The following describes a research scenario appropriate for a quantitative research paradigm. The scenario is hand washing of nurses. The appropriate research question is: to what degree do nurses wash their hands throughout the day? The role of the researcher would be to research the topic, design the study, gather relevant data from the nurses, analyze data and draw conclusions with recommendations. The target audience would be hospital nurses and administrators and the study participants would be hospital nurses. These nurses would provide valuable information related to hand washing. Possible variations of groupings in this quantitative research scenario would include nurse practitioners, nurse supervisors, and comparisons of findings related to both. Methods to use would includes a quantitative survey such as a Nurse Hand Washing Survey with items designed to gather quantitative data. Thus, interval or ration data would be gathered for analysis. Frequency distributions would be used if the sample included only nurses and t-tests would be used if comparisons were made between nurse supervisors and nurses. The quantitative research findings would benefit nursing in that hand washing is an important consideration for nurse and patient health care. Problems due to lack of appropriate hand washing and related bacteria (Larson & Johnson, 1985) would be overcome with this information.
The following describes a research scenario appropriate for a qualitative research paradigm. The scenario again is hand washing of nurses but with this design detailed information regarding situations that led to hand washing and issues that prohibit hand washing would be identified. The appropriate research question is: what factors influence hand washing in nurses? The role of the researcher would be to research the topic, design the study, gather relevant data from the nurses, analyze data for themes and draw conc
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