Nursing Dilemma Research and Nursing Questions Research

Nursing Dilemma

Research and Nursing Questions

Research is a complex and nuanced concept which means that one approach might not, in and of itself, answer the full scope of one's research questions. This is why it can sometimes be useful to combine Quantitative and Qualitative research strategies. This can help to provide a multidimensional perspective on a given research problem. The text by Bennett & Braumoller (2006) refers to the combination of these approaches as a Mixed Methods research strategy.

The use of Mixed Method research strategies is based on the view that researcher can produce greater on a subject by varying the approaches which are used to collect data. The idea that both qualitative and quantitative data gathering processes can produce a more expansive data set is driven by the understanding that there are often distinct limitations in the conclusions we can make from narrowly framed research investigations. (Bennett & Braumoller, p. 1)

Alternately, Bennett & Braumoller (2006) describe the greater research flexibility created by the use of mixed methods, reporting that "formal models can provide deductively valid and counter-intuitive insights, but they are not an empirical method and must be combined with either statistical or case studies to become so. Case study methods can use process tracing to look for detailed evidence on causal mechanisms and causal processes within cases, but they face limitations in generalizing these results to cases not studied. Statistical studies can identify patterns and correlations, but they cannot readily examine the operation of causal mechanisms in particular cases. When methods are used in combination, they can help offset the limits of either method used alone." (Bennett, 1)

Part 2:

One of the most critical dilemmas facing professional nurses and the healthcare community on the whole is that surrounding the national and state-by-state shortages of nurses. Indeed, "according to a July 2002 report by the Health Resources and Services Administration, 30 states were estimated to have shortages of registered nurses (RNs) in the year 2000." (Media Relations, 1)

These shortages link to some troubling premonitions about our collective ability to provide high-quality and responsive treatment to a growing population of patients. In the next several decades, as the baby-boomer population continues to age into retirement, the number of individuals receiving Medicare and Social Security benefits will be greater than America's workforce. This does not bode well for our ability to care for our seniors in healthy and dynamic medical treatment contexts.

This is why my area of research interest is this issue of nursing shortages. Such shortages may relate to issues of high job turnover, low worker morale, poor rates of compensation or poor recruitment of future qualified nurses through nursing education institutions. However, in order to address this troubling public health issue, it will be necessary to better understand its roots.