Good Essay About Research Methods Proposal

Introduction

A comprehensive research requires a suitable methodology. The methodology establishes the research design an approach that will be applied in line with the nature of research, population, and the research objective. The methodology entails the research methods including data collection, population selection, and sampling technique, as well as the ethical consideration for the data collection, analysis, and findings use. In that view, the following is a research method proposal for a study in healthcare focusing on the use of herbal medicine as an alternative cure and treatment drugs. The methodology outlines the research design, rationale for population selection, proposed data collection, data collection method appropriateness and ethical considerations.

Methodology Proposal

Research methods
Criteria for using a qualitative or quantitative designs
The research will take a descriptive approach that will involve describing respondents’ use of the herbal medicine and their experiences. In that respect, the research will initially apply a qualitative technique that is suitable for addressing phenomena issues that cannot be quantified (Patton, 2002). In addition, the research will then apply linker scale for translating the respondents’ descriptions to quantities that can be analyzed using the basic statistical measure. In that view, the research will apply both qualitative and quantitative techniques for a comprehensive analysis of the herbal, and alternative medicines use and outcomes (Neutens & Rubinson, 2010). Rationale for selecting target population
With an objective of identifying the effectiveness of the herbal and alternative medicine in treating patients, the research will seek to use patients’ experiences with the medicines use. In that respect, the research will entail collecting information from people who have used the herbal medicines and alternative treatments. In addition, the research will focus on the medicines use in US hence will identify respondents from three cities. The use of urban population will be useful because the patients are likely to have used both herbal and pharmaceutical drugs hence capable of comparing and describing the different outcomes and experiences that will be useful in assessing the risks involved with alternative medicine use (Jacobsen, 2012).

Proposed data collection

Data collection method appropriates for population
Given that the research will cover various geographical locations, is will be suitable to use a data collection method that will be cost and time efficient in reaching all respondents. That will involve the use of questionnaires that will be mailed to all respondents across all he regions. The questionnaire will be suitable as a means of respondents providing information as anonymous participants and without direct interaction with the researcher owing to the sensitive nature of information being collected and need of privacy (Neutens & Rubinson, 2010).

Ethical considerations in collecting data

Healthcare research entails collection of data relating to people’s health status and health records. That marks the sensitive nature of the information that the study will be dealing with hence a need for ethical practice during data collection and findings use. In that respect, respondents’ confidentiality will be guaranteed while data will be collected only from the willing participants. That will ensure respondents will provide information that they are willing to share, and their identity will not be disclosed (Jacobsen, 2012).

Conclusion

In view of the proposed study, both qualitative and quantitative approaches will be applied to initial stage involving qualitative description of the patients’ experiences. The experiences will then be quantified for the purpose of effusive analysis with use of basic statistical measures. In respect to the selected population, respondents will comprise people who have used both conventional medicine and the herbal/alternative medicine from three cities in the US. That is because they will be in the beer position to identify risks associated with herbal medicine compared to the conventional medicine. Finally, the study will ensure protection of respondents’ privacy and participation will be on willingness basis hence embracing ethical practices in data collection.

References

Jacobsen, K. (2012). Introduction to Health Research Methods. London: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Neutens, J. & Rubinson, L. (2010). Research Techniques for the Health Sciences. 4th Ed. NewYork: Pearson Education, Inc.
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative evaluation and research methods. 3rd Ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.