Peer-Reviewed Nursing Articles The study by Van Oostveen, Mathijssen and Vermeulen (2015) is characterized as qualitative because its primary objective was to obtain more “in-depth insight” into the experiences and perceptions of nurses regarding nurse overwork. This is a regular aspect of qualitative studies: they do not seek to test a hypothesis or identify a correlation among variables but rather to better understand a phenomenon or gain insight into the subjective experience of a group. Instead of statistical analysis being conducted, the qualitative study typically identifies themes or factors that can help researchers obtain more knowledge on what is most impactful regarding a specific issue. To collect data for the study, researchers conducted focus groups and interviews, which are common qualitative methods for collecting data because they provide opportunities that allow the participants to talk at length and give a great deal of information in their own terms so that researchers can get to know the participants’ perspective in detail. For a qualitative study it is necessary that researchers get as much information from participants as possible—thus, interview and focus group methods are suitable to that aim.

The study by Allen, Holland and Reynolds (2015) is characterized as quantitative because it examines...

The researchers used the survey method to obtain data from 762 nurses. Data was quantified using the Likert-scale. The researchers then used hierarchical regression analysis to test two hypotheses once the data was obtained. In this manner the researchers were able to provide quantifiable data—statistical or empirical evidence—that allowed them see whether to support or reject their hypotheses based on whether the data showed statistically significant correlations between the variables tested. This kind of study design and method is typical of quantitative research.
The selections were chosen because they both addressed in different study designs the issue of burnout in nursing. Burnout is a common problem in nursing and is related to the problem of nursing turnover rates being high and job satisfaction being low (Khamisa, Oldenburg, Peltzer & Ilic, 2015). Both articles were published in peer-reviewed nursing journals. Both studies were clearly written with problem, purpose, method, analysis, and discussion sections clearly marked to make for easy reading. Both studies indicated internal and external validity as well as reliability, which are important issues to consider when justifying a scholarly article’s merit (Curtis, Fry, Shaban &…