Quantitative research is a way to learn about a particular group of people, known as a sample population. Using scientific inquiry, quantitative research relies on data that are observed or measured to examine questions about the sample population.

Nurses utilize quantitative or qualitative research in order to evaluate the best interventions for patients. They also may gather information by performing quantitative or qualitative research. The data nurses collect helps them determine how to proceed with patient care.

You can find quantitative articles by searching in the Library databases using methodology terms as keywords. To find a quantitative study, possible keywords include the type of study, data analysis type, or terminology used to describe the results.

Quantitative instruments may include self‑reporting tools, questionnaires, observation, and biophysical measures (Polit and Hungler 2013). Commonly used methods in nursing research also include focus groups and interviews that are qualitative in nature (Moxham 2012).

During data collection, quantitative data can provide baseline information to help researchers select patients to interview, while qualitative data can help researchers understand the barriers and facilitators to patient recruitment and retention.

An example of quantitative research is the survey conducted to understand the amount of time a doctor takes to tend to a patient when the patient walks into the hospital.

Varied methods of qualitative research exist. Examples of qualitative methods employed in nursing research include grounded theory, phenomenology, ethnography, and qualitative description. Each method has its own assumptions and purposes and an appropriate method is chosen based on the research question.

Qualitative research in nursing mainly deals with the lived experiences of patients and nurses. In the field of chronic illness, qualitative research has brought to the open some of the processes chronically ill patients undergo and what it means living with chronic illness.

Quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics, while qualitative research deals with words and meanings. Quantitative methods allow you to test a hypothesis by systematically collecting and analyzing data, while qualitative methods allow you to explore ideas and experiences in depth.

Qualitative research methods are receiving an increasing recognition in health care related research. The use of qualitative research in health care enables researchers to answer questions that may not be easily answered by quantitative methods.

When to Use Qualitative Research

1. Develop hypotheses for further testing and for quantitative questionnaire development,
2. Understand the feelings, values, and perceptions that underlie and influence behavior.
3. Identify customer needs.

It provides an in-depth understanding of the ways people come to understand, act and manage their day-to-day situations in particular settings. Qualitative research uses words and images to help us understand more about “why” and “how” something is happening (and, sometimes “what” is happening).

Quantitative research methods are frequently applied in health and social care research. They use objective measurements with statistical methods, mathematics, economic studies or computational modelling to enable a systematic, rigorous, empirical investigation.

Quantitative research objectives can be to establish the incidence or prevalence of a health problem; the health personnel degree of adherence to a new intervention; or, the users’ level of satisfaction with a service. Qualitative research aims at understanding what exists from social actors’ perspectives.

How Has Quantitative Analysis Changed Health Care?

• Stronger Research. Dr.
• Saving Time, Money, and Lives Through Efficiency and Safety. New QA tools will decrease wait times and call patients into doctors’ offices only when a visit is necessary.
• Making Sure Supply Meets Demand.
• Additional Resources.

Quantitative research usually aims to provide precise, unbiased estimates of parameters of interest for the entire population which requires a large, randomly selected sample.

Quantitative data uses numbers to determine the what, who, when, and where of health-related events (Wang, 2013). Examples of quantitative data include: age, weight, temperature, or the number of people suffering from diabetes.