The major difference between quantitative and qualitative research is that the former is focused on the interpretation of numerical data and statistics, whereas the latter is about the analysis of verbal information. From the assigned chapter, I have learned that in quantitative studies, the reality is objective, measurable, and can be separated from the context (Houser, 2018). In contrast, in qualitative studies, reality depends on the view of a scholar and is embedded into the context (Houser, 2018). The second difference is that in a quantitative study, scholars could examine such observable phenomena as human behavior, while in qualitative research, it is possible only to analyze the meaning created by individuals (Houser, 2018). Therefore, these two types of research methods pursue different purposes and should be selected according to the aims of every single academic paper individually.
Out of all the study designs listed in the handbook, I am particularly interested in case studies. This study design category is applied to conduct an in-depth analysis of action, intervention, phenomenon, program, or individual (Houser, 2018). A scholar needs to collect detailed information through surveys, interviews, observations, focus groups, or various records and documents. Even though such a study might be time-consuming, it provides an analysis of a unique situation, and the inferences from such a study could be applied to similar cases. Case studies are beneficial in studying nursing problems because they allow scholars to examine peculiar clinical scenarios.
My clinical nursing priority problem is related to the comparison of wearable and ambient fall detection systems. The evidence that was collected for five months reveals that a wearable system is better at detecting falls than an ambient system. This study requires the application of quantitative research methods because an author should calculate the number of falls and compare them to the number of detected falls. However, some qualitative techniques could also be added to know what nurses and patients think of both systems and which of them they trust more. I suppose that the most appropriate design is a case study because it is a way to analyze and compare the effectiveness of both fall detection systems within one hospital to escape the influence of various hospitals peculiarities on the study’s outcomes.
References
Houser, J. (2018). Nursing research: Reading, using, and creating evidence (4th ed.). Jones and Bartlett.