Exam 14: Mixed Methods Research

What are valid reasons for selecting an exploratory sequential strategy research design?

In a study of pain control and fatigue after hip replacement, what would the primary advantage be of conducting a quantitative descriptive portion followed by a grounded theory portion?

What is the best research approach for investigating the actual representation of Hispanic managers within healthcare institutions and the workplace beliefs and prejudices that perpetuate their disproportionate representation?

A nurse researcher is interested in the work of public health nurses (PHNs). The researcher first performs a qualitative phase of the study in which PHNs are interviewed about the skills and abilities needed for PHN practice. Data are analyzed, and themes are identified. In the next phase, the researcher creates a survey utilizing the themes derived from the interviews; the survey lists each skill with a Likert-type scale to rate the use and importance of the skill in PHN practice. Hundreds of PHNs complete the survey, and the quantitative data are analyzed. What is the best description of the type of mixed methods strategy employed by the researcher?

A nurse is interested in learning more about a topic of interest. The nurse finds a published study on the topic that utilized a mixed methods strategy. The researchers for this mixed methods study found overwhelming similarities between the qualitative and quantitative results of the study. The nurse then finds two more studies on the same topic-one quantitative and one qualitative-in which the researchers reported divergent findings from each other and from the mixed method study results. What is the best explanation for why the mixed methods research results were similar but results of the two separate studies were different?

In a research study, burn patients either washed their own wounds or had them washed by nursing staff daily. Patients performed self-washing on alternate days. Pain was measured at intervals during dressing changes. Patients also were interviewed near the end of hospitalization, after all dressing change data had been collected, and analyzed from the theoretical perspective of symbolic interactionism, in order to determine what factors had made their pain more severe or less severe, under each condition. What study designs were used in this research project?

What is the principal disadvantage of mixed methods research?

A group of researchers investigate pet therapy use in the rehabilitation of traumatic brain injury survivors. The published results matrix displays convergence between the qualitative theme of "not being alone" and the quantitative result "external support." Additionally, the matrix reveals divergence between the qualitative theme of "starting anew" and the quantitative result "sadness." What do these findings tell the reader?

Quantitative experimental researchers often "brainstorm" after each study, discussing the findings with colleagues, in order to interpret them and create new theories and strategies for testing them. Then they proceed to the next study. This is similar to a sine wave-first quantitative, then qualitative, and then quantitative, and so on. This represents an informal and ongoing combination of what research strategies?

A nurse at the local clinic notices that adherence to the treatment regimen for seizure disorder is more problematic in patients from one cultural group. The nurse develops a research team to explore this problem. The group plans to collect data via focus group interviews and questionnaires administered to participants at the time of the interviews. What is the best description of the type of mixed methods strategy employed by the researcher?