Nurse Staffing Challenge in Hospitals
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
Introduction
This chapter gives details of the research methodology that will be utilized, the geographical area that the research will cover, study design, population and the sample size. Ethical considerations and limitation for this study are also described in details.
Research Design
The research will use sequential explanatory methods to collect information related to nursing practice and the patient outcome that is generated using the available nursing workforce. Quantitative methods will be used to generate the statistical significance of the current nursing staffing ratios that are currently being used (“Research methodologies”, 2016). This will help to describe the specific numbers of nurses that are available in hospitals about the demand presented by patients. Qualitative methods will help in describing the patient outcome generated by the available nursing workforce. Focus groups involving registered nurses will be used to collect qualitative data that will help to describe the experiences of the nurses. This will help in determining their expectations and what their feelings with the current working conditions. Focus groups of patients seeking intensive medical services will also be used to determine their experiences and the challenges they face. They sequential mixed methods are selected because they are easy to report and are always suitable when generalizing qualitative data of research.
Population
The target population of this research will be registered nurse working in public hospitals and patients seeking medical intensive care in these facilities. The research will be conducted in three major hospitals in the region which are known to handle a big number of patients at any one time. It is from this population that questionnaires will be used to collect data that will then be used in the analysis of the findings. Consideration will be given to those patients that are willing and able to participate in the study to avoid those that are unable to participate due to the complexity of their medical conditions.
Sample
Purposive sampling will be used to select the participant where the participants will be selected using the knowledge and experience of the researcher (“Research Methodologies: Quantitative, Qualitative & Mixed Method – Video & Lesson Transcript | Study.com”, 2016). When selecting the patient participants, quota sampling was used to carefully select those who have experienced a delay when seeking nursing services from public hospitals. The research will target adults who are over 18 years of age who are personally seeking medical interventions for themselves or their children. Only registered nurses will be used for this research study. Selection will be based on the fact that the participants will not have participated in a similar research for the last six months to help avoid biases of the findings.
Data Type, Data Collection, and Administration
Open-ended questionnaires will be used to collect qualitative questionnaires. These are responses from participants where they will be able to explain themselves fully about the questions involved. This will help in the collection of personal experiences and their expectations. Quantitative data will be collected using structured questionnaires. The participants will be given the questionnaires to fill in their responses and collecting them after the complete them. For the focus groups, the researcher will use a pre-prepared questionnaire to prompt queries and writing down the responses from the group discussions (Articles, 2016) (Articles, 2016).
Data Analysis
For analysis of the findings of this study, Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) will be used. The data will be analyzed using descriptive statistics to generate frequency tables to show the relationship that existed among the data collected from various participants. The responses will be grouped to give a summary of the findings. The presentation will make use of pie charts and histograms to visual represent the findings. T-Tests will help in making inferences of the existing trends in the nursing profession (“Analysis”, 2016).
Ethical Considerations
The research is aimed at collecting first-hand information that will help to describe the current trends and experiences in the nursing profession. The researcher will create a friendly environment with the respondents to make it possible for the participants to give the exact responses about their experiences and responses. It is through the creation of a friendly environment that the researcher will have a chance of collecting detailed data from the respondents who will be willing to cooperate from the start to the end of the study. The purpose of the study will be made clear to the respondents to make sure that they understand the importance of the study as an effort to improve on the current status of health care services.
The respondents will be assured of the confidentiality of the information they give and assured that the information will not be used for another purpose apart from the study. Their identity will be protected, and the personal information they give will not be revealed to a second party. The recruitment and participation in this study are out of will and respondents will not be forced to take part in this study.
Limitations and Delimitations
This research will be limited to only those respondents who are honest and willing to respond to all questions in the questionnaire. It is for this reason that all the questionnaires that will be used for this study will have an opening clause that calls for honesty when responding to the questions. The questionnaire will be tested for reliability and consistency after data collection to determine the extent of genuine of the outcome (Anon, 2016).
References:
Anon.(2016). Appliednursingresearch.org. Retrieved 27 September 2016, from
http://www.appliednursingresearch.org/article/S0897-1897(13)00135-3/abstract
Analysis. (2016). Socialresearchmethods.net. Retrieved 27 September 2016, from
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/analysis.php
Articles, R. (2016). Recent Applied Nursing Research Articles – Elsevier. Journals.elsevier.com.
Retrieved 27 September 2016, from http://www.journals.elsevier.com/applied-nursing-research/recent-articles
” Research methodologies. (2016). Socscidiss.bham.ac.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2016, from
http://www.socscidiss.bham.ac.uk/methodologies.html
Research Methodologies: Quantitative, Qualitative & Mixed Method – Video & Lesson
Transcript | Study.com. (2016). Study.com. Retrieved 27 September 2016, from http://study.com/academy/lesson/research-methodologies-quantitative-qualitative-mixed-method.html
