Review of litterature - Term Paper Example

Section/# An Analysis of “Using al Ethnography to Understand the Production of Health Care Disparities The article is concentric on focusing on measuring medical access, distribution, and disparities between levels of care in a qualitative way. In this way, patient access to healthcare using a variety of different metrics is performed that helps to answer the question of overall healthcare access and the ability of unique and oftentimes disenfranchised segments to benefit from healthcare access.

Therefore, the study begins by talking about the many negative societal aspects of healthcare not being available to all citizens in an equal measure; something our very own economy is all too familiar with currently. As it progresses, the study informs the reader that the only reliable method of actually measuring the level to which medical care is available to segments of society is to measure it in a qualitative way (Morse, 1992). Therefore, the study also states that the many quantitative studies that have gone before are lacking with respect to the actual data they have attempted to measure or the lack thereof.

Therefore, the study sets itself apart as a unique way in which the researches can know and understand the research question and work to draw inference to the greater problem at hand – access to healthcare in society.It is without question that this study is helpful in understanding the overall trends that currently exist with relation to healthcare access. However, both qualitative and quantitative research have their unique drawbacks with respect to being able to fully engage and answer the research question that is presented.

In this case, the study begins by laying out the drawbacks that qualitative research has experienced in trying to answer this same research question; however, one could just as easily point out but a few of the drawbacks of using a quantitative approach for such a varied and personal issue as that of healthcare access among the disenfranchised (Siding, 2010). If anything, using a quantitative approach in such a situation risks dehumanizing the effects of non-access. However, on the flip side, over-emphasizing a qualitative approach might have the effect of focusing on one or two problem areas alone without understanding the root problem as it might apply to the society as a whole.

With respect to whether or not this research could be used to inform the development of a quantitative study, the answer is yes and no. As part of a literature review process, the study absolutely can be helpful for the researcher to understand many of the issues that underlie the research question at hand; however relying too heavily on the outcomes of a qualitative study in framing the response and rubric of a quantitative one has a host of drawbacks that could work to undermine the rigor of the study.

Secondly, with respect to using the methods in this study as part of a mixed methods approach, it is the belief of this author that this would be the best possible use of the results herein. Due to the fact that the qualitative inference could then be tested quantitatively as well as through further use of the article’s own qualitative approach mechanisms (as well as the addition of others that the researchers will include), a great deal of measurable information can be determined. Further, by promoting a mixed methods approach, the researcher can clearly ascertain whether the original thesis of the prior research was faulty or correct in its assumptions.

ReferencesMorse, J. (1992). Qualitative health research. Newbury Park, Calif: SAGE Publications.Sinding , C. (2010). Using Institutional Ethnography to Understand the Production of Health Care Disparities. Journal of Qualitative Health Research, 20(12), 1656-1663.