Qualitative and Quantitative designs
Qualitative and Quantitative designs are used to provide structure to many researchers when trying to form a study and answer their research question. Qualitative research focuses on words instead of numbers, on understanding and giving meaning to a phenomenon or an event (Schmidt & Brown, 2019). The Quantitative design focuses on numerical information that is easy to understand and communicate. It can describe a phenomenon, explain relationships, differences among variables, predict relationships and differences among variables, or determine causality (Schmidt & Brown, 2019). When evaluating information from these two distinctive designs, it is important to make sure that it matches the research question being evaluated. Over the years I have learned to make sure the information presented is reliable and valid as well as including the specific characteristics when acquiring the information. Qualitative research uses the real-world setting as the first characteristic. This type of research uses methods like observation, ethnographic research, focus group, one-to-one interviews, the behavior of the participants of study is observed, and the conclusion is drawn based on their answer and their behavior. An example of a qualitative study is when Dawn Dowding, David Russell, and a group of other researchers formed a study to see who are at risk for infection and how does home care nurses prevent and mitigate the risk. By having 50 nurses participate in the study, they concluded the complexity of the risk assessment process in relation to infection just by simply interviewing these women. In a quantitative study, it bases their research on averages, percentages, or quotas. An example of this study would be when Young-A Lee, Mir Salahuddin, and other researchers made a study to see if Personal Protective Equipment is critical for healthcare workers. They used an online survey with a convenience sample of 200 U.S. nurses to see the percentages of whether or not it is beneficial, what improvements should be done, and if comfort and mobility are both important qualities for PPE
