Manfred Mortell*

School of Nursing and Allied Health Professions, University of the Bahamas, Bahamas

*Corresponding Author: Manfred Mortell, School of Nursing and Allied Health Professions, University of the Bahamas, Bahamas.

Received: November 28, 2023; Published: December 14, 2023

Abstract

Research in healthcare is essentially a methodical inquiry with an intention to generate trustworthy evidence about phenomena in the fields of nursing, medicine, and paramedical team collaboration. The focus of this article will provide an acumen about qualitative research methods and vindication regarding generic fallacies and challenges encountered by nursing researchers when conducting qualitative research. The repetitive myths and misconceptions pertaining to qualitative approaches are that they are non-scientific, subjective, not verifiable, or non-factual and as such are not beneficial or practical unless supported by quantitative data, such as statistics. Criticism is also directed at a lack of researcher’ objectivity and neutrality that quantitative scholars maintain affects validity and reliability, and consequently makes data untrustworthy. They also declare that qualitative research findings cannot be generalized to a broader community, as sample sizes are characteristically small in number and therefore do not represent the broader and/or global population. In addition to the belief that with small sample sizes the perceptions of a minority do not epitomize the opinions of the overall population, that being the majority. Furthermore, in respect to healthcare, as illness and disease is global, only evidence-based findings that are generalizable can inform nursing policies and clinical practices? Last, but not least, those academics who endorse a quantitative paradigm also contend that qualitative data collection and analysis is simple, straightforward, undemanding, and that interviewing subjects is the sole skill that is required and employed to collect research data. That being the case, any person is capable of doing it. Therefore, this article will revisit and provide an insight about qualitative research methods and a justification regarding generic fallacies and challenges encountered by nursing researchers when conducting qualitative research.

Keywords: Nursing; Misconception; Qualitative; Research; Rigor; Subjective; Trustworthy

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Citation

Citation: Manfred Mortell. “Qualitative Research in Nursing: Is it “Fact or Just Fiction?” What is the Reality?". Acta Scientific Clinical Case Reports 5.1 (2024): 32-40.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2024 Manfred Mortell. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.