The Relationship Between Research Theory and Health and Social Care Practices - Essay Example

Health and Social Care Different researchers have defined research differently. However, the underlying message remains the same in most of the definitions. Scholar Clifford in his article “Nursing and health care research” published in London, defined research as a planned rational series of steps which can be adopted in analyzing the relationships between the happenings or the results of such events (Clifford, 1997). Polit and Hungler in their book also explained that research is a method of inquiry that is systematic in nature and adopts scientific order to ask or solve questions (Polit & Hungler, 1993). However, the definition that really caught my attention was the one that defined research as a systematic, planned, investigation of a stated problem with a pre-established or decided outcome, which will contribute to understanding the issue in question (Carnwell, 2015). In all the above definitions, there is the element of systematic, and planned even if not directly but may synonymously be implied by the used words. In other words, research must be systematic and planned. Research is divided into three categories depending on different facets like; purpose, type of variables, data type, collection and analysis of data methods. Using these criteria, we have; Qualitative research Quantitative research and Mixed research. Mixed research has just like its name, a fusion of the above two methods. For this paper’s sake, I’m going to only discuss qualitative and quantitative methods. Quantitative Research This is a research that basically depends on collection and gathering of quantifiable or measurable data. It may be defined as a method that involves collecting numerical data under controllable conditions and the subsequent statistical analysis of information generated afterwards (Burns & Grove, 2001). In summary, it has the following characteristics that make it distinct from qualitative research: Characteristics of Quantitative Research It is a hard science that is normally aimed at testing an already existing theory with a narrow but concise perspective (Johnson & Christensen, 2008). Its reasoning is deductive in nature It relies on numbers or quantitative values for statistical analysis. The findings of this research can be generalized to other populations due to its formal nature of its objectives. It embraces double blinding where either the respondent or the researchers’ biases is not obviously evident. In this research, the researcher tests hypotheses and theory with the data, in other words, the researcher just does confirmatory analysis. This method embraces larger and randomly selected group to study specific variables. The population may be large but the variable is specified. Under this research, there is a single objective that defines the study plus, the report must be based on statistics. Correlations and other measures of central tendencies are calculated and reported (Johnson & Christensen, 2008). Qualitative Research This research involves collecting and analyzing systematically materials, using personal feelings through procedures in which there tends to be a minimum of researcher control to minimize bias of the researcher (Polit & Hungler, 1993). In this type, there is mostly personal feelings involved and most of the findings are not quantifiable. Characteristics of Qualitative Research This research is termed as a soft science that aims to develop new concepts and theories or disapproving the existing theories. It has a holistic design with a wide focus. The reporting of findings is normally descriptive, subjective and narrative in nature. Analysis and its accuracy depends on the individual interpretations of the results through proper identifications of patterns and features. It is also meant to help understanding and interpreting social interactions (Johnson & Christensen, 2008). The group studied here is normally small. It is important to note that there is no random selection of a group as it is always specific. The whole population here is studied without choosing on any specific variable. The data collected is normally open ended interviews, observation and reflections allowing the participants to narrate their response and this may even include images as well as objects. It is possible to notice the researchers’ bias by the participant The findings are normally not easily generalizable owing to the small size of the population and due to its specialized findings. The researcher is also able to generate new hypotheses and theory from the collected data. Basically, this research unlike quantitative one, explores and discovers. Examination of Evidence in an Objective Way, With Consideration to Validity and Reliability. Evidence can be said to be either valid, relevant, reliable or valid and relevant or valid and reliable. When it comes to evidence based practice, there is need to use the best evidence for decision-making. For this reason, the evidence needs to be one that can be reliably be depended upon since life is at stake. They would want o use the best evidence available from the previous research. Evidence may be valid with regards to a particular case or person, but may fail the relevancy test for which case, it will not be reliable evidence. The same evidence may be relevant to a certain case or individual but not valid to the same and therefore, not reliable evidence. It is therefore recommended that an evidence should be both valid and relevant to the given circumstance for it to be considered reliable and one of the best if not the best itself. The relationship between research theory and health and social care practices Theory may be defined as an interrelated set of concepts, propositions or definitions that purpose to explain happenings or conditions by specifying their relationships. Theories are very important parts of healthcare practices as well as social care. The theory one chooses defines the way he or she will collect and interpret available evidence. They may be implicit hypotheses, or just a working model to form the basis of the reality. It is therefore, important to recognize implicit theories. Research theory may form the basis of what the doctors will choose to rely on when treating the patient following the earlier acquired knowledge. . Based on research theories, we have the following; positivist theory, grounded theory, critical theory, social construction, functionalism, post modernist, and phenomenology. Positivism aims to identify the general governing rule about the relation of different phenomenon. In other words, it targets to identify cause and effect especially by being keen to details when experimenting. This may also be seen by the amount of effort that a scientist put on a given specimen under study. Positivist and social medicine on the other hand tries to find out or explain things in feeling for example, how pain is manifested differently with ages of individuals, sex or even race. Functionalism sees a society as one object with different components functioning to complement each other. Social construction views it that there cannot be a research that should lead to a generalization of the findings pointing out that each individual may behave uniquely. It considers how doctors don’t just reveal the realities but construct their perception of their patients and vice versa. Postmodernism believes that research is just a subjective process. Critical social science on the other hand, appears to favor qualitative research and hold a view that it should be used to positively change the oppressive society. In most of theories, doctors are seen as agents with critical theory seeing them as people who control by deciding who gains medication and who does not. Concisely, theories are meant to help the doctors understand their patients better in terms of the best practice given the nature of the patient origin, belief, customs, culture and many others. How research contribute to evidence base practice with analysis of special paper Research does contribute to evidence base practice in several ways. It forms the foundation on which evidence base practice is built. Before an evidence base practice is done, the doctors first of all analyses the available researches on the given area of concern. For example in doing “Evidence Base Practice on The Effects of Adlerian Play Therapy on Reducing Students Disruptive Behaviours,” the researchers; K. Meany-Walen, Sue C. Bratton, And Terry Kottman, did an analysis of the already available research on this area. In the introduction part, they based their work of identifying the best practice from the available literatures including the past research of Abidin and Robinson 2002 and others. Qualitative research on the other hand do set a basis for evaluating evidence base practice in nursing. This was manifested in the article above by the way evaluation of practice was done in anticipation of a possible implementation. The researchers investigated the overall effect of the practice on students and recommended future investigation of the effect of the practice on both immediate and long term duration and that it be compared with the known counseling interventions. This is because the current one was on immediate effect of AdHP on a limited number of students that gave ungeneralisable results. All this was done through qualitative discussion (AIlinger, 2003; Kottman, Bratton, & Walen, 2014). Qualitative research also contributes to evidence base practice through generating of the hypothesis. This is because normal findings of qualitative studies, gives suggestions for future studies. Every study normally needs a description to explain the process and procedures in a narrative manner. That is where the qualitative research comes in. example is hypothesis that AdPT has a positive effect on the students and teachers. This is qualitative in nature (Kottman, Bratton, & Walen, 2014). Qualitative research also helps in validating the quantitative parameters. In the process of investigating the effect of this practice, qualitative and quantitative data was collected from teachers, parents and specialist including the data from national government. In other cases, the measures given by the two types of research vary and thus the need to compliment them. For proper analysis and for the purpose of making informed conclusions, both the research methods should be considered (AIlinger, 2003). In general, both qualitative and quantitative research contributes a lot to the development of evidence base research owing to the fact that the latter is still a growing phenomenon. It needs to rely on very accurate information to arrive at the best practice. This best information can only be sourced from research hence the importance of the latter to evidence base practice. Problem Identification What informed the need to do the above research according to the introduction was the fact that there was no proper effectively proven counseling intervention aimed at reducing the student’s disruptive behavior. This fuelled by the report that 1/5 children experience distressing emotional problems yet only less than a third received the necessary help. This is reported to be even worse in classroom as even teachers are indirectly affected. This could only be explained by one reason that the available methods were ineffective or inappropriate all together. However, with a good history and positive research findings on play therapy results on the issue, it appeared to be the best choice (Kottman, Bratton, & Walen, 2014). Research findings In consideration of the finding that ADPT contributed to the improvement of the targeted behavior, it can be seen from the procedures used to conduct the test that indeed it is valid. However reliability is questionable owing to the small sample taken. On the other hand, the finding that teachers of the students administered with AdPT reporting a decrease in stress in the teacher child relationship was valid and reliable only to a certain extend since there was blinding done on the teachers but it was admitted that the blinding may have not achieved its intended goal 100% accurately (Kottman, Bratton, & Walen, 2014). Methodology This trial adopted the use of a randomized active control group design to compare the result of the practice, a G-Power software for determination of the sample size. The reports were collected from teacher report forms, direct observation reports, checklists as well as index of teacher report. The sample size was smaller but appropriate according to the number of participants. The sample was derived from the software and given the number of students who qualified for the study, the sample was good. The small number though, limits its generalization. Works Cited AIlinger, R. 2003. Contributions of Qualitative research to evidence-based practice in nursing. Contribution of qualitative research , 273-279. Burns, N., & Grove, S. K. 2001. The practice of Nursing Research. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders. Carnwell, R. (2015, May 15th). Essential differences between research and evidence based-practice. Nurse researcher , pp. 55-67. Clifford, C. 1997. Nursing and health care research: A skills-based introduction. London: Prentice Hall. Consort Statement. 2010. Retrieved from www.consort-statement.org Johnson, B., & Christensen, L. 2008. Educational research: Quantitative, qualitative and mixed approaches. Thousand Oaks : CA: Sage Publication. Kottman, T., Bratton, S. C., & Walen, K. M. 2014. “Evidence Base Practice On The Effects Of Adlerian Play Therapy On Reducing Students Disruptive Behaviours”. Journal of counselling and Development , 45-65. Kristin K. Meany-Walen, S. C. 2014. Effects of Adlerian Play Therapy on Reducing Students Disruptive Behaviors. Counselling And Development , 1-56. Oliveira, R. F., Liebano, R. E., Costa, L. C., Rissato, L. L., & Costa, P. L. 2013, June 19th. Intermediate Effects of Region-specific And Non-Region-specific spinal Manipulative therapy in Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Physical Therapy , 749. Polit, D., & Hungler, B. 1993. Nursing Research : Principles and methods. Philadelphia: Lippincott. Read More