Assignment Content

This assignment is designed to help you understand the differences between qualitative and quantitative research designs, as well as select the appropriate method for the research question you have been working on throughout the course.

Step 1: Restate your Week 1 research question and select the type of research (quantitative or qualitative) that is most appropriate for it.

Step 2: Summarize the major steps in that type of research.

Step 3: Determine the specific type or approach (i.e., quasi-experimental, phenomenological, etc.) you would employ and explain why that is the best selection.

Step 4: Explain potential data.

Step 5: Explain how analyzing and interpreting that data can inform your research question. Cite at least one peer-reviewed resource in APA format.

Note: Explain the Fundamentals of the research process
Analyze factors and criteria of quantitative and qualitative studies.
Please check the attachment and base the paperwork from the week 1 assignment.

Research Design

Research question and type of research

The research question is presented as: in adults at-risk and diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, does the implementation of comprehensive and multidisciplinary collaboration, including self-care management and awareness creation, help promote positive compliance to blood sugar control measures in comparison to conventional patient education?

The research area of interest is on improving management of type 2 diabetes with a focus on applying the best practices for facilitating awareness and self-management. In this case, there is an assumption that a comprehensive and multidisciplinary collaboration that focuses on self-care management and awareness creation would promote positive compliance to blood sugar control measures with better health outcomes when compared to conventional patient education approach. For that matter, a quantitative research type that is expressed in numbers and graphs would be appropriate as it would test and confirm the assumption even as it generalizes facts about the topic of interest (Fawcett, 2017).  Research Question Discussion Paper 

The specific quantitative method applied will include experiment and observations. The experimental method will divide the recruited participants (persons diagnosed with type 2 diabetes) into an experiment and control group to allow for the variables to be manipulated and establish a cause-and-effect relationship. The experiment group will be subjected to comprehensive and multidisciplinary collaboration, while the control group will be subjected to conventional patient education. The observation method will record numbers on compliance with blood sugar control measures with the numbers compared for the two groups (experiment and control groups) to determine if the interventions (comprehensive and multidisciplinary collaboration versus conventional patient education) have significantly different effects for positive compliance to blood sugar control measures. In this respect, a quantitative research approach is considered appropriate for answering the presented research question because it focuses on testing and confirming the assumption being held (Fawcett, 2017).

Major steps in quantitative research

The quantitative research approach will involve the collection of numerical data to develop an objective conception of the reality, and a deductive view of the relationship between the variables. Towards this end, it will apply nine major steps. The first step involves developing a theory that suggests a relationship between the variables. The second step involves deducing a research question and hypothesis from the theory. This establishes the relationship between the variables based on available evidence that can be verified, particular as presented by other current publications. The third step involves presenting the research design in terms of imputing causality to the findings and establishing their validity. A design that includes experimentation and observation is appropriate as it compares variables while measuring performance. The fourth step entails operationalizing the concepts in terms of determining how they would be measured even as they are investigated. Positive blood sugar control is operationalized into compliance, self-care management and awareness, and is measured using blood sugar levels. The fifth step involves selecting the research site. A field site that has type 2 diabetes patients, such as a hospital or diabetes clinic is appropriate. The practicality of the research determines where it is conducted, while the ethical factors determine who is recruited (Grove, Gray & Burns, 2015).

The sixth step entails selecting the sample of participants for the study. This step applies sampling techniques, while considering the practical and ethical factors. The sample must reflect the comparison being conducted between the experiment and control groups. The seventh steps entails data collection. This involves manipulating the variables and recording the changes in blood sugar levels over time for the experiment and control groups. The eighth step involves processing and analyzing the collected data in terms of transforming it into information that tracks and indicates how the variables have changed and how they are related. Statistical techniques (such as regression test) are applied to look for significant relationships between the variables and determine if one variable has a significant effect on another variable. Also, this step organization the relationship between the variables into charts and graphs that offer a visual impression of the significant relationships. The final step presents the findings and conclusion in terms of interpreting the results and presenting their implications for the theoretical ideas that formed the research background. The findings are then written up, subjected to peer review and published (Grove, Gray & Burns, 2015).

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Research approach

The specific type of quantitative research that will be applied is experimental design. This is an appropriate research approach since it seeks to establish a cause-effect relationship among the variables that are being manipulated. In fact, effort will be made to identify and impose control over all the independent variables (interventions: comprehensive and multidisciplinary collaboration versus conventional patient education). The manipulated independent variables will then be used to determine effects on the dependent variable (blood sugar levels). The participants will be randomly assigned to the experiment and control groups, rather than being identified in naturally occurring groups. This is the best approach because it ensures that the participants are randomly assigned to the group, controls the variables, achieves blinding effect, is standardized, easy to administer, and establishes the cause-effect relationships (LoBiondo-Wood & Haber, 2014).

Potential data

The research seeks to answer the question: in adults at-risk and diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, does the implementation of comprehensive and multidisciplinary collaboration, including self-care management and awareness creation, help promote positive compliance to blood sugar control measures in comparison to conventional patient education? In answering this question, the focus would be on the quantitative changes in the blood sugar levels for the experiment and control groups so as to compare the two groups. Towards this end, they potential data for the research is the blood sugar levels, with a focus on tracking how they change over time, from when the experiment starts to its end. This data will show how the intervention and control affect changes in blood sugar levels. If one group reports faster and better control of the blood sugar levels to achieve healthier outcomes, then it will be argued that the intervention applied in the group is responsible for the change (cause-and-effect relationship). With the blood sugar level data, it will be possible to determine whether the intervention (as a predictor variable) has a statistically significant relationship with the blood sugar level (as an outcome variable), and estimate the different between the experiment and control groups (Harvey & Land, 2017).

How analyzing and interpreting the data informs the research question

As indicated, a regression test will be conducted on the data to look for the cause-and-effect relationships. This will help to estimate the effect of the interventions (comprehensive and multidisciplinary collaboration versus conventional patient education) on the blood sugar levels. To be more precise, a simple linear regression test conducted using the predictor variable (intervention and control) and outcome variable (blood sugar level) will be an appropriate parametric test for analyzing and interpreting the data to determine if comprehensive and multidisciplinary collaboration results in better blood sugar control for type 2 diabetics or if conventional patient education results in better blood sugar control for the same group (Schmidt & Brown, 2019).

Research Topic, Problem, and Question

Complete this worksheet to develop your research focus for this course. To help you better understand the main parts of research, this topic will be the basis for other assignments in the course.

Identify a Research Topic

Grove, Gray, and Polit (2015) define a research topic as “a concept or broad issue that is important to nursing, such as acute pain, chronic pain management, coping with illness, or health promotion” (p. 131).

Define your broad research topic in one to two sentences.

Management of Type 2 Diabetes: Best Practices for Facilitating Awareness and Self-Management

Identify your Research Problem

Grove, Gray, and Polit (2015) explain that a research problem “is an area in which there is a gap in the knowledge needed for nursing practice” (p.131).

Write your research problem and explain the significance and background in a 175- to 260-word narrative.

Diabetes is a crucial problem in the United States, and the growth in cases increases the need for creating awareness on the best practices to address the problem. While understanding the causes of the condition is imperative, the bigger issue should be whether care providers and patients are aware of the ways through which care quality can be improved. The nursing practice particularly plays an important role in patient-centered care and the advancement of evidence-based practice. In diabetes management, patient-centered care entails patient education and engagement to encourage better self-management practices. The main challenge in diabetes management is that patients and primary caregivers experience problems in self-care and self-management, which can lead to negative patient outcomes. Self-care and self-management are essential practices in healthcare because they empower the population to look after its physical, emotional, and mental health from an educated perspective. The lack of sufficient synthesis of the treatments and care practices that can reduce complications that result from the risk factors remains a challenge in the health sector. Having noted that attainment of self-care and management can reduce the potential of complications arising from diabetes, it is inevitable to suggest best practices that can improve the quality of care. There is an increased need to use evidence-based practices to promote patient and family education to support the management of Type 2 diabetes among Americans. In proposing the best practices, it is essential to consider the use of evidence-based approaches founded on the patient, intervention, comparison, outcome and (sometimes) time (PICOT) health care strategy.

Develop your Research Question

Research questions should be short, probing, and take variables into account (Grove, Gray & Polit, 2015). Although the PICOS format is not required, your question should address patient, intervention, comparisons, outcomes for practice, and study design.

Develop a one-sentence research question.

In adults at-risk and diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, does the implementation of comprehensive and multidisciplinary collaboration, including self-care management and awareness creation, help promote positive compliance to blood sugar control measures in comparison to conventional patient education?  Research Question Discussion Paper