Qualitative Research Designs Assignment Sample

• Subject Name : Health Sciences

Research Proposal

1. Qualitative aim/research question

The research which is needed to be conducted should be on exploring the experience of antenatal and postnatal depression among immigrant women. This topic aims to improve the mental wellbeing of pregnant ladies who have migrated from elsewhere.

1. Study design

The study design should be qualitative because it seeks to understand why individuals have feelings and thoughts which affect or impact their way of behaviour. Research which is qualitative does not attempt to make the findings generalized for a wide population base. This type of research design is utilized to gain a deeper understanding of an individual's thoughts, emotions and feelings. The people who conduct qualitative research also try to know the thoughts and emotions of the subjects who are under observation (Sutton & Austin, 2015). By doing this, the researcher also gains a complete and holistic understanding of cultural or social phenomena. This type of research is conducted by methods which are flexible in nature and are sensitive to the people in respect of their social context (Astalin, 2013). With that, it also takes into account the complications, context and details of the situation. Even though the qualitative research is not easy and it may require a lot of thinking but it is best kind of research for accessing people's thoughts in a way which do not harm them (Sutton & Austin, 2015).

For our study also, we need a study design that will help us to look into immigrant pregnant women mind so that we can know if they are suffering from antenatal and postnatal depression. We need to collect and analyze data in such a way that will give us deeper knowledge and information about the participant’s feelings and emotions. We need to know about women current state of mind and qualitative research is appropriate to do that. By using a qualitative research method we will be aware of their thoughts and feelings and whether they are suffering from depression.

2. Sampling and recruitment

The sample that would be recruited for the study will be immigrant women who are pregnant or who have given births to their babies in the last year. These participants who are pregnant or was pregnant will be taken because we need to study depression in the women who are about to become mothers or juts have become mothers in the last year. We will include all those women who have migrated from some other places. The women should be pregnant and should be in their second or third trimester. The other set of women that should be taken in the study should have delivered their child in the last 11 months. By this, we can see antenatal and postnatal depression in women. Those women who are not pregnant should be excluded from the study. In addition, women who are in their first trimester or have delivered their baby before 11 months should also be removed from the study. We should also not take teenage girls who are pregnant or women who are above 38 and are expecting their child. The age group should between 21-37 years.

The sampling method that should be used is a convenient sampling. Convenience sampling is a non-probability sampling technique which is easily applicable to various clinical researches. In this type of sampling, the researchers enrol subjects or participants according to their own accessibility. This method is fast and convenient as compared to any other method (Elfil & Negida, 2017). For our study also we will take participants who will visit a particular hospital facility. Therefore, we are finding participants on the basis of their availability and our convenience. 

The sample size that will be taken for the study will be 50. In which, 25 immigrant women will be pregnant and other 25 will be those who have delivered their baby in the last year. This sample size is taken so that the study which will be conducted will be correct and could be used to estimate the results for the population. The sample size has not taken to be very large otherwise threat to internal and external validity will arise.

The recruitment will be done by posting multiple flyers on the hospital’s notice board so that the relevant participants could see it. Also, they would be provided with free vouchers for shopping.

3. Data collection

Data collection will be done by interviewing the women in a private and closed setting. Interviews are taken as a method of data collection because it can help one person to express his/her views, opinions and thoughts to another person. Interviews could be done face to face and that would create a clear understanding of what the subject is trying to say. There are no distractions present for the participants and hence data gathering can proceed in a smooth manner (Young et al., 2018).

In addition to that, we can provide a questionnaire to the participants which would consist of questions which are related to their pregnancy, their thoughts and feelings and to their emotions. We can also ask them about their mental health status or how they are feeling lately, do they have experienced any negative emotion for a long period of time. Questionnaires are a simple form of communication between the participant and the researcher. Even though this method is time consuming but every statement made by the subject is in the written form. Errors of forgetting what the subject has stated cannot happen in this type of data collection method (Ebert et al., 2018).

The audio could also be recorded while the interview is going on. This would help the researcher to go back and comment on the impressions, behaviours, environmental and non-verbal cues that were presented by the subject. It could also help researchers to remind what the situations were while the audio was being recorded. Later on, audio clips could also be analyzed for results investigation purpose (Sutton & Austin, 2015). Therefore, data for this study should be collected via interviews, questionnaire and recording of the audio.

The data should be collected in hospital settings in a room which is secluded and provide the participant with the privacy that she needed. The gathering of data should be done by the researcher where he/she would listen to the participant carefully and would note down important things which are relevant for the research.

4. Proposed data analysis

The analysis should be done by grounded theory because this technique is a very flexible method. The methodology is correct for the happenings about which very less information is known. This theory aims to construct a plan or reveal a process which is under inquiry. The characteristic of this type of theory is that it will create a theory which is grounded in terms of data. In the end, it will provide us with a theory which will be integrated and will help us in correlating the data that is obtained (Chun Tie, Birks & Francis, 2019).

5. Rigour

Rigour for the qualitative study can be maintained if there is internal validity, reliability, external validity and objectivity. For that, we can maintain the internal validity by carefully planning the research and applying the proper quality control while collecting the data and while analyzing it. Quality of paper could also be maintained by looking at external validity and making sure that the participants closely resembles the population so that the research could be generalized for a large number of people (Patino, & Ferreira, 2018). Another method which could be used to increase the quality of the study is to conduct a pilot-scale study. This type of study is performed by taking fewer people. It is important because it makes significant improvements in the research quality and in its effectiveness. It could also assess the research safety which will make participants more comfortable while giving their data (In, 2017).

6. Ethics

The ethics that should be considered for this study should be that it should not harm the patient’s situation. The participants should be included in research on the basis of their consent and they should be given the option if they want to leave the study in between so that the research doesn’t harm the patient’s mental wellbeing. The researchers who are conducting the study should also be aware of probable benefits and risks that might be caused to the patients. They should be provided with an option of undoing their decision to carry on with the study. The patients should also be given the opportunity to rejoin the study when they feel that they are doing well (Jain et al., 2017).

Informed consent should be taken by the participants in written form. It should be based on 3 important aspects such as providing complete information about the protocol that will be followed during the research, its competence so that participants could understand the entire information and they make an informed decision and autonomy that subject will be able to take an autonomous decision which is not influenced by the disease, cultural factor or any other external factor (Jain et al., 2017).

Another important aspect that is needed to be maintained is the patient's autonomy. The information that is provided by the subject should be remained confidential and should not be shared with anyone without proper consent from the subject themselves. The research should keep the identity of the participants hidden so that no one else can harm them or their mental wellbeing. In addition, they should be given protection so that their privacy is not hampered (Jain et al., 2017).

7. Reflection

This study could be performed by taking Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders also. The study design will remain the same which is qualitative because it is the best kind of study to know about people's underlying feeling and thoughts. The sampling will be conducted by the convenience and for those women who are pregnant or have delivered their babies recently. The pregnant women should be in their second and third trimester whereas the mothers should have delivered the baby in the last 11 months. They all should be in the ages of 21-37 years. The sample should be the same as immigrant women and should be recruited through the same way that is by flyers distribution. Data should be collected in the same way that is via interviews and questionnaires. The answers should be recorded by an audiotape for bettering understanding and researcher's referral. Data collection should take place in a hospital in a private and quiet setting. Data analysis could be done via grounded theory only. As for rigour, the same strategies could be used that is to maintain internal and external validity and to first perform a pilot-scale study. The ethics for them should include consideration for their cultural background and sensitivity towards their cultures, values and beliefs. They should be treated in a dignified and respectful manner. Their consent should be taken and they should be free to make any decision for themselves in between the study. They should also be given privacy and confidentiality while the research is going on and their data and their personal information should not be shared without their permission.

References for Qualitative Research Designs

Astalin, P. K. (2013). Qualitative research designs: A conceptual framework. International Journal of Social Science & Interdisciplinary Research, 2(1), 118-124.

Chun Tie, Y., Birks, M., & Francis, K. (2019). Grounded theory research: A design framework for novice researchers. SAGE Open Medicine, 7, 2050312118822927. https://doi.org/10.1177/2050312118822927

Ebert, J. F., Huibers, L., Christensen, B., & Christensen, M. B. (2018). Or web-based questionnaire invitations as a method for data collection: Cross-sectional comparative study of differences in response rate, completeness of data, and financial cost. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 20(1), e24.

Elfil, M., & Negida, A. (2017). Sampling methods in Clinical Research; An Educational Review. Emergency (Tehran, Iran), 5(1), e52.

In J. (2017). Introduction of a pilot study. Korean Journal of Anesthesiology, 70(6), 601–605. https://doi.org/10.4097/kjae.2017.70.6.601

Jain, S., Kuppili, P. P., Pattanayak, R. D., & Sagar, R. (2017). Ethics in Psychiatric Research: Issues and Recommendations. Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, 39(5), 558–565. https://doi.org/10.4103/IJPSYM.IJPSYM_131_17

Patino, C. M., & Ferreira, J. C. (2018). Internal and external validity: Can you apply research study results to your patients?. Jornal Brasileiro de Pneumologia : Publicacao Oficial da Sociedade Brasileira de Pneumologia e Tisilogia, 44(3), 183. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1806-37562018000000164

Sutton, J., & Austin, Z. (2015). Qualitative research: Data collection, analysis, and management. The Canadian Journal of Hospital Pharmacy, 68(3), 226–231. https://doi.org/10.4212/cjhp.v68i3.1456

Young, J. C., Rose, D. C., Mumby, H. S., Benitez‐Capistros, F., Derrick, C. J., Finch, T., ... & Parkinson, S. (2018). A methodological guide to using and reporting on interviews in conservation science research. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 9(1), 10-19.

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