Nursing is one of the most basic practices within the healthcare industry, as it underscores the primary functions of healthcare provision. In context, therefore, nursing implements healthcare protocols that influence the quality and efficiency of healthcare services in disease and illness prevention, control, and eradication. Implementation of such protocols requires information exchange, gathering as well as in time interventions both in the practice applications as well as within the knowledge base. Consequently, the need for research in the field of nursing is not only paramount but also a necessity for the development and evolution of healthcare provision and solutions. The complexity of the nursing practice requires research methods and models that represent not only the need of the patients, but also the healthcare structure and the contribution towards the body of knowledge in the healthcare sector. With the rise of new technology as well as globalization, nurses must contribute towards the body of knowledge and the nursing practice and protocols. Therein, research within the field is employed to underscore the development in the field. Consequently, this paper endeavors to discuss nursing research models in the context of both qualitative and quantitative models of research.
Evidence-based practice
The combination of research models with nursing practice provides the amalgamation of the practice of using evidence as to the cornerstone of research with real-world applications. The deployment of the evidence-based practice encompasses the application of both quantitative and qualitative research models to gather information while applying the results directly to healthcare provision (Pravikoff, Tanner, and Pierce, 2005) . For instance, the model employs the use of first-hand information gathered directly from patient interactions, and it’s used to forge a range of treatments as well as diagnosis. The application of the scientific method in the process of healthcare provision enhances the capacity of the nurses to apply gathered experience and knowledge. Information gathered therein, is applicable to treatment protocols for the benefit of a wider range of patients in the healthcare system. Through the use of such research methods in the practice, nurses have the capacity to provide tailored care towards the needs of the patients and therefore increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of healthcare provision.
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Quantitative research
Quantitative research as a method of information gathering is employed within the evidence-based practice to underscore the applicability of particular protocols on a wider scale. Research in this context deals with the application of protocol within a wide array of sample populations of study. Imperative to the nursing body of knowledge, qualitative methods provide the practice with the legitimacy of a treatment protocol as well as its applicability within the context of the healthcare infrastructure (Gray, Grove, and Sutherland, 2016). As a research method, data collected within such mechanism is imperative, as its determinant on issues that affect a wide area of healthcare provision. Under its basic interpretation, qualitative research underscores how numbers are employed as the measure of variables with the measurable characteristics of the subject under investigation. Therein, under qualitative research in evidence-based practice, it underscores two key paradigms, longitudinal as well as cross-sectional and research.
Cross-sectional method of research in this context employs the use of a wide range of subjects under investigation. The subjects are however distributed towards a large area with different population groups at a particular point in time. On the other hand, longitudinal research method employs the gathering of information through the observation of subjects of research over a long period. The implications of both cross-sectional and longitudinal research provide quantitative data on both the wide-area applicability of a healthcare protocol and its sustainability within the nursing practice (Claydon. 2015). Application of this methodology within the evidence-based practice improves the ability of the nurses to underscore pertinent information applicable over large populations. The sustainability of healthcare protocols that is facilitated by quantitative research is imperative to healthcare funding due to the limit of resources available for exploitation.
Qualitative research
Evidence-based practice has its major principle as the provision of patient-centered care to provide solutions in the healthcare sector. Therein, the use of qualitative research provides the researcher with the tools of investigation on knowledge and practices that are effective and provide quality to the diagnosis, prognosis, care, and treatment of patients. In context, the method underpins the exploration of data through themes and patterns that are sensory to the quality of healthcare (Colorafi, and Evans, 2016) . Nursing research conducted under this model incorporates the application of in-depth interviews of subjects of study through a review of various documentations of applied protocols. Further, the information generated is employed as an inductive process on its primary context in the formulation of theories and hypothesis. In evidence-based practice, the method is applied to specific cases of patients to improve their care as the protocol designed is specific to the needs of the patient.
Employment of qualitative research introduces new healthcare protocols tested with a controlled environment and population. As an experiment, qualitative research provides new knowledge and information pertinent to diseases; healthcare needs as well as their application of effective methods (Holloway, and Galvin, 2016). As a feature of research, the information gathered can easily be extrapolated as a basis of quantitative research.
Research sampling
Sampling is imperative to research as it provides the subjects of study for the research process. In its basic definition, sampling is the process through which research selects suitable subjects for the study topic from a study population. Confronted with a large population of the study, sampling allows the researcher to narrow down a workable number of subjects to be used in the study. The sample selected, therefore, becomes a representative population from the selected study population.
In quantitative research, sampling is one of the most imperative parts of research, and therefore, the method employed to derive a sample ought to be representative of the objectives of the study. For instance, stratified sampling is imperative to qualitative studies as it encompasses the characteristics of the study population (Gray, Grove, and Sutherland, 2016). In context, therefore, the sample is derived from the strata of the population subgroups. The method is imperative as to quantitative research as it harmonizes the sample characteristics to the study population characteristics. Another sampling method employed in research is simple random sampling that employs the element of chance to derive sample.
Credible nursing practice
Implications of research in the practice of nursing improves the relationship between patients and healthcare personnel. The process increases patient satisfaction with healthcare protocols as it improves both the quality and efficiency of healthcare protocols. Through the use of new research, knowledge, and information, nurse’s safety is incorporated within the process as its subject of the subject matter under investigation. For instance, evidence-based practice that prioritizes efficiency and quality of care is both sensitive to the patients as well as the nurses’ needs (LoBiondo-Wood, and Haber, 2017). Consequently, the evidence-based practice employs the use of knowledge, information of data to improve patient care and protocols used. The use of research allows for the generation of such knowledge as well as the improvement of certain practices to align with the changing environment.
Conclusion
Nursing research models in both qualitative and quantitative methods are core assets in the deployment of evidence-based practice. This type of practice resides within the recognition of constantly growing and changing the well of information on healthcare. While other forms of practices in nurses are impacted by the barriers of implementation within policy frameworks, the use of research validates the use of new information. In context, therefore, both qualitative and quantitative methods increase the contribution and improvements to both patients as well as nurses in the process.
References
Pravikoff, D. S., Tanner, A. B., & Pierce, S. T. (2005). Readiness of US Nurses for Evidence-Based Practice: Many don’t understand or value research and have had little or no training to help them find evidence on which to base their practice. AJN The American Journal of Nursing , 105 (9), 40-51.
LoBiondo-Wood, G., & Haber, J. (2017). Nursing research-E-book: methods and critical appraisal for evidence-based practice . Elsevier Health Sciences.
Gray, J. R., Grove, S. K., & Sutherland, S. (2016). Burns and Grove's The Practice of Nursing Research-E-Book: Appraisal, Synthesis, and Generation of Evidence . Elsevier Health Sciences.
Claydon, L. S. (2015). Rigour in quantitative research. Nursing Standard (2014+) , 29 (47), 43.
Holloway, I., & Galvin, K. (2016). Qualitative research in nursing and healthcare . John Wiley & Sons.
Colorafi, K. J., & Evans, B. (2016). Qualitative descriptive methods in health science research. HERD: Health Environments Research & Design Journal , 9 (4), 16-25.
