¶ … member's world is very important and provides the big picture. Consequently, the underlying philosophy suggests that the most meaningful approach to this type of study may be an ethnographic approach.
In this study, consistent with qualitative studies, there was no stated hypothesis to be tested. However, it was obvious that the researchers explored what might be considered to be a loose hypothesis. This loose hypothesis considered the link between nurses' attitudes toward answering the call bell and patient perception of quality care.
In qualitative research the concept of a strict independent variable is not present. The variable that can loosely be considered independent would be communication which consisted of a process. The process included answering the call bell, communicating the patient's requests and following through with the request.
The dependent variable in the study would be the patient perception of quality care. The suggestion would be that the nurse's response to the call bell influences the patient's perception of care. In this study however there is no testing of the "hypotheses," what occurs however is an in depth understanding of the phenomenon.
The authors of the study do not clearly identify a governing theoretical framework that guides the study. They explored quality of care using ethnographic methods. The results of the study however suggested that patient perception of what is quality care may be at odds with nurse perception; this difference reveals how power disparities influence care at in the hospital setting.
The population that was used for this study was a 36-bed medical-surgical unit at a University hospital. The study took place over a three-month period in the spring of 2002. The research used multiple data collection methods to explore the population.
References
Deitrick, L. Bokovoy, J. Stern, G. Panik, A. (2006). Dance of the Call Bells Using Ethnography
to Evaluate Patient Satisfaction with Quality of Care. Journal of Nursing Care Quality
21(4): 316-324.
