Quantitative Research
Healthcare relies on quantitative research for evidence-based practice in nursing, for organizational structure, design, and marketing, for public health and value-based purchasing issues, safety, and a practically unlimited array of other uses. Using quantitative research methods generates numerical data: data that can be used to generate statistics, to track patterns reliably using metrics, and to make fairly accurate predictions based on quantitative modeling. The research methods used in quantitative studies are often scrutinized carefully, ensuring consistency, reliability, and validity. Therefore, effective healthcare service delivery and operations depend on quantitative research.
Implications for Knowledge Generation in Healthcare
Both quantitative and qualitative research contributes to knowledge generation in healthcare. The implications of each depend on the ontological and epistemological frameworks used by stakeholders. For example, a positivist framework emphasizes the importance of numerical, quantifiable data for determining the efficacy of treatment interventions or marketing methods used in healthcare. A phenomenological approach deems human subjective perceptions to be worthy of attention, important ways of knowing how patients perceive their interactions with nurses or how they respond to therapeutic interventions. Quantitative research might be attractive for its mathematical infallibility but also presents distinct...
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