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addition, because women often take care of children and dependent relatives they come into contact with the health care system on behalf of others as well as themselves. Feminist research can be either quantitative or qualitative. It frequently focuses on gender relations between doctors and nurses, gender issues in the care and treatment of women patients, and issues related to caring. Reading and evaluating research reports page 21 Action research is an approach in which researchers and research participants work together to solve problems and effect change. Data are collected at the start of the study and used as a basis for planning change. The process of change is monitored and plans modified if necessary. At the end of the study a final assessment is made. The process (as well as the outcome) of change is important in action research: during it researchers enable participants to learn about research and to gain control of their work situation or their care. Action researchers often take a multi-method approach combining quantitative and qualitative methods. Example The article by King & Jensen provides an example of feminist research, although this is not explicitly stated in the article. 3.9 Pilot work It is good practice in quantitative research (and sometimes in qualitative research) to carry out a pilot study. This can help to eliminate problems related to access, sampling and data collection instruments that might otherwise arise in the main study. Polit & Hungler (11) describe a pilot study as “a small-scale version, or trial run, of the major study”. Sometimes, if the problems arising are minor, data from piloting work can be included in the main study data. This frequently happens in qualitative studies where, in any case, data collection instruments tend to evolve as the main study progresses. Research documents should state whether a pilot study was performed and give some idea of any problems encountered and subsequent modifications made to plans for the main study. Exercise 7 Refer to the three articles. Did the researchers involved in the three studies conduct any form of pilot work? If so, what modifications were made for the main studies? Note down your answers and then turn to the discussion in Section 6. 3.10 Sampling procedures Sampling procedures tend to be quite different in quantitative and qualitative research. Whereas the aim of sampling in quantitative research is to select a sample that is representative of the study population, the aim in qualitative research is to select participants who will allow a detailed and in-depth exploration of the issues under study. Sampling in quantitative research Probability sampling is the most effective way of selecting a sample that is representative of the population from which it is drawn. In probability sampling every element (person or thing) in the population under study has an equal chance of being selected for the sample. There are three main types of probability sampling. page 22 Research awareness in nursing and midwifery: a workbook 1. Simple random sampling uses a computer, a random number table or numbers drawn at random to select a sample from the sampling frame (a numbered list of the entire population under study). 2. Stratified random sampling divides the population into two or more strata, such as male/female or nursing assistant/student nurse/qualified nurse, and a random sample is then drawn from each stratum. Stratified sampling can be proportional or disproportional to the population under study. Proportional stratified sampling is used to make the sample more representative, whereas disproportional sampling can ensure that minority groups are represented in sufficient numbers to allow meaningful statistical analysis. 3. Cluster sampling can be used in large-scale studies where compiling a sampling frame of the entire population might prove costly, difficult or impossible. Compiling a sampling frame of all the diabetic patients in the United Kingdom, for example, would be difficult and expensive. It would be easier and cheaper to select a random sample of health clinics, thus giving access to “clusters” of diabetic patients, all of whom (or a random sample of whom) could be selected depending on the sample size required. It is important, when using a sampling frame, to be sure that it indeed represents the population that the researchers wish to study. For example, a register of nurses registered to practise is not a register of nurses in practice. As implied above, there are no existing sampling frames for some populations. Compiling a nationwide database of diabetic patients or nursing assistants is a major piece of work in itself. Because of the expense, time and difficulty that may be involved in probability sampling, non-probability sampling is often employed. This has the disadvantage of being less representative. There are three main types of non-probability sampling. 1. Convenience sampling adopts the most readily accessible people or things as the sample. Thus, a nurse performing a survey may decide to distribute questionnaires to the first 200 patients with leg ulcers seen at home or in a clinic. Some experiments, such as drug trials, may utilize convenience samples: all available patients meeting the inclusion criteria and agreeing to participate are recruited. Randomization occurs only at the point of assignment to the
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