- What type of qualitative approach did the researcher use?
In the journal article written by Coelho, Parola, Escobar-Brave, & Apostolo the qualitative approach was conducted by implementing a descriptive phenomenological study “in order to study the complex phenomenon of the human experience, giving emphasis to how the life world is described by the participants voices” (2016, pp. 2).
- What time of sampling method did the researcher use? Is it appropriate for the study?
The journal written by Coelho, Parola, Escobar-Brave, & Apostolo implemented the study from seventeen patient individualized interviews, ten Spanish palliative care units and seven Portuguese palliative care units, between March and May of 2015 (2016, pp. 2).
The study was appropriate but limited in data collection due to the small number of participants.
- Was the data collection focused on human experiences?
One investigator conducted all of the interviews to maintain consistency in how the interview was held. The data collected focused on human experience through the “intention of the significant experience of comfort and discomfort to emerge freely” (Coelho, Parola, Escobar-Brave, & Apostolo, 2016, pp. 2) This was conducted through the initial question of “How did you live the experience of being hospitalized in this unit?” with follow-up questions to clarify the data collected (Coelho, Parola, Escobar-Brave, & Apostolo, 2016, pp. 2).
- Were issues of protection of human subjects addressed?
The article written by Coelho, Parola, Escobar-Brave, & Apostolo addressed the protection of the participants through the actions of gaining approval of three ethics committees, the interviewer worked in the Spanish Center but not the PCU, the interviewer did not meet the participants prior to the interview, participants understood the study was voluntary and could withdraw at any given time, and the interviewer obtained written consent and guaranteed confidentiality prior to conducting the interview (2016, pp. 3).
- Did the researcher describe data saturation?
For this study, data saturation was obtained after the collection of the seventeen interviews (Coelho, Parola, Escobar-Brave, & Apostolo, 2016, pp. 2).
- What procedure for collecting data did the researcher use?
According to the journal written by Coelho, Parola, Escobar-Brave, & Apostolo, data was obtained through non-structured interviews through only one interviewer to maintain consistency, asking the original question, individualizing interviews that averaged thirty two minutes, letting the participant chose the location of the interview, recording and transcribing the interviews verbatim which were then revised by the interviewer to verify the accuracy (2016, pp. 2).
- What strategies did the researcher use to analyze the data?
In the journal article written by Coelho, Parola, Escobar-Brave, & Apostolo, data analysis was conducted with the “Giorgi method” which involves four steps and managed through the QSR NVivo version 10 software:
1) Reading the transcripts several times to get a sense of the whole experience
2) Reading the transcripts with the purpose of identifying the meaning units
3) Identified meaning units were transformed in the appropriate language to the phenomenon study and grouped into common themes and subthemes that represent the essence of comfort experiences
4) Synthesize all of the transformed meaning units into a consistent and descriptive statement regarding the subject’s experience and comfort
(2016, pp. 3)
- Did the researcher address credibility (can you appreciate the truth of the patient’s experience), auditability (can you follow the researcher’s thinking, does the research document the research process) and fittingness (are the results meaningful, is analysis strategy compatible with the purpose of the study) of the data?
The article written by Coelho, Parola, Escobar-Brave, & Apostolo, credibility was not attained because “findings were not returned to participants for confirmation because of participant’s declining health” (2016, pp.2).
- What is your cosmic questions? (This is a question you ask your peers to respond to base on the chapter discussed in class this week i.e. Qualitative studies).
Due to the small number of participants, do you think that data saturation could be better accomplished by conducting the same interview questions with the established participants loved ones?
Sample Solution
