Key concepts and terms in qualitative and quantitative research

1. Key concepts and terms in qualitative and quantitative research Dr. Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi An-Najah National University Faculty of Nursing Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

2. The faces and places of research • Studies with humans involve two sets of people: • Those who do the research and those who provide the information • In a quantitative study, the people who are being studied are referred to as subjects or study participants • Subjects who provide information to researchers by answering questions directly. E.g by filling out a questionnaire- may be called respondents Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

3. The faces and places of research • The term subjects implies that people are acted upon by researchers ( (i.e. are subject to research protocols) • In qualitative study, the individuals cooperating in the study play an active rather than a passive role in the research and are usually referred to as study participants, informants or key informants • Collectively, both in qualitative and quantitative studies, study participants comprise the sample Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

4. The faces and places of research • Studies are often undertaken by several people rather by a single researcher • Collaborative research involving a team of nurses with both clinical and methodologic expertise (or involving different members of a health care team is increasingly common in addressing problems of clinical relevance Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

5. The faces and places of research • When a study is undertaken by a research team, the person directing the investigation is referred to as the project director or principal investigator (PI) • Two or three researchers collaborating equally are co-investigators • When specialized expertise is needed on a short term basis (e.g. for statistical analysis) , project may involve one or more consultants • In a large-scale project dozens of individuals may be involved in planning the study, producing research-related materials, collecting and analyzing the information, and managing the flow of work Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

6. The faces and places of research • When financial assistance is obtained to pay for research costs, the organization providing the money is the funder or sponsor • Reviewers are sometimes called on to critique various aspects of a study and offer feedback • If these people are at a similar level of experience as the researchers, they may be called peer reviewers • Student projects are more likely to be reviewed by faculty advisors • Sometimes students or young researchers get advice and support from mentors, who not only give direct feedback but model standards of excellence in research Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

7. Research Setting • Research can be conducted in a wide variety of locales, in health care facilities, in peopl´s homes, in classrooms • Based on the nature of the research question and the type of information needed to address it • Multisites studies- offer a larger or more diverse sample of study participants as public and private sectors, urban and rural location Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

8. Settings • Are the more specific places where data collection occurs • In some cases the setting and sites, as when the selected site is a large hospital and information is collected exclusively within that setting • The nature of setting can influence the way people behave or feel and how they respond to questions, the selection of an appropriate setting is important Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

9. Settings • Some studies take place in naturalistic settings (in the field) such as in peopl´s home or offices • Qualitative studies are especially likely to be done in natural settings because qualitative researchers are interested in studying the context of participants experience • When researchers go into the field to collect their information, they are engaged in fieldwork • Qualitative fieldwork involves studying participants in multiple settings within the selected site (e.g. In their homes, at meeting) Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

10. Settings • Studies sometimes are conducted in highly controlled laboratory settings that may or may not have elborate scientific equipment installed, both human and nonhuman research can occur in laboratory settings • For nurse researchers, studies are often conducted in quasi-natural settings such as hospitals or other similar facilities Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

11. The building Blocks of a StudyPhenomena, concepts and constructs • Research focuses on abstract rather than tangible (real, noticeble) phenomena • Researcher especially quantitative researchers use the term construct • Like a concept, a construct refers to an abstraction or mental representation inferred from situations or behaviors • Self care in Orem´s model of health maintenance is a construct Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

12. Theories and conceptual models • A theory is a systematic , abstract explanation of some aspect of reality • In the theory concepts are knitted together into a coherent system to describe or explain some aspect of the world • Ina quantitative study, researchers often start a theory, framework, or conceptual model • On the basis of theory researchers make prediction about how phenomena will behave in the real world if the theory is true • In other words researchers use deductive reasoning to develop from the general theory specific prediction that can be tested empirically Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

13. Theories and conceptual models • The result of research are used to reject, modify or lend credence to the theory • In qualitative research, theories used in various ways, sometimes ceceptual or sensitizing frameworks- derived from various disciplines or qualitative research traditions • In other qualitative study theory is the product of the research, the investigators use information from the participants inductively as the basis for developing theory firmly rooted in the participants experiences Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

14. Theories and conceptual models • The participants input is the starting point from which the researcher begins to conceptualize seeking to explain patterns, commonalities and relationships emerging from the researcher participating interactions • The goal of this study is to arrive at a theory that explains phenomena as they occur not as they preconceives Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

15. Variables • Is something that varies • Weight, anxiety level, income and body temperature are all variables • To quantitative research nearly all aspects of human beings and their environment are variables • Constant- would not be a variable • Quantitative research seek to understand how or why things vary and to learn how differences in one variable are related to differences in another Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

16. Variables • E.g. Lung cancer research is concerned with the variable of lung cancer • It is variable because not every´body has this disease • Researchers have studied what variables might be linked to lung cancer and have discovered cigarette smoking is related • Smoking is a variable because not every one smokes • A variable is any quality of a person, group or situation that varies or takes on different values • Variables are the central building blocks of quantitaive studies, there are different types of variables Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

17. Continous, discrete and categorial variables • Sotimes variables take on a wide range of values • A person’s age can take on values from zero to more than 100 and the values are not restricted to whole numbers • such continous variables have values that can be represented on a continuum • In theory, a acontinous variable can assume an infinite number of values between two points • For example,consider the continous variable weight:between 1 and 2 pounds, the number of values is limitless:1.oo5,1.7,1.33333 and so on Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

18. Discrete Variable • is one that has a finite number of values between any two points variables representing discrete quantities if people were asked how many children they had, they might answer 0,1,2,3 or more • The value for number of children is discrete because the such as 1.5 is not a meaningful value • Between the values 1 and 3 the only possible value is 2 Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

19. Categorial variables • Other variables take on a small range of values that do not inherently represent a quantity • The variable gender for example has only two values (male & female) • Variables that take on only a handful of discrete nonquantitative values are categorial variables • Another example is blood type (A<B,AB,O) • When categorial variables take on only two values they are refered to as dichotomous variables • Examples of dichotomous variables are pregnant /not pregnant, HIV positive/HIV negative, alive/dead Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

20. Active versus attribute variables • Variables are often characteristics of research subjects such as their age, health beliefs, or weight • Variables such as these are attribute variables. in many research situations the investigator creates a variable • For example, if a researcher is interested in testing the effectiveness of patient controlled analgesia as opposed to intramuscular analgesia in relieving pain after surgery, some patients would be given patient-controlled analgesia and others would receive intramuscular analgesia • In the context of this study , method of pain management is a variable because different patients are given different analgesic methods, the researcher cerates as active variables Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

21. Active versus attribute variables • An active variable in one study could be an attribute variable in another • For example a researcher might create an active salt intake variable by exposing two groups of people to different amounts of salt in their diets • Another researcher could examine the salt intake (attributes) of a sample by asking about their consumption of salt Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

22. Dependent versus independent variables • Does a nursing intervention cause more rapid recovery? • Does smoking cause lung cancer? • The presumed cause is the independent variable • The presumed effect is the dependent variable • Some researchers use the term criterion variable rather than dependent variable • Others use the term outcome variable-the variable capturing the outcomeof interest Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

23. Dependent versus independent variables • Variability in the dependent variable is presumed to depend on variability in the independent variable • For example, researchers invistigate the extent to which lung cancer ( the dependent variable) depends on smoking (the independent variable) Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

24. Dependent versus independent variables • Investigator may be concerned with the extent to which patients´perception of pain (the dependent variable) depends on different nursing action (the independent variable) • The terms independent variable and dependent variable are used to indicate direction of influence rather than causal link Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

25. Dependent versus independent variables • If we are interested in studying factórs that influence peopl´s weight, we might consider for example their hight, physical activity, and diet as independent variable • Multiple dependent variable may be interested of researchers • Investigator concerned with comparing the effectiveness of two methods of nursing care for children with cystic fibrosis Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

26. Hetrogenity • When an attribute is extremely varied in the group under investigation, the group is said to be hetrogenous • Variable like gender would have two attributes: male and female • If the amount of variability is limited, the group is described as relatively homogeneous • Example: for variable height, a group of 2-year-old children is likely to be more homogeneous than a group of 18-year old adolescents • The degree of variability or hetrogeneity of a group of subjects hs implicated for study design Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

27. Data • Research data (singular, datum) are the pieces of information obtained in the course of the investigation in quantitative studies, researchers identif the variables of interest, develop operational definitions of those variablesand then collect relevant data from subjects • The actal values of the study variables constitute the data for the project • Quantitative data that is information in numeric form Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

28. Data • Example: suppose we were conducting a quantitative study in which a key variable was depression; we need to measure how depressed study participants were • We might ask” thinking about the past week, how depressed would you say you have been on a scale from 0-10, where 0 means ”not at all” and 10 means ” the most possible” • Read lease Box 2-1 Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

29. Data • In qualitative studies, the researcher collects primarily qualitative data that is narrative description • Narrative information can be obtained by having conversations with the participants • By making detailed notes about how participants behave in natuaralistic setting, or by obtaining narrative records from participants such as diaries Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

30. Data • Example studying depression qualitatively. Box 2-2 presents qualitative data for three participants responding conversationally to the question • Here the date consists of rich narrative descriptions of each participants emetional state • An operation known as coding is required to make research data amenable (willing to comply) to analysis • In quantitative research, coding is the process of translating verbal data into numeric form • For example, answers to a question about a subject´s gender might be coded ”1” for female and ”2” for male or vise versa • In qualitative coding researcher to researchers develop coding categories that represent important themes in the data Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

31. Relationship • Researcher are rarely interested in a single isolated concept or phenomenon except in descriptive studies • As en example of decriptive study, a researcher might do research to determine the percaentage of patients receiving intravenou therapy who experience iv infiltration versus no infiltration • A relation is a bond or a connection between phenomena Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

32. Relationship • Quantitative study adress one or more of the following questions about relationship:does a relationship between variables exist? Is cigarett smoking related to lung cancer? • What is the direction of the relationship between variables E.g. Are people who smoke more likely or less likely to get lung cancer than those who do not ? • How strong is the relationship betwen variables (how powerful is the relationship between smoking and lung cancer?how probable is it that smokers will be lung cancer victims? Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

33. Relationship • What is the nature of the relationship between variables ? (does smoking cause lung cancer?, does some other factors cause both smoking and lung cancer • One type of relationship is referred to as a cause-effect (or causal) relationship • Functional relationship (association relationship)relationship between preterm neonate´s behavioral competence on the one hand and the infant´s gender and race on the other Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

34. Relationship • Qualitative reseachers seek patterns of association as a way of illuminating (tending to increase) the underlying meaning and dimentionality of phenomen of interest Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

35. Key Challenges of conducting research • Please read page 35 Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

36. Reliability , validity and trustworthiness • Researchers want their findings to reflect the truth • Research cannot contribute evidence to guide clinical practice if the findings are inaccurate, bised, fail adequately to represent the experiences of the target group or based on a misinterpretation of the data • Quentitative researchers use several criteria to assess the quality of a study, and two the most inmportant are reliability and validity Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

37. Reliability, Validity and Trustworthiness • Reliability refers to the accuracy and consistency (the property of holding together and retaining its shape) of information • The term is most often associated with the methods used to measure research variables • Ex. if a thermometer measured bob´s temperature as 98.1ºF one minute and as 102.5 ºF the next minute , the reliability of the thermometer would be highly suspect • Statistical reliability refers to the probability that the same results would be obtined with a completely new sample of subjects that is the results are anaccurate reflection of a wider group than just the particular people who participated in the study Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

38. Reliability, Validity and Trustworthiness • Validity is a more complex concept that broadly concerns the soundness of the study´s evidence- that is, whether the finding are cogent (powerfully persuasive) , convincing and well grounded • Validity question is whether there is evidence to support the assertion that the methods are really measuring the abstract concepts that they purport to measure • The importance of having solid conceptual definitions or research variables as well as high quality methods to operationalize them should be apparent Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

39. Reliability, Validity and Trustworthiness • Is a paper and pencil measure of depression really measuring depression? • Or it is measuring something else, such as loneliness,low self-esteem, or stress? • Another aspect of validity concerns the quality of the researcher’s evidence regarding the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable • Did a nursing intervention really bring about improvements in patient’s outcomes or were other factors responsible for patient’s progress? Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

40. Reliability, Validity and Trustworthiness • Qualitative researchers use somewhat different criteria and different terminology in evaluating a study’s quality • Qualitative researchers discuss methods of enhancing the trustworthiness of the study’s data • Trustworthiness encompasses several different domensions-credibility, trasferability, confirmability and dependability Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden

41. Reliability, Validity and Trustworthiness • Dependability refers to evidence that is consistent and stable • Confirmability is similar to objectivity, it is the degree to which study Dr Aidah Abu Elsoud Alkaissi devision of anaesthesia and intensive care University of Linkoping Sweden