Introduction
Nursing implies the provision of treatment and care services for people; thus, nurses need to understand all the processes and medical nuances to choose the most appropriate means for fast curing. Medicine also needs constant improvement in providing the most effective services and saving people’s life. Qualitative researches are a vital part of nursing and health care development since this means understanding the core of the problems and ways of their solving.
Main body
Qualitative research is a method of studying processes and phenomena which are aimed at understanding their causes and essence. Queirós, Almeida, and Faria (2017) note that a qualitative methodology has a goal in understanding the reality and meaning of action in a particular context. Modern science highlights many different qualitative perspectives as they depend on the specific field of research and the available tools. However, there are five main perspectives commonly used in nursing, such as phenomenology, ethnography, historical method, grounded theory, and case study (Ingham-Broomfield, 2015). Phenomenology includes only interviewing and observation of an individual patient or group of patients; ethnography implies the same methods, but with immersion into a specific culture. Grounded theory, apart from observing, also includes studying current literature on a broad topic for an individual or group, while the case study uses the same instruments, but explores a single person or problem. The historical method involves more profound research of documents and notes from the past, and its goal is to discover significant knowledge for medicine or world history in general.
Conclusion
Therefore, qualitative research in nursing is a method of studying the essence and causes of processes and phenomena, which are vital for providing the best medical services. Common perspectives in nursing are phenomenology, ethnography, grounded theory, historical method, and case studies. Such researches make it possible to improve existing ways of treatment and care as well as find new ways to improve the quality of medicine.
References
- Ingham-Broomfield, R. (2015). A nurses’ guide to qualitative research. Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing. 32(3), 34-40.
- Queirós, A., Almeida, F., & Faria, D. (2017). Strengths and limitations of qualitative and quantitative research methods. European Journal of Education Studies, 3(9), 369-387.