Research is a systematic and scientific inquiry that exploits meticulous methods to answer questions and solve problems. The definitive goal of research is to develop, refine and expand the body of knowledge (Polit & Beck, 2004). Extensive research is essential in nursing to develop empirical knowledge that enables nurses to deliver evidence-based nursing care (Burns & Grove, 2010). Research is generally classified into three paradigms. Qualitative research, quantitative research and mixed methods (Creswell, 2013). This assignment aims to describe the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of qualitative research with an emphasis on grounded theory as a chosen qualitative design. This assignment will analyse how these ideas …show more content…
It consists of assumptions, principles, and procedures lying behind the particular approach to inquiry. The methodological assumption of naturalistic paradigm is based on participant observation (Arghode, 2012). The methodology of qualitative research design is idiographic, comprehensive and inductive (Gelo.et.al, 2008).
Qualitative Research Designs
Research design is the structure that has been formed to pursue answers to an inquiry. It connects the philosophical and methodological assumptions of a research approach to its methods to generate legitimate, reliable and liable answers to the research (Gelo, et.al, 2012). There are ten research designs in the naturalistic enquiry. They are endogenous research, participatory action research, critical theory, phenomenology, heuristic research, ethnography, narrative inquiry, life history, grounded theory, and naturalistic meta-analysis (DePoy& Gitlin, 2011). This assignment is concentrated on grounded theory.
Grounded Theory …show more content…
GT was first coined by two sociologists, Glaser and Strauss in 1967 based on symbolic interaction theory (Burns & Grove, 2009). GT aims to create theories that illuminate social actions or practises through scrutinising data attained from participants who have experienced them (Ritchie, et.al, 2013). GT is appropriate to study social interactions or experiences aims to describe a process, not to examine or validate an existing theory (Lingard, Albert & Levinson, 2008). In researches based on GT, data are gathered, examined and used to develop a theoretical interpretation and create hypotheses for further inquiry. Hence, the theory is developed and grounded in the data (Borbasi, Jackson & Langford, 2008). The distinguishable feature of GT from other qualitative designs by its use of an organized data-collection and analytical process called constant-comparative method. Within this approach, each data is examined in contrast with others to determine similarities and dissimilarities (DePoy& Gitlin,