Psychological Status Of The Chronically Ill Rural Women

I was asked to identify if this research study was quantitative or qualitative and found that it was quantitative in nature. According to Hagan (2010) the definition of quantitative is, “Investigations that involve heavy use of statistical procedures; statistical manipulations of data considered primary in an effort to discover patterns of behavior” (p. 14). Based on this and the fact that the researchers conducted their own research and provided statistics, I believe my finding is factual and sound.

Counseling, along with other mental health care services, are often lacking in rural communities. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), rural areas suffer from chronic shortages of mental health care professionals. Providers who do practice in rural communities are less likely to be available to the public since they are overwhelmed with the amount of clients they serve. There is often a shortage of health care services and residents in rural communities often have to travel to receive care, which makes rural individuals less likely to report needing assistance and less likely to accept treatment (APA, n.d.). Additional barriers faced by rural community dwellers seeking mental health care services include lack of insurance plans that cover mental health care services, stigmas that surround mental health illness, and difficulty maintaining anonymity in a small area (APA, n.d.). Even though rural communities desperately need mental health care services and competent providers, these populations are still widely underserved.

Hypothesis is typically used in quantitative research only. Moreover, when a question poses an inquiry on the relationship between two variables, a hypothesis is a statement declarative in nature of the relationship between different variables (Pajares 2007). A researcher chooses whether to use a question or a hypothesis depending on the purpose of the research, its objectives, the methodology for the research and the preference of the audience to receive the research. A researcher must be able to interpret the final outcome with reference to the research questions or the hypothesis used (Pajares 2007). A research requires a minimum of two hypotheses namely a null and an alternative hypothesis.

The researchers included both a hypothesis and research questions. They stated a hypothesis, however it is a research hypothesis versus a null hypothesis. A research hypothesis explains there is correlation between two or more variables. A null hypothesis is a classification of hypotheses that states there is no connection between the independent and dependent variables. Statistical testing is performed to determine whether the statement is acceptable or not. Whereas the research question is an analysis statement detailing the variables and population of the specified research study (Adams, 2015). The hypothesis, the authors were hoping to prove, was whether the use of music would reduce pain and anxiety in postoperative pain in a particular patient population during a defined time frame (Allred et al., 2010). An example of a null hypothesis for this study would state music would have no effect on postoperative pain in a particular patient population during a defined time frame. There were four research questions the researchers attempted to answer. Three of the four questioned the effect of music on the patient’s pain, anxiety, and physiologic parameters. However the fourth question pertained to the impact of music on the amount of opioids taken from the beginning of the intervention until six hours later (Allred et al., 2010). The clinicians had not mentioned this component of the study before

When discussing the research question and hypothesis, one might interrelate these two concepts when in fact these terms differ from one another. The research question guides the research by creating a question that pertains to a particular topic one might be interested in gaining more knowledge in that particular area (L. Sabol, personal communication, April, 2016). Research questions can come from values, theories, or previous research (L. Sabol, personal communication, April, 2016). The research question within the article that the researcher wanted to examine is, “To what extent do pre-college characteristics and the academic performance of Black male student-athletes differ from their student-athlete peers?”(Horton, 2015, p. 289). With this research question the author Horton (2015), is attempting to figure out whether there is a relationship between Black male college student

Quantitative research is research that has been conducted for the purpose of obtaining the attitudes, behavior or performance of people in numerical form. It is designed to generate projectable numerical data about a topic.

“Quantitative research involves numbers and measuring quantitative or amounts”. (Whitehouse, M, 2010:425). Methods that involve quantitative data may

This study is quantitative because it looks at a large group of people based on scale based on observed indicators. It is also observational because, as I previously stated the scale is based on observed indicators, and looks at independent and dependent variables. Lastly, this study is also longitudinal because, it repeatedly observed the independent variables over time.

2) State the hypothesis tested – Did the authors state one or is it implied? If there is more than one hypothesis then state those as well.

Hypothesis is a specific, testable prediction about what you expect to happen in your study. The hypothesis of the study conducted is, if you take this new pill, it will temporarily stimulate a region of the frontal lobe of the brain and improve an individual’s speech deficiency. The independent variable is a variable that is intentionally changed to observe its effect on the dependent variable, and the dependent variable is the even studied and

“Researchers who use quantitative research method seek objectivity through testable hypotheses and carefully designed studies, and gather date that can be reported in numbers and statistics” (Crawford, 2016, p. 66). According to Crawford (2016, p. 66) “conclusions from this study are drawn from statistics and generalized to populations of interest”. Unlike qualitative that helps to eliminate opinions and thoughts, quantitative quantify opinions and thoughts and they obtain results from a larger sampling population. As I had previously stated on my discussion board “Quantitative researcher’s collection methods include many different kinds of surveys for example; online surveys, paper surveys, online polls, face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, and etc”(myself). “They use the surveys to measure attitudes, behaviors, and opinions” (myself).

Is this a quantitative or qualitative study? Explain your choice. This study quantitative, because it shows numbers and data to show how many injuries have been done to nurses during the restraining of aggressive patients and the factors that can be modifies to improve the nurses during the restraining.

The method used for the study was quantitative, this was chosen rather than a qualitative as this deals with facts and figures and is an investigatory type of study. This can be either experimental or non experiment. Experimental is the method used in this study which looks at cause and effect, and involves dependent and independent variables. (Balnaves and Caputi, 2001) A qualitative study can be described as interpretive which deals with personal thoughts and feelings (Flick, 2009).

The topic that I researched was if chewing gum affected concentration. This was interesting to me because I’ve seen things on the internet that says “Chewing gum helps you remember things” or “chewing gum helps you concentrate” and I wanted to know if it was true. A hypothesis is a prediction statement that you can test, about the relationship between two variables. The hypothesis for this research is that I believe that gum does help you concentrate because it helps you stay alert instead of getting distracted or dozing off.

Quantitative research involves collecting data, which can be expressed numerically. The design is well structured with pre-determined outcomes. It frequently involves testing a hypothesis, which then can be analysed from the data deductively using statistical methods. Using numerical data is easier to analysis mathematical, so larger sample sizes can be utilised compared to qualitative research, therefore giving a better representative of the population; along with simplifying the process of making a generalisation. Another advantage is that studies can easily compare to similar findings (Kruger, 2003). The disadvantages are the results are limited and might not provide a proper understanding of the topic. Also, statistics and leading questions can be used to give a false representation of the data when summarising.