quantitative and qualitative study about blood pressure

Quantitative and Qualitative Study about Blood Pressure
1 a.
The process of conducting a qualitative research study about blood pressure first begins with the design of the study. As the method is qualitative, the approach is what next needs to be decided: what exactly is to be studied and how will data be collected and analyzed? For example, in the qualitative study by Bergdall et al. (2016), the researchers used a telemonitoring intervention, using focus groups and the interview method of collecting data. The qualitative process requires researchers to obtain information on the subjective experience of a phenomenon in most cases. The process is based on the notion that the researcher is seeking to understand what variables are impactful in a given scenario. There is no emphasis on testing variables; instead, the emphasis is on understanding what the variables are that make a difference among the population studied. A population then needs to be selected, the data collection method conducted, data gathered and analyzed, and finally reported.
1 b.
The kind of data that collected in a qualitative research study about blood pressure would likely be related to the experience of individuals who face complications related to blood pressure—such as individuals who suffer from hypertension, for example. A specific population, such as African American males in their 40s, might be one population from which data is extracted. The kind of data would be subjective—i.e., it would be data that tells about the experience of the population, what they find helpful or what obstacles they feel they face, or in what ways care providers find ways to distribute health literature most effectively to this population regarding their blood pressure problems.
1 c.
The kind of data that would be analyzed in a qualitative study on blood pressure would likely be thematic. If interviews were conducted, the interviews would be transcribed and content analysis conducted. Open coding and eidetic reduction would likely form the bulk of the analysis process. Thematic analysis would be the goal, with common themes among participants identified, as van Dipten et al. (2018) did in their qualitative study of practitioners’ perspectives on managing patients. Data could focus on what steps patients with blood pressure take to address diet and exercise issues.
1 d.
The kind of data that would be reported in a qualitative research study about blood pressure would be thematic and descriptive. In phenomenological studies, for instance, the experience of the researcher is coupled with the experience of the participants to provide a unique approach to reporting on data. The report would, however, focus on common themes that emerge from the analysis to show what variables are impactful and what one can understand from the analysis.
1 e.
The qualitative research approach that would most likely be used in relation to blood pressure would be the interview approach, with interview conducted of patients or care providers in order to better understand their experience with dealing with high or low blood pressure. The purpose of this approach would be so that the research can identify specific variables or factors that are important or meaningful for the population so that these can be better understood and be used as a basis for future investigation, policy development as well as testing.
2 a.
The steps for conducting a quantitative research study about measuring blood pressure either manually or with a blood pressure machine would involve identifying a population, establishing a hypothesis to test if the design is experimental, obtaining access to the sample, making sure the method is valid and reliable, and then collecting the data from the population, analyzing it for statistical significance, and reporting the findings. If the study uses literature that is already available, a collection process has to be devised, and the data analysis method used to measure the findings provided by this source.
2 b.
Data that would be collected in quantitative research about blood pressure would include statistical evidence related to measurements of blood pressure, the extent to which measurement processes are found to be effective, simple to implement, difficult to obtain, easier on patients, and so on. The data that would be collected could come by way of survey, with a Likert-scale measurement implemented to score the responses of patients or care providers regarding the method of blood pressure measurement involved in the study, as Woolsey, Brown, Ralls, Friedrichs and Stults (2017) did using a yes/no Likert scale response measurement.
2 c.
The kind of data that would be analyzed in a quantitative research study about blood pressure would be of various levels, depending on the data collection method. Data could be ordinal, or nominal, ratio or interval. The data would be analyzed by performing tests, such as t-tests or Pearson’s correlation analysis. The mean or median of central tendency might be identified, and so on.
2 d.
The kind of data that would be reported in a quantitative research study about blood pressure would include data on the central tendency of the population, the mean, the median, the percentage of the population that reported a specific trait related to the variable being tested, or data on significance of the findings, outliers, and so on. The data would be reported using graphs, tables, charts, as well as statistics that could provide empirical evidence of the importance of the findings.
2 e.
The research could be experimental, meaning the variables are controlled, or non-experimental, meaning the variables are not controlled for and instead an intervention is developed and implemented and the results simply observed and reported. For an experimental design, the study would have to ensure that no other variables are impacting the outcome. The non-experimental study should do the same, but the focus is less on devising an experiment in which there is an intervention and a control. A study on measuring blood pressure could benefit from a non-experimental approach in order to observe the results of an intervention, gather the data in a statistical manner, and report the empirical results so that evidence-based practice can be developed and implemented by professionals. If the researchers have no variables that they want to test, an experimental design would not be appropriate; a non-experimental design in which the intervention’s outcomes are simply observed would be the right one.
References
Bergdall, A. R., Sperl-Hillen, J. M., O'Connor, P. J., Asche, S. E., Crabtree, B. F., Smith,
E. A., ... & Trower, N. K. (2016). Qualitative Data from a Trial of Home Blood Pressure Telemonitoring and Pharmacist Management. Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews, 3(3), 182-183.
van Dipten, C., van Berkel, S., de Grauw, W. J., Scherpbier-de Haan, N. D., Brongers, B.,
van Spaendonck, K., ... & Dees, M. K. (2018). General practitioners’ perspectives on management of early-stage chronic kidney disease: a focus group study. BMC Family Practice, 19(1), 81.
Woolsey, S., Brown, B., Ralls, B., Friedrichs, M., & Stults, B. (2017). Diagnosing
hypertension in primary care clinics according to current guidelines. The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 30(2), 170-177.