the perceptions of healthcare professionals, aiming to identify factors influencing service quality. The assignment details the statistical methods used, including descriptive and inferential statistics, such as chi-square tests and regression analysis, providing a rationale for each. The critique assesses the appropriateness of the chosen design, the rigor of the methods, and the study's ability to address its research questions effectively. The document also outlines the study's phases, including medical record analysis, focus group discussions, and questionnaire administration, emphasizing data triangulation for enhanced validity. The analysis covers statistical approaches to measure associations between demographic characteristics and perceptions of healthcare providers.

NURSING RESEARCH
NURSING RESEARCH
Jessy Nwuba
South College

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NURSING RESEARCH
7. Briefly describe the purpose of your study and study design.
The main purpose of the study is to develop an understanding of the perceptions of health care
professionals. This is a key aspect that in one way or the other affects the quality of the services
being offered by the practitioners. Furthermore, studies have shown that healthcare workers with
negative attitudes in one way tend to make the patients remain away from accessing these
hospitals. Hence, by studying the perceptions of health care professionals, at least the quality of
healthcare can be accessed so that recommendations can be adopted to improve the services in
general.
On the study design, the use of mixed-method study design including focus group discussions
and semi-structured questionnaires are relevant because it helps in eliciting key information as
far as the perceptions of the healthcare providers are concerned, (Morse, 2016). For example,
semi-structured questionnaires are used to get knowledge of the healthcare workers on the
quality of services offered. In addition, the questionnaires in one way or the other are closed-
ended to specifically identify issues of perceptions of the healthcare workers. It is easy to analyze
the closed-ended questionnaires by using statistical software like SPSS. On the other and,
qualitative approaches such as the use of focus group discussion play an important role by only
interviewing key healthcare providers with an in-depth understanding of the issues of healthcare
services. By use of focus group discussion, data triangulation will be enhanced, and this
increases the validity of the findings.
8. For each research question, describe the statistical methods you would use in the
analysis, including the level of significance for each test.
Given the nature of the study, both descriptive and inferential statistics will be used to interpret
the findings, (MacRae, 2019). For example, summary measures like means, median, range are

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NURSING RESEARCH
applicable to the questions on age and years of experience while frequency counts and
percentages will be applied to the questions on gender and level of education of the practitioners.
On the other hand, chi-square tests, correlation analysis, and regression analysis will be used to
test the associations between demographic characteristics and the perceptions of the healthcare
providers.
9. Provide a rationale for each statistical test.
The use of descriptive statistics helps in describing, summarizing and presenting the results
which can easily be understood and interpreted by decision-makers. Moreover, chi-square tests
help in testing the associations between the variables while regression analysis help in
identifying significant predictors.

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NURSING RESEARCH
References
MacRae, A. W. (2019). Descriptive and inferential statistics. Companion Encyclopedia of
Psychology: Volume Two, 1099.
Morse, J. M. (2016). Mixed method design: Principles and procedures. Routledge.