Qualitative Critical Review - Article Example

Research Critique (Qualitative Research Article) Except in-text citations Word count 2304 Contents Table of Contents Introduction 3 Research Critique3 1.Title and Abstract 3 2. Introduction 4 2.1Literature Review 5 2.2. Design…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………5 3.Methodology…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 5 3.2.Participants 5 3.3.Ethical Considerations 6 3.4.Data Collection 6 3.5. Data Analysis 7 4. Findings 7 5. Discussion 8 6. Implications for Future Research 8 Conclusion 9 References 10 Article Dahlen, HG., Barclay, LM., and Homer, CE., (2010). The novice birthing: theorizing first-time mothers’ experiences of birth at home and in hospital in Australia. Midwifery; 26, 53–63. Introduction This research article titled "The novice birthing: theorizing first-time mothers’ experiences of birth at home and in hospital in Australia" has been published in the reputed journal of Midwifery in 2010 by authors HG. Dahlen, LM. Barclay, and CE. Homer (Dahlen et al., 2010). For the purpose of this assignment, this article has been chosen to be reviewed critically, so the key elements of this publishes research report can be evaluated. Research Critique 1. Title and Abstract This title clearly and concisely indicates the subject matter, the problem, and the design that this study may deal with. The authors have coined a novel terminology for this, "novice birthing" (Dahlen et al., 2010). The community and phenomenon surrounding the study has been succinctly indicated in the title. Reader has no problem understanding the group of people to be studied, "novice first-time mothers" and the key phenomenon under this study is the process of birthing in two different scenarios. Since it is norm in descriptive studies to investigate phenomena of abstract qualities, it is usually difficult to provide a concrete title. This title justifies recommendations of Polit and Beck (2007, p.14) in appropriately indicating the context, being brief but expressive. A title for a research report should be clear, concise, unambiguous, simple and fully explanatory, accurately reflecting the content of the report, which has been supported by Schneider et al. (2003, p. 21). The title also is significant since this should be aligned with the aim of the study, and this title contains all elements for description of the focus of the study. From that aspect, this title meets all criteria for a very satisfactory title. Abstract Schneider et al (2003, p.23) indicated that the abstract should be accurate and coherent in that the reader can get a quick review of the content which he may anticipate while studying the paper. Abstract indicates the relevance of the study to the research question. From that point of view abstract should present a succinct summary of all the information presented in the study under appropriate headings. Thus abstract would contain objective, background, methods, conclusions, and key words. In that sense the abstract of this study by Dahlen et al. (2010) presents more than that. The authors provide very briefly the objective, design, settings, participants, findings, and implications to practice. The objective states the purpose of this study and the rationale of the design, which were "to explore" the experiences of the "first-time mothers", and informed researcher has no problem in anticipating that the design will be qualitative. Likewise the context "Australia", location "at home and in hospital", number of participants "19", methodology "grounded theory", data collection "in-depth interviews at home" have been clearly categorized, although there is no separate section called methodology. Despite the method of data analysis has not been given, the findings section demonstrates the details of this and the background of the study. 2. Introduction In their study Dahl et al. (2010) indicated three different settings of childbirth which include home and hospital. Birthing process and care during that is an important area of nursing and midwifery care. The authors have labeled a section of introduction, and with ample and exhaustive reference from literature, they have established the problem pertaining to this particular area of midwifery. In this introduction, the authors have successfully pointed out at the research problem and have been able to format the prelude to the research question. The reader has a fair idea about the hypothesis of the research in that conducting this research would establish the author’s hypothesis. Obviously, the researchers wanted to develop a rich, context-bound, and comprehensive understanding of the problem, which has been established in this introduction, where the readers anticipation has also been built (Ryan et al., 2007). 2.1. Literature Review From literature, the authors have established the need for this study. This leads to the research question, "how parity, in particular, affects the experience of birth in a range of settings" to these mothers. To establish the rationale of the study and in order to examine the background of the study, the authors have conducted an exhaustive review of literature which has been presented in a succinct, organised, and logical manner. The details of the methodology of the literature review have not been presented here which compromised reliability and validity; however (Ryan et al., 2007), given the space constraint of a published article, this seems to be logical. This is an empiric review, but most of the studies included are backdated, ranging from 1979 to 2006 with the most being in the 90s, despite the fact that preferably the literatures should not be older than 5 years. In this review, the current empirical and theoretical knowledge has been dealt in manner to justify the need, purpose “theorizing and conceptualizing the first birth experience”, aim “to explore the experience of a small group of first-time mothers giving birth at home and in hospital and to investigate the implications of the findings for maternity services”, and question “what is the experience of women giving birth to their first baby in the two different birth settings, and how does midwifery care influence this experience” of the study (Dahlen et al. 2010). 2.2. Design Appropriately, this study has been done in a qualitative design based on open-ended, in-depth interview of the mothers in their own homes with adequate time for data collection. Open-ended questions could be modified as need arose. The interview question was very simple to understand for the subjects chosen, "tell me about your birth experience." Based on grounded theory research design this design is appropriate, allowing most reliable data collection. The design seems appropriate since the methodology is phenomenological-hermeneutic (Polit and Beck, 2007, p.249). Hermeneutics is the way to interpret the phenomenon discovered out of the study. Therefore, a combination of the two would help comprehension and interpretation of these human experiences. Although triangulation has been suggested to be a method to eliminate bias, where different observers collect the same data, there is no indication in this study about that, which may constitute a limitation of this study (Ryan et al., 2007). 3. Methodology 3.1. Participants The methodology must be adequately detailed so the reader may evaluate it and is able to assess the reliability and validity of the study (Polit and Beck, 2007, p.403) with opportunity for replication. It has also been recommended that it should be divided into subsections and must have the sampling appropriately explained. While the participants are selected, their numbers, selection process, design, characteristics, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and representativeness of the participants are the important criteria. Moreover, all relevant demographic information should be recorded. Given the interview methodology and concept analysis as the process of data collection, no instrument was deemed necessary. This study utilized a purposive and theoretical sample approach to identify, approach, and recruit 19 participants. The purposive sample is suitable when the phenomenon is known to exist and theoretical sampling helps analysis, contrast, and clarification of the category that is core. Sampling in this subjective manner, however, provides no external, objective method for assessing the typicality of the selected subjects (Roberts & Taylor, 2002). No power analysis was conducted, and statistically, this size may provide errors; however, given the purposive sample and qualitative design, this would at least lead to some generalization (Britten, 2005). 3.2. Ethical Considerations Ethical approval for this study was secured from human ethics committee before the study was begun. Moreover, one mother refused to participate. All information regarding the process and objective of the study was provided to the prospective participants in printed form. Permission was sought as to whether the participants can be approached for this study. Following a verbal explanation, an informed consent was sought, and following informed consent, an interview was arranged at their homes. This information indicates the ethical rigour that the authors used in this study. It appears privacy regulations were followed. The interview was done in the home setting. Legal and ethical principles that were followed in this study were at par with the requirements. The autonomy of the participants seems to have been protected, since the process appeared to be entirely guided by the free will of the participants (Shaw, 2008). 3.3. Data Collection Qualitative reports most often employ self-reported forms of data, which are designed to convert the phenomenon into structured concept. Open-ended interviews were audio-taped and transcribed, and as the interview progressed, based on the available information from data analysis, the interview questions changed to intensify the emergent categories. Followup interview was conducted with some of the participants to alleviate bias. Totally conforming to the grounded theory approach, as evident, this method used constant comparison within the ethical framework and relevance in order to refine the emerging and theoretically relevant categories. Unstructured interviews are common methods of data collection, and in this study, they were done with sufficient time given at home to increase through understanding with the participants, and this method confers credibility to the study. Although reliability and validity may not pass strict criteria, the interview questions fully addressed the concerns and issues expressed in the research problem, and they are relevant to the purpose, objective, questions, and hypotheses in this study, with a remote possibility of subjective response bias from the design and sequence of questions (Wright, 2007). 3.4. Data Analysis In qualitative research, eliciting meaning and structuring concepts from the data is data analysis, so the findings may be organized and conferred credibility. The authors detailed the data analysis even to the minutest detail, so when the reader reads this section, he also starts developing the emerging themes that the authors presented through triangulation. The causal conditions and contexts were examined to generate mediating concepts which may be relevant to midwifery practice related to birthing process in these mothers. As indicated earlier, the constant comparative method of data analysis as the fundamental method of theory generation in grounded theory research has been used in this study in order to determine the different facets of these experiences of these mothers. Being a qualitative design, no question of statistical analyses arises, which is legitimate. Studies designed to develop a theory are more likely to involve abstract, conceptual categories. In designing conceptual categories, researchers must break the data into segments, closely examine them, and compare them to other segments for similarities and dissimilarities to determine what type of phenomena are reflected in them, and what the meaning of those phenomena are (Cohen and Crabtree, 2008). 4. Findings The findings are based on the emerging themes from the data analysis, and these have been presented in easily understandable categories, which may indicate experiences of the first mothers, both as a result of facing an unknown experience and as a result of mediating factors from the care they receive. The authors have discussed the findings in relation to each objective, question, or hypothesis, and they fulfill the aim of this study. It was apparent that the midwives play a very important role in this process, and they seek support, care, and honour from the midwives. Those who feel unsupported become very fearful. The findings are consistent with what were expected, and they are consistent with previous research findings in this area. The conclusions fit to the results from the analyses, and they are based on findings from the analysis of the interview data. A great degree of confidence can be placed on these findings, which actually accurately reflect the reality in the experience of these mothers (Payne and Williams. 2005). 5. Discussion In this section, the authors discussed the similarities and contradictions of their findings with other studies, many of which match other researchers. The authors have discussed the findings in relation to each objective, question, or hypothesis, and they fulfill the aim of this study (Frosh, 2007) in that this study resulted in a greater understanding about the experiences of the novice mothers. The main concepts that emerged are noteworthy. All of them regardless of setting suffered from fear of the unknown, where preparations for birth may reduce this fear, and antenatal care may boost their strengths and confidences. In this section, the authors also indicate limitations of this study which are language barrier and hence culturally insensitive care, the lack of contrasting themes due to lack of comparative samples, absence of matched or representative samples affecting reliability, mismatch in terms of age and socioeconomic status, and differences in antenatal preparations. 6. Implications for Future Research Any research will have some limitations despite attempting to develop further knowledge in the study topic. The limitations indicated earlier indicate gap, but the success of the study is in developing an indicative theoretical framework. The authors themselves commented that despite limitations, this study offers a new piece of knowledge to the midwifery practice in that it needs to be suited to the special needs of primigravid women, where this theoretical framework may be used to create a new guideline for care in birthing process of novice mothers (Dahl et al. 2010). The generalizability of these findings, however, are limited despite the fact that this study has correctly formulated the theories regarding the experience of first-time mothers while delivered by the midwives. Before considering these as evidence strong enough to be applicable in practice scenarios, further studies are necessary. Conclusion These research findings are reliable and valid. Overall, the quality of the study is average, and the only weakness appears to be the sample size, which can be corrected in a study that can replicate the same with a large multicentric study with large sample size. The main objective of the study was to determine the midwifery implications, and this study was able to achieve them through development of a theoretical framework about experiences of first mothers. Reference List Britten, N., (2005). Making Sense of Qualitative Research: A New Series. Medical Education; 39(1): 5-6. Cohen, DJ. and Crabtree, BF., (2008). Evaluative Criteria for Qualitative Research in Health Care: Controversies and Recommendations. Annals of Family Medicine; 6: 331 - 339. Dahlen, HG., Barclay, LM., and Homer, CE., (2010). The Novice Birthing: Theorizing First-Time Mothers’ Experiences of Birth at Home and in Hospital in Australia. Midwifery; 26, 53–63. Frosh, S., (2007). Disintegrating Qualitative Research. Theory Psychology; 17: 635 - 653. Payne, G. and Williams. M., (2005). Generalization in Qualitative Research. Sociology; 39: 295 - 314. Polit, D. R, & Beck, C. T. (2007). Essential of Nursing Research: Methods, Appraisal, and Utilization (7th ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Roberts, K., & Taylor, B. (2002). Nursing Research Processes: An Australian Perspective (2 ed.). Southbank: Nelson Australia, 32-39 Ryan, R, Coughlan, M., & Cronin, P. (2007). Step-by-Step Guide to Critiquing Research. Part 2: Qualitative Research. British Journal of Nursing, 16(12), 738-744. Schneider, Z., Elliott, D., Beanland, C., LoBiondo-Wood, G., & Haber, J. (2003). Nursing Research: Methods, Critical Appraisal And Utilisation (2 ed.). Marrickville: Elsevier Australia, page 21-25. Shaw, I., (2008). Ethics and the Practice of Qualitative Research. Qualitative Social Work; 7: 400 - 414. Wright, MC. (2007). Making Sense of Data: How Public Health Graduate Students Build Theory Through Qualitative Research Techniques. Qualitative Health Research; 17: 94 - 101. Research Foundations in Nursing (RFNM) 213 CRITIQUING MARKING GUIDE for QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ARTICLE (Please attach a copy of this guide with your submitted assignment) ORGANISATION and STYLE Very Needs Satisfactory Improvement Mark Introduction to aim of the critique is appropriate and clearly stated. /5 Content of assignment is presented and discussed in a systematic manner /5 Demonstrates ability to analyse and interpret. Application of reading to support critique / analysis of article. /10 Referencing used APA referencing style. /5 Your own concluding comments / summary to enable closure of critique. /5 CONTENT Discussion of the studys strengths and weaknesses to include, but is not limited to: Does the title accurately reflect the study? Appropriateness/suitability of abstract to the study. Were essential components of the study addressed? Were you enticed to want to read the full article? /10 Adequacy of the literature review in clarifying the gap in knowledge to be addressed by this research. Discuss how the significance of the research was presented. /10 Appropriateness to the study design to the research objectives/questions and aims/purpose. Conceptual or theoretical framework to guide method? /5 Adequacy of the rationale and procedure followed in the methods section for data collection and analysis? What sampling method was used? Were ethical principles followed during the participant recruitment? How was informed consent obtained? Process / guidelines followed during analysis of data. /15 Presentation of the findings and how they relate to the problem statement and study purpose, objectives, questions or aims. Discussion of study limitations. Categories / themes adequately supported from data (thick, rich description)? /15 Discussion of findings to other studies / existing literature. How are findings similar or different / unique? /10 Application, implication and recommendations for research, education and/or clinical practice. /5 TOTAL MARK = /100 Converted to mark out of 40% COMMENTS Date _____________ Marker’s Signature ______________________________ Read More