NUR 80A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 13: Participant Observation, Focus Group, No Alternative
16 Oct 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Important existing data source for nursing researchers is records. Records are used in both qualitative and quantitative nursing studies. Self reports: participant responses to questions posed by the researcher. Observation: observing peoples behaviours or characteristics is an alternative to self reports. Data collection plans are almost always cast in stone before a single piece of data is collected. Researchers typically go into the field knowing the most likely sources of data. The primary method of collecting qualitative data is through self-report, that is, through interviews with study participants. The same information is gathered from all participants in a comparable, pre-specified way. Data that will be analyzed statistically must be gathered in such a way that they can be quantified. Data collection methods differ in terms of the degree to which people are aware of their status as study participants. Some data collection approaches require more subjective judgment than others.
