Qualitative Critique Essay Examples

Problem Statement: Capturing the Reader’s Attention

In the article Why are Nurses Leaving?, MacKusick and Minick (2010) investigate some of the factors that are contributing to the increasing problem of the shortage of nurses in the United States. The authors start by citing nursing workforce projections showing that the shortage of registered nurses in the US is likely to reach 500,000 by 2025. In other words, the article start with the problem. These statistics are alarming and from the outright, the reader knows there is a big problem (considering the significance of the health care industry). The authors have successfully captured the attention of the reader. They follow this by showing why this, the declined number of registered nurses, may not be an exaggeration. Already, by 2008, there was an 8 percent unfilled nurse vacancies in the US. Even then, statistics show, 30 percent to 50 percent of all new registered nurses either completely drop out of nursing or change positions within the healthcare industry inside 3 years in their jobs. Now the projections seems to be coming truer.

Qualitative Research

This is a qualitative research study, which is appropriate considering that this study is not about numbers. Instead, it looks for answers and explanations to a ‘why’ question.

Literature Review

MacKusick and Minick (2010) cite many literatures on related issues. These add to their topic of focus. They have also used the appropriate methodology to investigate this issue. They use a purposive sampling technique to recruit participants. The inclusion criteria are a participant must be a nurse with a year of clinical practice but have had no clinical practice for the last 6 months.
Unlike random sampling, purposive sampling is a non-probability technique. The researcher makes the decisions regarding who should participate, including the inclusion and exclusion criteria. This technique is use when the researcher seeks specialist knowledge that can be had from an exclusive group of people who would provide just the data he or she is looking for (Oliver, 2006). This technique suits the targeted group and purpose of this study. As already noted, this study focuses on the perceptions of former registered nurses regarding their reasons for quitting their jobs. But since these former nurses are not concentrated in one specific area (but are scattered and isolated from each other across wide geographical areas). In other words, one cannot just throw a net at random and hope to catch a former registered nurse. They have to be found, and it only them who can provide the information the researchers are looking for. In fact, the primary investigator had to use currently practicing registered nurses as contacts, asking them if they knew any former registered nurses. The current nurses were used to help recruit former nurses, who were the contacted by telephone. This is why this sampling technique is appropriate.
For data collection and analysis involved ten semi-structured interviews. The choice of semi-structured interviewing is for the qualitative research that this study was. It is best used when it is hard to find the interviewee(as the former registered nurses were) and it is not guaranteed the researchers can reach the participant again. The technique is also advisable when sending several interviewers out to collect data. According to DiCicco-Bloom and Crabtre(2006), semi-structured interviews help to provide reliable and comparable qualitative data. They help the researcher to understand the topic of investigated in more depth. Although the open-ended questions may lead the interviewees to stay fromthe primary topic of focus. Regardless, this may still provide the researcher with the opportunity to identity new approaches and understanding.
The answers were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Audio-recording of interviews helps capture everything, including shat may seem as straying from the topic, but which may end up being valuable to the research process.
In the end, the methodology used works well for this paper. It helps the researchers to find just the answers they look for. Most importantly, the use of semi-structured interviews provide good quality data and gives the researchers the opportunity to learn new ways to explore the topic, which may provide more valuable data. Moreover, the authors were thorough with their work. After transcribing the data, the researchers contacted the interviewees again to see if they could clarify anything further.
Majority of the former registered nurses who participated were female (80 percent), Caucasian (70 percent) and between the ages of 40-49 years (70 percent.
In the end, the researchers focused on the issue son which the participants seemed to agree on. Generally, the nurses cited three main issues as the reasons behind their quitting. They spoke of unfriendly workplace, emotional distress, and fatigue and exhaustion. These factors were found to be related to many issues, including nurse-patient conflict in decision-making, and even an allusion to sexual abuse.

Verdict

MacKusick and Minick (2010) followed the appropriate steps for this study. Research approach (qualitative approach), methodology and even data analysis. However, the main problem would have to be the small number of participants. Participants more than 10 would have provided more valid results. But then again, perhaps it is because it is hard to find the former registered nurses who have quit their jobs that this research has not been conducted. Moreover, these results seemed to lean more towards the Caucasian female nurses aged between 40 and 49 years of age. On this note, this study opens the way for further research on the basis of sex, race/ethnicity and age-group. Most importantly, though, this study calls for a bigger study that involves a bigger area and, therefore, more nurses. A wider scope would provide a solid basis for even more credible finds.

References

DiCicco-Bloom, B. & Crabtree, B.J. (2006). Making Sense of Qualitative Research.
Medical Education, 40, 314-321
MacKusick, C.I. & Minick, P. (2010). Why Are Nurses Leaving? Findings from an
Initial Qualitative Study on Nursing Attrition. MEDSURG Nursing, 19(6), 335-340
Oliver, P. (2006). Purposive Sampling. The SAGE Dictionary of Social Research Methods