Learning to be a Qualitative Researcher as a Tool: Experience from Focus Group: An Integrative Review
Keywords:
Focus group, Qualitative ResearchAbstract
Purpose: The objective of this article is to describe how to be a good tool in qualitative research.
Background: Health professionals are currently using focus-group interviews as a method for collecting qualitative data that is growing in popularity.
Design: An integrative review was conducted to review and integrate literatures. All of the studies provided answers to describe how to be a good tool in qualitative research. In addition, the PICO (population, intervention, control, and outcomes) format was applied for this study. First, the population was clinical and education providers .Second, intervention was procedure to be qualitative researcher. Third, procedure to be quantitative researcher was compared with the existing one. Lastly, outcome was the effect of procedure to be qualitative researcher (Elkins, 2010).
Methods: CINAHL Complete, Researchgate, SAGE Premier 2014, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, Oxford University Press E-Journals, Wiley Online Library, SpringerLink and books written in English published from 2001 to 2015 were used as the sources for the studies by using a combination of set vocabulary and key words.
Findngs: At total of 36 articles were found to meet the inclusion criteria. Most of the aforementioned studies used academic journals (51 %; n = 18), while 17 (49%) books. Due to the diverse nature of the research methodology, the findings of the review in the present study are presented as a descriptive summary (Whittemore & Knafl, 2005).
Conclusions: Qualitative researcher is a help tool for qualitative research focused on complex issues involving human behavior and felt needs. Hence, the main goal of qualitative research is its contribution to understanding social phenomena based on the opinions and experiences of group participants.
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