Detailed Analysis and Evaluation of a Qualitative Research Report

This report provides a detailed analysis of a qualitative research article focusing on the ethical issues surrounding continence care in Australian RACFs (Residential Aged Care Facilities). The analysis evaluates various aspects of the research, including the clarity of the research aim, appropriateness of the qualitative methodology, research design, recruitment strategy, data collection methods, and the relationship between researchers and participants. The report also assesses the consideration of ethical issues, the rigor of data analysis, and the clarity of the research findings. The study's value and contributions to existing literature are also examined. The analysis highlights both the strengths, such as the clear statement of findings and research value, and weaknesses, such as the lack of discussion on ethical considerations and contradictory data. The research utilized grounded theory to explore the challenges faced by staff in providing continence care and the responses to those challenges.

Qualitative Research
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Clear Statement of Research Aim
1. Yes. The article contains a clear statement of the aims of the research. The Goal of the
Research was to establish a grounded theory to define and describe the manner in which the
needs of the RACFs residents of Australia are decided, distributed and communicated (Flick,
2014). The objective of the research is relevant because little research has been done on the
practical and daily ethical issues the personal care assistants and nurses who care for the
residents undergo and whether they enact the rights of the residents such as the right to make
informed choices regarding their care Halldorsdottir and Karlsdottir (2011) and independence
of the residents (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2012). This research topic is
significant because the RACFs are a select group of people that needs both continence and
incontinence care because of their inability to even perform necessary activities like
disposing of fecal matter (Economics, 2013).
Appropriateness of the Qualitative methodology
2. Yes. The research methodology is appropriate because the three objectives of the
research are geared towards the ethical issues that the respondents (nurses and personal care –
PCA assistants) undergo while carrying out their duty (Supino and Borer, 2012). For
instance, it explores the view of the nurses and PCAs about service provision, their
perception of continence and incontinence care and a practical field observation on their
reaction towards the care needs of the continence care of the residents in public. Additionally,
qualitative research is the best methodology for realizing the research objective because the
study concerns the ethical challenges that the respondents face while on duty. This is because
the nature of the study is that it requires both the perception of the nurses and a practical
observation of them while at work (Speziale et al., 2011).

Appropriateness of the Research Design
3. No. The research design was not appropriate because the researchers haven’t discussed
the reason for settling on the method of grounded theory (Bechhofer and Paterson, 2012). But
instead, they have described how the method is carried out and not why they chose to use it.
Appropriateness of the Recruitment Strategy
4. Yes. The procedure for the recruitment of the respondents was appropriate because the
researchers describe on how they arrived at the selected participants (Saunders, 2012). The
selection was done on the basis of experience in providing, monitoring or evaluating
continence care in the RACF of Australia. The researchers adopted this criterion of selection
because such participants were the most appropriate in providing the knowledge relevant for
the research. However, the authors do not outline whether any respondents of interest
declined to participate in the study.
Data Collection and the Research Problem
5. Yes. Data collection was carried out in a manner that addressed the research problem
because the article is clear on how they gathered data through formal, semi-structured, in-
depth interviews and open-ended methods. Also, the researchers did justify the reason for the
data collection methods used. For instance, they are in line with the grounded theory
Charmaz and Belgrave (2012) and the type of the interview questions and sampling frame
were derived from the incipient analysis and was arrived at on the basis of prior sources of
data. However, the researchers do not explicitly provide for how the interview method was
conducted, any data modification during the research and any data saturation, but provide an
in-depth process on how the observations were carried out.

Relationship between Researcher and Participants
6. Yes, the relationship between the respondents and the researchers is considered in the
research. First because the formulation of the research objectives was influenced by the
existing mind gap from extant literature and the development of a grounded theory with an
aim of examining how the continence needs of the residents of RACF are decided, conveyed
and communicated. Also, data collection by observation was done from a discrete distance
away from the residence of the staff activity and the joint areas of every facility during
normal routines and interaction between the residents and employees. This ensured that their
individual role did not influence the formulation of the research objectives and data collection
(Christensen et al., 2011). Furthermore, the choice of location was justified by the researcher
in that it consisted of a variety of staff namely RN, EN and PCA, had a large population of
dependent residents some of which suffered from dementia (Fowler, 2013).
Consideration of Ethical Issues
7. No, the article doesn’t highlight any ethical issues during research. This is because it
doesn’t provide details of whether the participants were first informed of the details of the
research before commencement. Furthermore, the researchers have not discussed any issues
to do with confidentiality based on the effects of the respondents participating in the study.
The study doesn’t also indicate whether an express permission was granted from the ethics
committee.
Ethical Consideration
8. Yes, the data analysis was sufficiently rigorous because there is a detailed process of
analysis where the researchers used the NVivo 9 software to key in data and analyse (Bazeley
and Jackson, 2013). The data techniques used to analyse the data was open coding,

theoretical coding and discriminate coding which was simultaneous with data generation and
analysis. The texts were assigned single codes each or more for data description. At the same
time, the data from the memos was developed based on the rising concepts from the coded
data. To ensure consistency and data relevancy of the emerging social problems and
processes were revealed, all the coding phases were done by matching code-to-code, event-
to-event and group-to-group (Bazeley and Jackson, 2013). However, the researcher do not
explain how presented data was selected from the initial sample to illustrate the process of
analysis, but instead, they provide a detailed process of how the data analysis was carried out.
There is also the insufficiency of data to back-up the outcomes because the researchers only
provide a summary of the outcomes without the corresponding percentages or numerical data
to support their conclusions. The research also assumes that there was no contradictory data
because it’s not mentioned anywhere in the article. This contradicts the principles of research
which always allows a margin of error (Schultz, 2011). Lastly, the researchers impliedly
considered their influence during the selection and analysis of data for presentation by wholly
relying on the principles of data entry and coding using the NVivo 9 software program.
Statement of Findings
9. Yes, the research findings are explicitly explained because the study led to the
establishment of a theory regarding the delivery of general care in RACFs. The theory is
divided into two parts namely the caring against odds and weathering constraints. The former
is about the primary challenges faced by the staff of RACF while at work and the latter is a
description of the responses of the staff to the challenges. Furthermore, the research findings
have been categorised into four and discussed in detail. However, the discussion doesn’t
consist of contradicting arguments against the researcher. The researchers do not discuss the
credibility of their outcomes.

Research Value
10. Yes, the research is valuable because the researchers state that it is the first research to
provide a detailed analysis of an exceptional and challenging kind of the continence care
provided in the setting of a RACF from the direct views of the staff. This is discussed in
relation to the existing literature on a related research (Visser et al.,2012; Strickland, 2014;
Ng et al., 2014; and Xu et al., 2013). However, the article doesn’t identify any field for
further study and how the study outcomes can be applicable to other populations.

References
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