REVIEW OF LITERATURE

The rationale for postponing

the literature review is related
to the goal of achieving a pure
description of the phenomenon
under the investigation.
 TRUSTWORTHINESS AND
AUTHENTICITY OF DATA
 Put to study participants depends
on the extent to which they tap
the participants’ experiences
apart from the participants’
theoretical knowledge of the
topic.
 Consistent use of the method and
bracketing prior knowledge helps
to ensure pure description of
data.
 TRUSTWORTHINESS AND
AUTHENTICITY OF DATA
Requesting negative
descriptions of the
phenomenon under
investigation is helpful in
establishing authenticity and
trustworthiness of the data
 PHENOMENOLOGY IN
PRACTICE, EDUCATION &
ADMINISTRATION
 Very often in nursing we are
faced with practice, education and
administrative experiences that
seem to present patterns that are
familiar to us. In order to validate
our perceptions research must be
conducted to explore and describe
the phenomenon fully and
accurately.
APPLICATION TO PRACTICE
 Many nursing interventions
performed in clinical settings
lend themselves to quantitative
measurement.
 Subjective phenomena unique to
the practice of professional
nursing need investigate
approaches suitable to their
unique nature.
APPLICATION TO PRACTICE
Phenomenology as a
qualitative research method
has been used to explore a
variety of practice-related
experiences and facilitates
understanding of subjective
interactive experiences.
APPLICATION TO PRACTICE
 Nurse are in a prime position to
identify issues related to nursing
practice that need to be
understood and described more
fully.
 Example: “The Experience of
Caring for a Family Member with
Alzheimer’s Disease” by Butcher
et al.
APPLICATION TO PRACTICE
 Butcher et al. (2001) emphasize
the need for a qualitative
research design , noting that
“the bulk of ADRD family
caregiving research has been
conducted by means of surveys,
and closed-ended interview
methods that rely heavily on
standardized psychometric
instruments including
 various depression and anxiety
scales, caregiver burden scales,
symptom checklists, and
structural diagnostic assessment
tool”
 APPLICATION TO PRACTICE
 ‘One of the unique features of van
Kaam’s phenomenological
method is the reporting of
frequencies and percentages of the
participants for each of the
preliminary structural elements and
essential structural elements.
APPLICATION TO PRACTICE
 Data analysis was described in
detail and followed the rigorous
research methodology described
by van Kaam. The steps of van
Kaam are used to clarify how
essential and preliminary
structural elements were
developed and percentages
calculated.
 APPLICATION TO
EDUCATION
 Nursing education also lends
itself to objective and subjective
research interests.
 Test construction and critical
thinking are education – related
examples that are appropriate
for quantitaive investigation,
although not exclusively.
 APPLICATION TO
EDUCATION
 The educational domain of
nursing also lends itself to
qualitative investigation in areas
such as educational experiences,
caring and the curriculum, or the
effect of evaluation on student
performance in the clinical
setting.
 APPLICATION TO
EDUCATION
 Nursing education is an important
area of research that can be
studied using qualitative
approaches.
 Example: “Technological
Competence as a Fundamental
Structure of Learning in Critical
Care Nursing: A Phenomenological
Study” by Little (2000)
 APPLICATION TO
EDUCATION
 Little (2000) described her
participant selection in detail.
Her selection process supported
a qualitative framework in that it
was purposeful, and subjects had
experience with the phenomenon
under investigation.
 APPLICATION TO
EDUCATION
 Little(2000) also addresses the
protection of human subjects
and she notes that ethical
principles were honored.
 The data collection strategies use
by Little (2000) support
phenomenological approaches to
description, discovery, and
understanding.
 APPLICATION TO
ADMINISRATION
There is limited literature on
studies related to nursing
administration that use
qualitative approaches.
 APPLICATION TO
ADMINISRATION
 The development of qualitative
research that describes
phenomena important to nursing
administration might include
research that examines
professional nurse behavior and
work satisfaction, successful
leadership strategies, and
perspective on nurse
empowerment.
 APPLICATION TO
ADMINISRATION
Example study: “Management
from Four Different
Perspectives” by Lindholm,
Uden, and Rastam (1999) is
presented as an example of
the application of qualitative
research in the area of
administration.
 APPLICATION TO
ADMINISRATION
The phenomenon of interest,
identified in the study,
focused on gaining an
understanding of the process
of nursing management in a
developing organization.
 APPLICATION TO
ADMINISRATION
 The purpose of the study was to
“illuminate nursing management in
a developing organization from the
perspectives of nurse managers,
chief physicians, hospital doctors
and politicians respectively”
(Lindholm et al., 1999). The
authors make explicit their
purpose and support it with a
review of the literature.
 APPLICATION TO
ADMINISRATION
 The sample included 15 nurse
managers, 11 chief physicians,
and three politicians who were
chairmen of the local health
boards. “The nurse managers
were all women, except for one.
In the other groups all the
participants were men”
(Lindholm et al, 1999)
 APPLICATION TO
ADMINISRATION
 The method used to collect data
was compatible with the research
purpose and adequately
addressed the phenomena of
interest.
 The findings demonstrate the
participants’ realities and the
researchers relate the findings of
the study to what is already
known.