Introduction
Patients with advanced cancer most often experience excruciating pain as one of the symptoms of the deadly disease. This pain if unrelieved causes unnecessary anguish and suffering that happens to be exhausting to patients both physically and psychologically. Therefore, recommended treatments for such; assist in ensuring the comfort of the patients and allows them function normally. Various studies and several developed scales have been conducted to study pain management; unfortunately, they all fail in one way or another due to complications experienced in evaluating pain patients undergo. This is due to the variance in levels of pain experienced by patients that happen to be dependent on the measurements used during treatment.
The measure of a patient's pain could be a relevant measure used to compare the efficiency of drugs and treatments validated for use in clinical experiments. Research has been conducted to gather information on cancer patients over the years, and the studies vary from qualitative to quantitative approaches. The following assignment will look into two different articles; qualitative and quantitative research articles on cancer patients within the context of diverse aspects. It will also focus on bringing out the similarities and differences between them and lastly an outline of the components of the qualitative article.
Question 3
Comparing the two articles involves giving out what the qualitative research entails regarding information, structure and the general outlook of the research article vis a vis the quantitative research(Crescentini & Mainardi, 2009). Firstly, the qualitative research article focuses on cancer patients' reaction to pain at different levels of their life span conducted within a small population in a hospital; the results are obtained from a small group of people through an interview conducted at intervals.
The quantitative article focused on investigating nurses’ attitude to palliative sedation from different medical institutions. Qualitative research is subjective and only focuses on gathering information from patients without deviating from the objective of the study and look for any other information connected to cancer patients concerning pain.
Additionally, the data collection was based on informed consent where participants were interviewed at different intervals by the same interviewer. The interviews were non-structured and the interviewer had to change the topic guide of the questions so as to gather as much information as possible with the feeling that the respondents were not disclosing much information. This is quite different from the quantitative research which used structured questionnaires to gather information. The sample size was large and informants could answer the questions either in closed-ended or open-ended approach. The data process for qualitative research took a longer duration and time was allocated to every respondent that was being interviewed, this is not the case with quantitative research where questionnaires were distributed to different nurses and collected once they had finished answering them and time was not allocated to them. Three different people did data analysis of the qualitative research at intervals where the information was evaluated using the first eight results followed by the remaining cluster. The results were tabulated in numbers and grouping of the results was done where the respondents' results were recorded including their names. The results from the quantitative research were calculated using the nominal scale and they were tabulated in figures. Following the results, the discussion of the results was not quite detailed since the questions were altered during the interviews. The interviewer being a physician changed the question structure since he felt the questions hindered the patients from giving the desired information. This is quite contrary to the discussion on the results in the quantitative research article where detailed information is given on how the whole process of data collection was, the results gathered and the analysis done.
This research was also limited to a small sample size, and the interview was performed by a health practitioner in the field of nursing. Limitations are not highlighted in the quantitative research, though. Lastly, conclusion driven from the information collected in the qualitative research is very subjective and gives a summary of the data collected, there are no recommendations given to act as guidelines for future research, information is generalized and the inferences made leaves the reader with the sole responsibility of making his or her own judgement. This is different from the procedure used in the quantitative research since the conclusions made are stated with uttermost certainty basing on the researcher’s point of view from the results.
Question 4 (Similarities and differences)
The two research articles are similar and also vary in one way or the other in terms of structure. In comparing and contrasting the two research articles, the similarities and differences in their structure and the general layout of both types of research must be put into consideration. Both pieces of research had been conducted with the aim of assisting cancer patients struggling with pain. The qualitative study discussed on how the patients description of pain can be channelled to the medical practitioners and on how helpful this would be in assisting the studies of pain management. The quantitative study, on the other hand, discussed the palliative sedation as a method of pain reduction. The respondents used were in the medical field thus analysing information was easy. Both research articles have an introduction part detailing what the research is all about. The aims of the research are outlined in the articles. The articles also give information on the data collection methods. The analysis process is also given in both research articles. The two research articles also have the conclusion section of what the research was all about and detailed information of the references used for the research. Additionally, these articles lack literature review sections that one can use to connect with the research topic.
However, the two research articles vary concerning sample size, where qualitative research was carried out on a small sample size while quantitative research used a large sample size to collect information. The purposive aspect of the research articles also vary; qualitative research is subjective as the results are process-oriented than the quantitative research article which is result-oriented. The data collection methods used in conducting both types of research are varied considering that they were different concepts being measured. The data collection process in both articles involved two different structures. Qualitative research article used a non-structured interview method which was carried out by one interviewer who was a physician. A team of palliative experts approached patients and interviewed them to sample out their views. These patients were from different hospitals, homes and sanatoriums. The quantitative research, however, used a structured questionnaire method distributed to different nurses from different hospitals. The conclusion of the qualitative research was entirely speculative. The reader is left with the responsibility of making judgements on the inferences. This is quite contrary to quantitative research whose inferences are made by the researcher and based on certainty from the results gathered during the study.
Question 5
For this research to qualify as qualitative research, it means it has befitting characteristics that make it a qualitative one. This research has a statement of information that clearly defines what prompted the researchers to carry out the research. The purpose of this study is clearly explained as it strives to get information on pain management from cancer patients; this is of great importance to the nurses who are dealing with these patients as the information gathered will help them know how to handle such patients with regards to their pains. The research employs a research method that is in line with the research aim which was interviewing the cancer patients as this research touched on their health, being a qualitative research, the small sample size was appropriate and the respondents chosen were equal to the task.
In addition, the researchers also used an informed consent and the responses given by the respondents were based on their experiences as cancer patients, the data was analysed by three researchers who participated in the research so as to ensure credibility of the research, the analysis involved coding process and evaluation was based on the data collected. This research has a conclusion part which is in line with the purpose of the study, the conclusions are based on the findings as they highlight on the responses that were given by the respondents. The conclusion gives nurses and medics dealing with cancer patients a criteria of how to handle these patients and what questions to ask them to enable them deal with their pain management issues (Schou, Høstrup, Lyngsø, Larsen & Poulsen, 2011).
Conclusion
This paper involved a qualitative research paper on palliative care. It involved a comparison of two research papers which were quantitative and qualitative research articles. The two research articles analysed regarding similarities and differences. The two research articles have areas where they are in agreement e.g. topic content, target population, etc. However, they vary concerning sample size, data collection method, data analysis process and the basis of the conclusions. This paper also sought to scrutinize the qualitative research article to find if it is fit to be regarded as qualitative research. The analysis has uncovered that the article qualifies to be categorised as one since it has the features of a qualitative research i.e. the sample size, data collection method, inference formation, the purpose of the study and analysis process.
References
Crescentini, A., &Mainardi, G. (2009). Qualitative research articles: guidelines, suggestions and needs. Journal Of Workplace Learning, 21(5), 431-439. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/13665620910966820
Schou, L., Høstrup, H., Lyngsø, E., Larsen, S., &Poulsen, I. (2011).Validation of a new assessment tool for qualitative research articles.Journal Of Advanced Nursing, 68(9), 2086-2094. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2648.2011.05898.x
