Qualitative Paper - healthcare and nursing home

Introduction to the Problem
The healthcare and nursing home has become the main field of concern in the current society because of the need of deliver effective quality services. Therefore, nurses and care providers have made significant effort s of advancing knowledge through carrying out research work on these fields on the way they can prevent illness and deliver effective services. The increased nursing research activities have become the major aspect for all nurses and healthcare provider due to the need to deliver valuable services; thus satisfying the needs of their clients. Therefore, qualitative research has become one of the prominent research design methods employed in nursing and healthcare field. However, many healthcare organizations are facing varied challenges of promoting health and managing diseases in an ever-changing health care system.
Thesis: Despite the challenges that healthcare and nurse are facing in the ever-changing healthcare system, creating a qualitative research plan will enable them to meet the demanding needs of their clients effectively.

Research Purpose/Aims
•    The main purpose of the research is to analyze the main features of qualitative research plan, and also study the way in which this methodology is relevant or useful in the healthcare and nursing home.
•    The research will offer a concise comparison of both qualitative and quantitative research design methods, as well as, make suggestion for the significance use of qualitative research approaches.
•    The researcher will offer a review of common approaches employed in the research plan, but most significant, references would be included for those nurses or healthcare workers interested in studying more about qualitative research design methods.

Research Questions
1.    How is qualitative research useful in nursing home or healthcare settings?
2.    How will nurses and healthcare providers manage or prevent any illness in the nursing homes or hospital settings?
3.    What roles does qualitative nursing research play in the hospital settings? 

Research Methods
Although quantitative methodology is employed in the nursing field, qualitative research method has become more common than quantitative in the field of medicine. This is because qualitative research helps the nurses or caregivers to understand the special phenomena in the hospital settings (Munhall, 2012). The difference between the two research methods is their flexibility; thus qualitative methodology is often employed in nursing field. This is because of the relationship created between the participants and the researcher, which is less formal than in the quantitative research design. Therefore, the research will employ qualitative methods because this method seeks to explore the phenomena and aims to solve the problem in the naturalistic paradigm (Holloway, Wheeler and Holloway, 2010).

Therefore, the qualitative method will include the use of semi-structured methods, focused group discussion, in-depth interviews and participant observations. First, the use of focused group discussions is crucial because it will enable the researcher to find out the clear cause of the problem; thus offering a solution to the existing problem (Richards and Schwartz 2002). Secondly, the researcher will employ semi-structured interviews and in-depth questionnaires, which will be distributed to participants. These methods are crucial because they will enable the researcher to gather in-depth understandings of people’s behaviors and the reasons or such behaviors (Hoskins and Mariano, 2004). Lastly, the use of observation method is effective because it will provide first hand information, which is not biased; thus solving the research problem effectively.

References
Hoskins, C. N., & Mariano, C. (2004). Research in nursing and health: Understanding and using
 quantitative and qualitative methods. New York, NY: Springer Pub. Co.
Holloway, I., Wheeler, S., & Holloway, I. (2010). Qualitative research in nursing and
 healthcare. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K: Wiley-Blackwell.
Munhall, P. L. (2012). Nursing research: A qualitative perspective. Sudbury, MA: Jones &
 Bartlett Learning.
Richards, H. M., & Schwartz, L. J. (March 31, 2002). Ethics of qualitative research: are
 there special issues for health services research?. Family Practice, 19, 2, 135.