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Qualitative research method strengths and weaknesses
Qualitative and quantitative research methods
Qualitative and quantitative research methods
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Introduction In public health, it is important to know how to evaluate the appropriate research methods that best addresses an issue and establish rapport with target communities or populations. To gain knowledge of this, a vignette on a community health clinic and the barriers keeping minorities from seeking healthcare services will be assess. This discussion will allow public health scholars to evaluate an appropriate qualitative research method to address questions raised in the given vignette and determine how they would establish rapport with a target community or population in order to effectively apply the appropriated research method. Qualitative Research Method In consideration of the situation described in Vignette 1: Community Health Clinic, the qualitative research method of the key informant technique would be the most …show more content…
“The key informant “technique, often referred to as the in-depth interview, is characteristic of interpretative qualitative research and ethnographic field research more broadly” (Faifua, 2014). In turn, key informant interviews are defined as qualitative in-depth interviews with people who are knowledgeable about what is taking place in the community, with the purpose of gathering information from a wide-ranging group of people (i.e., professionals, community leaders, and residents) who have firsthand knowledge concerning the community (UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, n.d.). Provided particulars of the vignette noted that community-based organization leaders had firsthand knowledge concerning their respective ethnic communities with strong connections to spiritual leaders of
The elimination of disparities in mental health care among ethnic, racial and underprivileged populations, specifically minorities remains a challenge amongst mental health care workers and medical professionals. Many minority areas are more impoverished, rely on government assistance and have a higher incidence of sexually transmitted diseases, chronic diseases, and injuries compare to any other ethnicity. In recent studies there are strategies to help eliminate disparities in mental health care, such as improving health care access, quality, offering diverse mental health workforce, providers, and patient education. These are just several strategies that can help assist in disparities. The goal is to reduce or eliminate racial, ethnic and socioeconomic health inequalities that affect minorities.
In order to compile valuable research findings and specific information on different culture care concepts, Dr. Leininger had devised the idea of enablers to perform these types of assessments. Enablers was the appropriate term, as it portrayed a more intimate and personal way to describe Dr. Leininger 's approach in obtaining valuable information. It gives off the impression that those involved in an interview through these enablers, are actual human beings with real life answers. These people aren 't being objectified, as the whole process in itself is to connect on a personal basis that isn 't so concrete. The purpose of these enablers is to have these researchers be able to cooperatively gain insights from informants without offending or coming off too strong on them. Enablers help guide the informants to willingly express their stories and concerns about health care and their culture. Gaining such difficult and specific answers can only be shared by willing informants. The reason why these enablers are important, is so they can provide an organized set of topics and question for the interviewee, and provide the informant a proper environment to share their cultures, beliefs, and views.
"Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health." Public Health Reports. July/August 1998: 372 EBSCOhost. Available <http://www.epnet.com/ehost/login.html>. (11 February 1999)
The United States’ population is currently rising exponentially and with growth comes demographic shifts. Some of the demographics shifts include the population growth of Hispanics, increase in senior citizens especially minority elderly, increase in number of residents who do not speak English, increase in foreign-born residents, population trends of people from different sexual orientation, and trends of people with disabilities (Perez & Luquis, 2009). As a public health practitioner, the only way to effectively eliminate health disparities among Americans, one must explore and embrace the demographic shifts of the United States population because differences exist among ethnic groups (Perez, 2009). We must be cognizant of the adverse health conditions for each population and the types of socioeconomic factors that affect them. Culture helps shape an individual’s health related beliefs, values, and behaviors. It is more than ethnicity and race; culture involves economic, political, religious, psychological, and biological aspects (Kleinman & Benson, 2006). All of these conditions take on an emotional tone and moral meaning for participants (Kleinman & Benson, 2006). As a health professional, it is one’s duty to have adequate knowledge and awareness of various cultures to effectively promote health behavior change. Cultural and linguistic competencies through cultural humility are two important aspects of working in the field of public health. Cultural competency is having a sense of understanding and respect for different cultural groups, while linguistic competency is the complete awareness of the language barriers that impact the health of individuals. These concepts are used to then work effectively work with various pop...
Healthcare and health disparities refer to the differences in healthcare issues and conditions between different population groups. These differences not only impact the population groups facing them but also hinder the efforts to improve the quality of healthcare for the whole population with unnecessary cost implications (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015). This paper examines health disparities for the Somali Americans and offers a community-based approach that can improve patient outcomes.
Williams, D. R., & Jackson, P. (2014, April 1). Health Affairs. Social Sources Of Racial Disparities In Health. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/24/2/325.short
A plurality of projects presented the CABs related to the overall community and recruitment based on geographic location not just race, ethnicity or gender. Another focus of the projects related to directly to the CAB members perceptions of the growing health concerns and scientific educational needs of members. These topics also related to the appropriate methods and process for dissemination of findings back to the general public and patient communities. Minority and immigrant health, participation, and engagement in research was another area of focus for the CABs in both locations. A growing area of interest in the research arena is the involvement of patients and caregivers in research. A growing number of projects related directly to PCORI centered research study design and recruitment. In each of these examples, the CAB agreed to serve as the community advisory board for the studies presented and asked for the presenters to return for updates.
Health Care Disparities also need to be addressed through education and community outreach. Health Care organizations need to continuously conduct community outreach initiatives that focus on health and wellness goals for the target patient populations (Umbdenstock & Lofton, 2007). The information also needs to be presented in a format that that the target group will understand. In addition to, health care teams need to continuously undergo training that will assist in developing an overall cultural awareness aimed at achieving positive community
Racial and ethnic disparities in behavior health care are not a new phenomenon. According to researchers’ disparities in health services use and outcomes have contributed to difference in access to care. Evidence showed that compare to the majority, African American and the Latino they have the lowest income, less education, lower rates of private insurance coverage. There are possibilities that explain this phenomenon: racial bias on the part of the door, patient preferences, and poor communication.
Qualitative methods can be traced back to the ancient Greek historians. Herodotus, who is often called the father of history, traveled widely in the ancient world and recounted in his Histories the stories he had heard from the people he met. His successors down the ages recorded their observations of people that they encountered in their travels. These kinds of observations eventually became formalized in the discipline of anthropology. In clinical research, qualitative methods were first used in case histories, for instance, Breuer and Freud’s (1895/1955) first cases, which began the psychoanalytic tradition, and Watson and Rayner’s (1920) study of ‘‘Little Albert,’’ which helped establish the behavioral tradition. There is also a tradition of participant observation methods in mental health research, though they are more often conducted by sociologists than by psychologists. Classic examples of participant observation studies are Goffman’s (1961) Asylums and Rosenhan’s (1973) ‘‘Sane in insane places’’ study (Barker and Pistrang 2002).
Despite the substantial developments in diagnostic and treatment processes, there is convincing evidence that ethnic and racial minorities normally access and receive low quality services compared to the majority communities (Lum, 2011). As such, minority groups have higher mortality and morbidity rates arising from both preventable and treatable diseases judged against the majority groups. Elimination of both racial and ethnic disparities is mainly politically sensitive, but plays an important role in the equitable access of services, including the health care ones without discrimination. In addition, accountability, accessibility, and availability of equitable health care services are crucial for the continually growing
In evidence base practice cross-sectional, cohort, and RCTs fall under quantitative research. Although the type of design that is used to conduct the research may be different all three styles have numerical data that can be analyzed in order to identify an association between variables. In public health, this type of research helps develop a hypothesis where a research can make observations, run the experiment, and develop programs to address the issue. Nevertheless, the differences between the styles is that cross sectional studies are set in one point in time. For instance, the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention, NHANES survey, gathers data from a specific point in time to assess the health of the nation. Cohort studies are
Qualitative research has gained significant recognition in the social science sphere with its holistic and purposeful pursuit in illuminating new areas for research lacking through quantitative research. (Carey, 2012; Cleary, Horsfall, & Hayter, 2014; Reeves, Kuper, & Hodges, 2008; Stevenson, Britten, Barry, Barber, & Bradley, 2000; Thyer, 2012). Qualitative research uses a variety of methodologies to explore an individual’s inner world, expand our understanding of a social phenomenon, and advance and discover new theories (Carey, 2012; Fortune, Reid, & Miller, 2013; Saldana, 2011; Thyer, 2012). Stevenson (2000) describes qualitative research as an in-depth investigation into the inner world of reasoning, decision-making and meaning. Furthermore, qualitative research takes into account the context and history that shapes presented information and ventures to understand participant’s experiences, thoughts, opinions, and feelings towards their social reality (Ivey, 2012; Nielsen, 2011; Thyer, 2012).
The health service in this instance is the nation’s fight against diabetes. The nation is currently not using its resources in the most efficient way to improve the health of the population, as there are still disparities among subgroups. A community health needs assessment is, “a process that describes the state of local people, enables the identification of the major risk factors and causes of ill health, and enables the identification of the actions needed to address these” (Rowe, McClelland & Billingham, 2001). Through research of historical data and the analysis of completed surveys, the needs of the community will be assessed. The needs assessment will be conducted to identify the unmet needs of African American women ages 25 and older who are an at-risk population of type 2
I situated my research paper within the existing literature, including resources used in my Gender and Women Studies 130AC course at UC Berkeley and other scholarly sources on related topics. I aimed to concisely discuss and tie together the concepts of health (what is it and who is responsible to maintain it) with public policy (the ACA addressing health disparities), though admittedly 9 pages is far too short to adequately assess such a complex matter. I reviewed the work of Lock and Farmer to better understand the concepts of health and health disparity (Sherwin, 1988) (Farmer, 2010) (Bailey et al. 2017) as well as the work of Dworkin for the concept of intersectionality (Dworkin, 2005). I also surveyed various resources to further learn