Purpose
Discuss about the Research Proposal for BMC Medical Research Methodology.
The purpose of this research proposal is to analyse an indigenous population set of Australia and identify the factors that have contributed heavily in the cessation of smoking habit development in the female proportion of the above stated population set. The research work would delve deeper into the further assessment of the factors and would focus on a specific indigenous population set and would further make use of qualitative analysis to develop a clear understanding of the above stated factors. The research work to be conducted revolves around the aboriginal community so as to recognise the minor group and propound a vivid research work for identification of the minority population (Castellano,2014).
“What factors impede or facilitate smoking cessation in high risk indigenous women in the community in Australia localised at New South Wales?”
In order to develop a crystal clear understanding on the research topic, a qualitative analysis would be carried out on a targeted group of nursing professionals of XYZ hospital based at New South Wales that conspicuously deals with the treatment and care of aboriginal women. The analysis would be done based on a set of interview which would include about 10 questions and would record the response of the nurses which would further be analysed using the thematic analysis (Passey et al.,2013).
The study variables for conducting this research can be categorised under two sub headings, the first one includes the dependent variable that incorporated the subject of the research question that is “cessation of smoking in aboriginal women” and the independent variable invariable lists the interventions designed by the nursing professionals and midwifes who are entrusted with the responsibility of taking care of the female population of the aboriginal community and help them in forgoing smoking completely (Twyman et al.,2014).
The research would be carried out on focused adult female aboriginal population based at New South Wales in Australia who have given up smoking (Thamhain,2014). However in order to assess the factors that have led to the ‘cessation of smoking’ in the concerned population the research would thoroughly deal with the interview being conducted with a group of nursing professionals who have been treating adult aboriginal women.
Eligibility criteria for the nurses being interviewed for the proposed research would include nursing professionals with an experience of 3 to 5 years and who have been exclusively treating adult aboriginal women and the members of the aboriginal community and have been practicing in the XYZ hospital, located at New South Wales.
Research question
Study sample size would include 10 nurses who would be interviewed for the proposed research.
The participants of the interview would include a strength of 10 nursing professionals who would satisfy the mentioned inclusion criteria:
Inclusion criteria would incorporate culturally competent nursing professionals with a minimum experience of 2 years to 3 years. The nurses who are willing to participate in the interview and exclusively deal with aboriginal patients.
The exclusion criteria would be based on the factors that include nursing professionals possessing an experience of less than 2 years and have no formal training with respect to cultural competency and fresh interns or nurses who are unwilling to participate in the research study.
The method that would be used for the collection of data in order to perform a qualitative analysis to satisfy the objective of the research proposal compounded of conducting open-ended semi-structured interviews with the nurse participants (Sanjari et al.,2014). Semi-structured interviews has been widely used by the researchers while conducting a qualitative analysis of the research work of their interest which is primarily because it allows the development of new ideas and innovation (Passey et al.,2013).
In order to conduct the research, the researcher would proceed by getting the formal permission of the hospital administration to carry out the research in the hospital premises and strictly observing all the ethical considerations (Sandelowski,2014). After this, the researcher would send an official notification to all the prospective candidates who are eligible to participate in the interview outlining the minutes of the interview and the purpose of the research study. On obtaining the formal consent of the interested candidates, the researcher would proceed with the interview process and inform the candidates that their responses would be audio-taped, however all the obtained information would be kept strictly confidential (Passey et al.,2014). The researcher would ensure the participant that if need be, the participants can quit the interview at any point of time and because of this, their professional career would in no way be hampered. At the same time, the researcher would also ensure the participants that there would be absolutely zero psychological stress on the participants for participating in the interview process (Holloway & Galvin,2016).
The role of the researcher would encompass the first step that would include the interview process being conducted within the hospital premises, the interview would be based on a set of ten questions that would form a part of the open-ended questionnaire and at the same time would involve only ten experienced nursing professional who have dealt with adult aboriginal women (Hodyl et al.,2014). On successful completion of the interview process, the researcher would proceed with the thematic analysis of the obtained responses during the interview to yield appropriate deliverable themes on the basis of the over-all interview (Hoekzema et al.,2014).
Designing a qualitative study
The experience of interest of the author incorporates the thorough evaluation of the interest developed on the specified topic of the research project by the researcher. The evaluation is basically measured in terms of the parameters that include the cultural background of the researcher and the academic history of the researcher to measure the number of projects and assignments done in the similar field that led to the development of interest among the author on the mentioned topic (Greene,2014). Also, another important factor incorporates the years devoted to carry out the research on the specified topic or close academic association with the similar topic that has led to the inculcation of interest in the research to carry out a research work on the same.
In order to analyse the obtained data after successfully conducting the open-ended, semi-structured interview, the researcher would use the thematic analysis tool to critically evaluate the collective data. Thematic analysis is basically nothing but the process by virtue of which, the researcher reduces the obtained data and develops it into workable themes (Gale et al.,2013). Hence, it can be said that the researcher helps in manifesting the obtained data into a pattern of themes on which the entire systematic review of the concerned topic can be deduced.
Rigour and trustworthiness can be considered as inevitable characteristics on which depend the validity and the significance of the research that is going to be conducted. It is extremely important to inculcate a feeling of trust among the participants who are participating in the interview towards the researcher and his research topic. While conducting this research, the researcher would make sure that all the participants are made aware of the minute details with regard to the project in which their participation is being sought (Elo et al.,2014). The initial phase of the interview would involve the researcher in sending a detailed explanation about the minutes of the research that is going to be conducted in their healthcare organization and the legal permission for conducting the same would first be obtained. After the permission is obtained, the participants would be selected on the basis of the inclusion criteria and the participants enlisted would be informed about the particulars of the interview and the questionnaire by an email and their consent too would be accepted by an email. Following the same, the participants would be assured that they could quit the interview at any point of time and their non-participation in no way would affect their professional life (Chamberlain et al.,2013). After this, the nursing professionals would be made to sign a letter of undertaking that would highlight their participation in the research work was according to their personal consent and the responses given by them was true to the best of their knowledge and skills.
Study variables to be considered
Ethical considerations are an integral part of developing or designing any research plan. Ethical considerations help in upholding a certain value of authenticity to the research plan. While conducting this systematic review, ethical considerations that would be primary considered would include the confidentiality of the nursing professionals interviewed and imparting to them the complete information about the research study that is involving them (Castellano,2014). An official e-mail notification encompassing all the minute details of the research study that is going to be held would be forwarded to the participants of the interview and on receiving the e-mail, the formal consent of the participant nursing professionals would be accepted via e-mal. On receiving the formal acceptance of the nursing professionals, an interactive meeting session would be held in the hospital premises with the nurses where the details of the research work would be briefed and another formal written consent would be received and any queries in any form would be answered by the researcher so as to develop a clear understanding about the interview that is going to be organized. Also, consent for audio-taping the responses would be adopted with the promise of keeping all the obtained data confidential. The interviews would be held only after obtaining the legal permission from the hospital authority and the interviews would only be conducted as per the convenience of the nurses and not during their shift times that would hamper their duty hours by distracting their focus.
References:
Castellano, M. B. (2014). Ethics of Aboriginal Research1. Global bioethics and human rights: Contemporary issues, 273.
Chamberlain, C., O’Mara-Eves, A., Oliver, S., Caird, J. R., Perlen, S. M., Eades, S. J., & Thomas, J. (2013). Psychosocial interventions for supporting women to stop smoking in pregnancy. The Cochrane database of systematic reviews, 10, CD001055.
Elo, S., Kääriäinen, M., Kanste, O., Pölkki, T., Utriainen, K., & Kyngäs, H. (2014). Qualitative content analysis: A focus on trustworthiness. SAGE open, 4(1), 2158244014522633.
Gale, N. K., Heath, G., Cameron, E., Rashid, S., & Redwood, S. (2013). Using the framework method for the analysis of qualitative data in multi-disciplinary health research. BMC medical research methodology, 13(1), 117.
Greene, M. J. (2014). On the inside looking in: Methodological insights and challenges in conducting qualitative insider research. The qualitative report, 19(29), 1-13.
Hodyl, N. A., Grzeskowiak, L. E., Stark, M. J., Scheil, W., & Clifton, V. L. (2014). The impact of Aboriginal status, cigarette smoking and smoking cessation on perinatal outcomes in South Australia. Med J Aust, 201(5), 274-278.
Hoekzema, L., Buning, A. W., Bonevski, B., Wolke, L., Wong, S., Drinkwater, P., … & George, J. (2014). Smoking rates and smoking cessation preferences of pregnant women attending antenatal clinics of two large Australian maternity hospitals. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 54(1), 53-58.
Holloway, I., & Galvin, K. (2016). Qualitative research in nursing and healthcare. John Wiley & Sons. Pp 111-115
Passey, M. E., Bryant, J., Hall, A. E., & Sanson-Fisher, R. W. (2013). How will we close the gap in smoking rates for pregnant Indigenous women?. The Medical Journal of Australia, 199(1), 39-41.
Passey, M. E., Sanson-Fisher, R. W., & Stirling, J. M. (2014). Supporting pregnant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women to quit smoking: views of antenatal care providers and pregnant Indigenous women. Maternal and child health journal, 18(10), 2293-2299.
Sandelowski, M. (2014). Unmixing mixed?methods research. Research in Nursing & Health, 37(1), 3-8.
Sanjari, M., Bahramnezhad, F., Fomani, F. K., Shoghi, M., & Cheraghi, M. A. (2014). Ethical challenges of researchers in qualitative studies: The necessity to develop a specific guideline. Journal of medical ethics and history of medicine, 7.
Thamhain, H. J. (2014). Assessing the effectiveness of quantitative and qualitative methods for R&D project proposal evaluations. Engineering Management Journal, 26(3), 3-12.
Twyman, L., Bonevski, B., Paul, C., & Bryant, J. (2014). Perceived barriers to smoking cessation in selected vulnerable groups: a systematic review of the qualitative and quantitative literature. BMJ open, 4(12), e006414.