Deck 4: Introduction to Qualitative Research

Question 1

Which of the following descriptions is typical of qualitative research studies?

A) Use deduction and test hypotheses.
B) Truth is a subject's expression of reality.
C) Determine sample size before the study begins.
D) Measure one or more variables in a context-free setting.

Answer 1

Truth is a subject's expression of reality.

Question 2

Which of Kearney's categories of qualitative findings would allow a phenomenon to be portrayed vividly from a new perspective?

A) Restricted by a priori
B) Descriptive categories
C) Shared pathway or meaning
D) Depiction of experiential variation

Answer 2

Descriptive categories

Question 3

The nurse researcher asks a 52-year-old woman,"When was your last menstrual period? " and the patient replies,"Oh,I don't remember because it isn't important." Which conflict in belief systems is suggested by the patient's statement?

A) A failure of communication
B) A difference between the received view and the perceived view
C) Cultural insensitivity on the part of the nurse and the health care system
D) Lack of awareness and knowledge on the part of the patient

Answer 3

A difference between the received view and the perceived view

Question 4

Which definition of paradigm is most accurate?

A) A way of linking the naturalistic world to empirical thought
B) The philosophical beliefs by which people in a society think about the world
C) A model that captures the interaction of specific variables within a known concept
D) Encompasses the integration of "wholeness," spirituality, and personal worth into scientific thought

Question 5

Which mode of clinical application for qualitative research would allow a nurse researcher to understand patients better and offer more sensitive support?

A) Insight or empathy
B) Assessment of status or progress
C) Anticipatory guidance
D) Coaching

Question 6

What should be the determining factor for a researcher to conduct a qualitative study?

A) The need to test a theory
B) The nature of the research question
C) The age and gender of the study participants
D) The availability of valid instruments to measure the phenomenon

Question 7

Which distinction is characteristic of qualitative research methods?

A) Data are in text form.
B) Data are dichotomous
C) Qualitative research does not generate data.
D) Data from qualitative studies are inappropriate for analysis.

Question 8

Which aspect of the following research question constitutes the context? "What is the grief experience of women from rural Mexico who have a late-stage pregnancy loss?
"

A) Late-stage pregnancy loss
B) Women over age 30
C) Grief experience
D) Rural Mexico

Question 9

Which category of qualitative findings would be defined as the main essence of an experience but also how the experience varies depending on the individual or context?

A) Restricted by a priori frameworks
B) Descriptive categories
C) Shared pathway or meaning
D) Description of experiential variation

Question 10

Which mode of clinical application for qualitative research would allow a nurse researcher to share qualitative findings with the patient?

A) Insight or empathy
B) Assessment of status or progress
C) Anticipatory guidance
D) Coaching

Question 11

Which research topic would most likely be studied through a qualitative research approach?

A) The meaning of health and health promotion among low-income Southern rural women
B) Changes in hope and coping in older adults during rehabilitation after hip fracture
C) Exercise effects on fatigue and emotional distress during radiation therapy for breast cancer
D) Older adults and HIV/AIDS: the relationship of perceived risk and willingness to interact with individuals with HIV/AIDS

Question 12

Which mode of clinical application for qualitative research would allow a nurse researcher to describe the trajectory of an illness?

A) Insight or empathy
B) Assessment of status or progress
C) Anticipatory guidance
D) Coaching

Question 13

When should a nurse researcher decide to use a qualitative research design instead of a quantitative research design?

A) When time for data collection is limited
B) When the research questions are clinical in nature
C) When the goal is to view the experience in the same way that those who are having the experience view it
D) When the researcher is a novice with minimal experience in scientific problem solving

Question 14

How should the number of subjects for participation in a qualitative study be determined?

A) Data are collected from new subjects until no new information is generated.
B) The number of subjects needed is equal to the number available at a specific location.
C) The number of subjects needed is equal to the number available within the researcher's specified time frame.
D) The number of subjects needed is determined through a power analysis of data generated in a pilot study of similar subjects.

Question 15

The term triangulation in research refers to:

A) A mathematical technique
B) The use of multiple methods to collect and interpret data accurately (information collected becomes repetitive)
C) Possible applications of the results of qualitative studies

Question 16

Which mode of clinical application would be a nurse explaining the various stages of grief to a widow,reassuring her that the nurse will assist her through the process and that others have successfully made their way through the grief process?

A) Insight or empathy
B) Assessment of status or progress
C) Anticipatory guidance
D) Coaching

Question 17

Which of Kearney's categories of qualitative findings could lead to synthesis of a shared experience or process or integration of concepts that provides a complex picture of a phenomenon?

A) Restricted by a priori
B) Descriptive categories
C) Shared pathway or meaning
D) Depiction of experiential variation

Question 18

Which aim of research is characteristic or appropriate for qualitative research methods?

A) Control
B) Prediction
C) Explanation
D) Understanding

Question 19

Which study purpose is inappropriate for qualitative methods?

A) Testing of a new hypothesis
B) Using an intensive approach to data collection
C) Using inductive analysis with the captured data
D) Examining individual responses to a nonmodifiable situation

Question 20

How can a nurse researcher decide whether to use a qualitative or quantitative research design?

A) By recognizing that the focus of qualitative research is measuring one or more human characteristics
B) By recognizing that the methods attempt to control or eliminate variables that interfere with what is being studied
C) By recognizing that the basis for all qualitative interactions is the belief that humans are a composite of many body systems
D) By recognizing that the focus of qualitative research methods is the study of human experiences that occur within the person's natural setting

Question 21

A description of women's process of recovery from depression,with each category fully described and the conditions for progression laid out,would be an example of which category of qualitative findings?

A) Restricted by a priori (existing theory) frameworks
B) Descriptive categories
C) Shared pathway or meaning
D) Depiction of experiential variation

Question 22

A description of the loss of social structure and demands of adolescents caring for their diseased or drugged parents who were unable to function as adults would be an example of which category of qualitative findings?

A) Restricted by a priori (existing theory) frameworks
B) Descriptive categories
C) Shared pathway or meaning
D) Dense explanatory description

Question 23

Which of Kearney's categories of qualitative findings could lead to discovery being aborted because the researcher has obscured the findings with an existing theory?

A) Restricted by a priori
B) Descriptive categories
C) Shared pathway or meaning
D) Depiction of experiential variation

Question 24

Use of the "theory of relatedness" to describe women's relationships,without substantiation in the data,would be an example of which category of qualitative findings?

A) Restricted by a priori (existing theory) frameworks
B) Descriptive categories
C) Shared pathway or meaning
D) Depiction of experiential variation

Question 25

What will a nurse researcher find to be the differences in ethnographic and phenomenologic studies? (Select all that apply.)

A) Ethnographic studies include both qualitative and quantitative data, whereas phenomenologic studies employ only qualitative methods of data collection.
B) Ethnographic research makes extensive use of case studies, whereas phenomenologic research relies more on questionnaires that include multiple-choice options.
C) Phenomenologic research focuses on the meaning of an event or experience to an individual or group of people, and ethnographic research focuses on patterns of behavior of people within a culture.
D) Phenomenologic research requires that data be collected face to face over an extended period and occur in the person's natural setting; ethnographic studies can occur with the researcher and the participant in any setting.

Question 26

Which of Kearney's categories of qualitative findings describes the main essence of an experience but also shows how the experience varies,depending on the individual or context?

A) Restricted by a priori
B) Descriptive categories
C) Shared pathway or meaning
D) Depiction of experiential variation

Question 27

A description of how pregnant women recovering from cocaine addiction might or might not move forward to create a new life would be an example of which category of qualitative findings?

A) Restricted by a priori (existing theory) frameworks
B) Descriptive categories
C) Shared pathway or meaning
D) Depiction of experiential variation

Question 28

Which research questions are most indicative of the phenomenologic method? (Select all that apply.)

A) What is the African American lived experience of spirituality?
B) What is the experience of renal transplantation from a living related donor for Asian American organ recipients?
C) What factors influence older adults to seek health care advice following a positive cancer screening examination?
D) How effective is virtual reality as a distraction method in reducing chemotherapy-induced distress among older adults undergoing cancer chemotherapy?

Question 29

A child's description of pain,including descriptors,attributed causes,and what constitutes good care during a painful episode,would be an example of which category of qualitative findings?

A) Restricted by a priori (existing theory) frameworks
B) Descriptive categories
C) Shared pathway or meaning
D) Depiction of experiential variation

Question 30

What are steps in the qualitative research process? (Select all that apply).

A) Sample
B) Data collection
C) Review of the literature
D) Evaluation
E) Findings
F) Implementation
G) Conclusions