Thursday, May 2, 2024

What is Descriptive Research? Definition, Methods, Types and Examples

descriptive design

As the demand for nurses increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, their determination to support patients as nurses grew even stronger. They also expressed a desire to share their expertise with younger nurses and provide guidance to other inactive nurses who were considering returning to work. It allows researchers to design and distribute surveys to a targeted sample of participants, collect data in a standardized format, and analyze the results. If you are working with quantitative and qualitative data, you must employ a range of different quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques to analyze the data collected. A documentary survey involves gathering and analyzing information using pre-existing data that is already available.

Data analysis and interpretation

It focuses on providing an accurate and detailed account of an already existing state of affairs between variables. Descriptive research answers the questions of “what,” “where,” “when,” and “how” without attempting to establish any causal relationships or explain any underlying factors that might have caused the behavior. In survey research, researchers create a survey or questionnaire and distribute it to respondents who give answers. Resuming employment engendered an ‘Enrichment of my own and my family’s life,’ demonstrated by enhancements in physical and mental well-being, the wholesome development of children, and economic incentives. Consequently, this theme illustrates the enrichment of the participants’ personal lives as a result of having fulfilling professional lives, and emerged as an additional motivator.

Ensure adequate sample size

For instance, a researcher may conduct a case study of a small business solely run by women that have successfully implemented sustainable business practices in their food cloth manufacturing business. As survey research involves working with extensive data, it is important to keep the focus of the investigation in mind. As you collect data, keep your research question and objectives in mind and aim to gather authentic and objective data without personal bias. The variables are compared using specific criteria that must be delineated as criterion variables. Therefore, this method is often used to describe a specific subject’s different characteristics rather than generalizable facts. In survey research, questionnaires or polls are used to collect information on a specific topic from respondents.

When Data Speak, Listen: Importance of Data Collection and Analysis Methods

“Pride in reconnecting with and contributing to society” stimulates nurses’ work motivation and enriches their professional lives. Previous studies have demonstrated that returning to work helps them regain self-esteem through their contribution to society, increasing pride as valuable society members [35, 36]. This study contributed new knowledge by highlighting how this sense of pride motivates returning nurses to pursue their professional careers. Nurses who had previously been inactive cited the desire to utilize their qualifications and contribute to the welfare of society as the main reason for returning to work [16]. They took pride in being nurses and were eager to apply their professional knowledge and skills, supported by their abundant clinical experience.

descriptive design

Aims

Descriptive research design uses a range of both qualitative research and quantitative data (although quantitative research is the primary research method) to gather information to make accurate predictions about a particular problem or hypothesis. Using descriptive research you can identify patterns in the characteristics of a group to essentially establish everything you need to understand apart from why something has happened. Ecological (also sometimes called as correlational) study design involves looking for association between an exposure and an outcome across populations rather than in individuals. For instance, a study in the United States found a relation between household firearm ownership in various states and the firearm death rates during the period 2007–2010.[9] Thus, in this study, the unit of assessment was a state and not an individual. Let us look at a study that was aimed to assess the prevalence of myopia among Indian children.[7] In this study, trained health workers visited schools in Delhi and tested visual acuity in all children studying in classes 1–9. Of the 9884 children screened, 1297 (13.1%) had myopia (defined as spherical refractive error of −0.50 diopters (D) or worse in either or both eyes), and the mean myopic error was −1.86 ± 1.4 D.

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descriptive design

The most well-known include cross-sectional studies, census surveys, sample surveys, case reports, and comparison studies. Descriptive research can be quantitative as it gathers quantifiable data to statistically analyze a population sample. These numbers can show patterns, connections, and trends over time and can be discovered using surveys, polls, and experiments. Using valid and reliable data collection methods is important to ensure that the data collected is accurate and can be used to answer the research question. Researchers should choose methods that are appropriate for the study and that can be administered consistently and systematically. Descriptive research provides a comprehensive picture of the characteristics and behaviors of a particular population or phenomenon, allowing researchers to gain a deeper understanding of the topic.

There is an immediate need for cost-effective measures aimed at mitigating the shortage of nurses. It helps you create a foundation for your research by helping you create an outline of your research subject. The target population is the group of individuals that you are examining in your research study.

The descriptive method of research cannot be used to test or verify the research problem as the data collected does not help explain the cause of the phenomena being studied. Results obtained through the descriptive method of research often have high external validity as research is conducted in the respondent’s natural environment and no variables are manipulated. Descriptive research often uses quantitative and qualitative research in amalgamation, providing a more holistic understanding of the research topic.

Theme 3: pride in reconnecting with and contributing to society

The majority of our participants had children, reflecting the fact that in Japan, 55–66% of nurses are parents [16, 45]. Specifically, nurses who temporarily left their employment due to childcare responsibilities had various reasons such as the absence of available childcare support. Especially in Japan, women often prioritize their childcare responsibilities over work commitments, or may feel societal pressure to remain at home and care for their children [46].

They want to start selling shoes for boys of the same age group as well and therefore want to gather information on the kind of shoes boys want to wear. They decide to conduct market research & choose the observational method to learn about different shoes boys wear nowadays. However, before identifying why a phenomenon occurred, it is integral to answer other questions first.

Consequently, the provision of “Conditions and support that sustain work-life balance” acted as an enabler, facilitating their continued engagement in work by sustaining their personal lives. Given that most participants were engaged in multiple tasks both at home and work, they experienced physical and mental fatigue and strain. However, they managed to overcome these challenges by receiving instrumental and emotional support from their families and friends. Examples of such assistance included husbands and children sharing household chores and friends providing emotional support during conflicts arising from the intersection of family and work responsibilities. Nurses constitute a vital cornerstone of the healthcare system, assuming a foundational role in providing patient care, and notably representing over half of the entire healthcare workforce [1]. The global nurse population was estimated at 27.9 million in 2018 [1], and there was a notable growth of 4.7 million nurses between 2013 and 2018 [1].

Observational studies, on the other hand, simply examine and describe uncontrollable variables¹. Brian Keogh (PhD, MSc, BNS, RNT, RPN) is an Assistant Professor in Mental Health Nursing at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin. His main area of research interest is mental health recovery and he specialises in qualitative research approaches with a particular emphasis on grounded theory.

This is critical, particularly for returning nurses, often with caregiving responsibilities, necessitating a balance between sustaining and enriching their professional and personal lives. According to the Two-Factor Theory, hygiene and motivation factors exist independently, while motivators do not exist without the presence of enablers. For example, without adequate support for nurses to achieve work-life balance, they are unable to enhance their own or their family’s quality of life.

However, the participants stressed the need for support from their colleagues during the initial phase of readjustment to their duties. Simultaneously, they sought appropriate levels of support while valuing their previous work experience and expertise. They felt reassured when their supervisors or colleagues offered support, recognizing them as both a beginner but also as someone with experience. The research team approached the Directors of Nursing and obtained permission to recruit potential participants. Written statements were distributed to the potential participants to explain the purpose and methods of the study.

The examples provided here demonstrate different ways qualitative descriptive methods can be used in a range of healthcare settings. According to Lambert and Lambert (2012), data analysis in qualitative descriptive research is data driven and does not use an approach that has emerged from a pre-existing philosophical or epistemological perspective. Within qualitative descriptive research, it is important analysis is kept at a level at which those to whom the research pertains are easily able to understand and so can use the findings in healthcare practice (Chafe, 2017).

Cross-sectional studies provide a glimpse of a phenomenon’s prevalence and features in a population. There are no ethical challenges with them and they are quite simple and inexpensive to carry out. You can further dissect descriptive research’s outcomes and use them for different types of investigation.

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