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Nursing resources: finding quantitative research articles.
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What is Quantitative Research?
"Quantitative research is a systematic process used to gather and statistically analyze information that has been measured by an instrument. Instruments are used to convert information into numbers. It studies only quantifiable concepts (concepts that can be measured and turned into numbers)." It examines phenomenon through the numerical representation of observations and statistical analysis.
Langford, R. ( 2000). Navigating the Maze of Nursing Research . Elsevier.
Tips for Finding Quantitative Articles with a Keyword Search
If you want to limit your search to quantitative studies, first try "quantitative" as a keyword, then try using one of the following terms/phrases in your search (example: lactation AND statistics):
Correlational design*
Effect size
Empirical research
Experiment*
Quasi-experiment*
Reliability
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- Last Updated: Apr 16, 2024 2:41 PM
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Nursing Resources : Qualitative vs Quantitative
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Differences between Qualitative & Quantitative Research
" Quantitative research ," also called " empirical research ," refers to any research based on something that can be accurately and precisely measured. For example, it is possible to discover exactly how many times per second a hummingbird's wings beat and measure the corresponding effects on its physiology (heart rate, temperature, etc.).
" Qualitative research " refers to any research based on something that is impossible to accurately and precisely measure. For example, although you certainly can conduct a survey on job satisfaction and afterwards say that such-and-such percent of your respondents were very satisfied with their jobs, it is not possible to come up with an accurate, standard numerical scale to measure the level of job satisfaction precisely.
It is so easy to confuse the words "quantitative" and "qualitative," it's best to use "empirical" and "qualitative" instead.
Hint: An excellent clue that a scholarly journal article contains empirical research is the presence of some sort of statistical analysis
See "Examples of Qualitative and Quantitative" page under "Nursing Research" for more information.
- John M. Pfau Library
Examples of Qualitative vs Quantitiative
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Understanding Nursing Research
- Primary Research
What is Quantitative Research?
How do i tell if my article has quantitative research, qualitative research.
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There are two kinds of research: Quantitative and Qualitative
Quantitative is research that generates numerical data. If it helps, think of the root of the word "Quantitative." The word "Quantity" is at its core, and quantity just means "amount" or "how many." Heart rates, blood cell counts, how many people fainted at the jazz festival-- these are all examples of quantitative measures.
Qualitative , on the other hand, is a more subjective measurement. Think of the root of the word again, this time it's "Quality." If someone is called a quality person or someone's selling a high quality product, they're being measured in subjective terms, rather than concrete, objective terms (like numbers.) Qualitative research includes things like interviews or focus groups.
Just like when we examine whether or not our article is an example of Primary Research, the best way to examine what kind of data your article uses is by reading the article's Abstract, Methodologies, and Results sections. That will tell you how the research was conducted and what kind of data (qualitative or quantitative) was collected.
An example of what to look for in the Abstract can be seen here:
You can see that data was evaluated (66% of students were in compliance with school immunization requirements), a strategy was implemented (letters and emails were sent to student's parents/guardians), and at the end of the study, new quantitative data is reported (99.6% of students were in compliance with vaccination requirements).
Finding qualitative research can be trickier, since it can often take more time to collect. Examples of qualitative data include things like interview transcripts, focus group feedback, and journal entries detailing people's experiences and feelings. The easiest way to search for a qualitative study is to include the word "qualitative" as a keyword in your database search along with the search terms about the topic you're interested in.
Check out the video below to see an example of searching for qualitative research in CINAHL.
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- Last Updated: Aug 21, 2024 10:40 AM
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Understanding quantitative research: part 1
Affiliation.
- 1 Research Department of Mental Health Sciences, University College London, London. [email protected]
- PMID: 23346707
- DOI: 10.7748/ns2012.12.27.15.52.c9485
This article, which is the first in a two-part series, provides an introduction to understanding quantitative research, basic statistics and terminology used in research articles. Critical appraisal of research articles is essential to ensure that nurses remain up to date with evidence-based practice to provide consistent and high-quality nursing care. This article focuses on developing critical appraisal skills and understanding the use and implications of different quantitative approaches to research. Part two of this article will focus on explaining common statistical terms and the presentation of statistical data in quantitative research.
- Education, Continuing
- Evidence-Based Nursing
- Health Services Research*
- Research Design*
- United Kingdom
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