Qualitative research aims to describe life experiences from the perspective of those involved in order to gain insights into nursing practice. There are several approaches to qualitative research including phenomenological research, grounded theory research, ethnographic research, autoethnography, exploratory descriptive qualitative research, and historical research. Phenomenological research seeks to describe lived experiences to understand phenomena from the participants' perspective. Grounded theory research develops theories grounded in data from participants to interpret experiences at an abstract level. Ethnographic research provides a framework for studying cultures by spending extensive time in a setting and observing from an insider's perspective.

1. Nursing Research
Chapter 4
Keypoints
Qualitative Research
Qualitative research is a scholarly approach to describe the life experience from
the perspective of the person involved. It is a way to give significance to the
subjective human experience as well as gain insight to guide nursing practice.
Approaches To The Qualitative Research
 Phenomenological Research
 Grounded Theory Research
 Exploratory Descriptive Qualitative Research
 Historical Research Phenomenological Research
Phenomenology is a both philosophy and Research method.The Purpose of this
research is to describe experience as they are lived in phenomenological terms to
capture the lived experience of the study participants.
Philosophical Orientation
 View the person as integral with the environment. The world is shaped by
the slef and shapes the self.
 Philosopher Edmund Husserl is considered the father of modern
phenomenology.
 Phenomena is make up the world of experience. A phenomena is occur only
when a person experience it. To describe the experience the researcher

2. must be open up to the participants world view , set aside personal
perspective and allow meaning to emerge.
 Sitting aside ones beliefs during qualitative research is called bracketing.
 Heidegger : He expands the goal of phenomenology from description to
lived experience to the interpretation of lived experience.
 Heidiggenan phenomenology agrees that there is not a single reality, each
individual has his or her own reality. Reality is considered subjective ,and
as a result unique to individual.
Grounded Theory Research
An inductive research technique developed by Glaser And Strauss (1967)
describe that the findings are grounded in the concrete world as experience
by the participants and are interpreted at a more abstract theratical level.
Philosophical Orientation
 Grounded Theory is congruent with symbolic interaction theory.
Symbolic interaction explores how participation of interaction with
other shapes ones view of self and subsequent interaction Self view
create meaning.
 People create reality by attaching meaning to situation.
 Meaning is expressed by in terms of symbols such as words ,
relegion objectives and clothing . These symbols means the basis of
the actions.
 Interaction among people may lead to redefinition of experience,new
meaning and possibly a redefinition of self.
 Interaction among the person and other individual in social context
are the focus of observation in grounded Theory Research.
Ethnographic Research
It proves information a framework for studing cultures. Ethnographies are
the written report of the culture from the perspective of insiders.
Ethnography requires spending considerable time in the setting ,observing
and gathering data.
It is used to describe and analyze the aspects of the ways of life of a
particular culture even ones own.

3. Auto ethnography
It invlo6the critical reflection 0f your own life experience as shaped by your
culture .
Philosophical Orientation
The philosophical bases of ethnicity are naturism and respect of others. It’s
purpose is to describe a culture and explore the meaning of social actions
within the culture.
4 school of thoughts within ethnography are emerged as
 Classic (Traditional):
Describe a foreign culture through immersion in the culture for an extended
period.
 Systemic(Institutional):
It describe the social organizational structure influencing a specific group of
people.
 Interpretative:
It values the attitude shaping behavior of members of a specific group in
order to promote the understanding of the context of culture.
 Critical(Disreputed) :
Examine the life of a group in the context of an alternative theory or
philosophy such as feminism or constructism .
Nurse anthropologist Leninger developed the ethnonursing method.
Exploratory Descriptive Qualitative Research.
It is a legitimate method of research that maybe the appropriate label for
studies that have no clearly specific method or in which the method was
specified but that ended with a comprehensive summary of an event in the
everyday terms of these events.
Studies result in descriptive could be label as descriptive qualitative
studies,most of the researcher are in exploratory stage of studing the

4. subject of interest. So it is named as exploratory Descriptive Qualitative
Research.
The research is conducted to address an issue or problem in need of
solution.
Philosophical Orientation
 It describe the perceived view of reality. The perceiver the person
living the experience is the source of information.
 Closely aligned with perceived view is a general approach call
interpretive oreintation. It acknowledge that meaning is create and
maintained in context.
 Naturalism inquiry encompass study designed to study people in
situations in their natural state.
 Pragmatism is another broad philosophical Orientation.
 It indicate that their is a goal that what works is defined in practice
and thus must be put into practice.
Historical Research :
 It examine events in the past. Historians describe event in the context
of time , social culture , concurrent events and key individual.
 Nurse research use historical method have examined the events of
people and that shaped health in different settings and countries as
well as nursing as profession.
 History provides the context of experience. A primary assumption of
historical philosophy is that we can learn from the past and that this
knowledge can increase our understanding of present and future.
The philosophy of the history is the search of wisdom.