Evidence-Based Practice for Nurses

that might have been introduced by the researcher’s presence among the partici-

pants. Researchers must ask themselves if their presence may have influenced

the participants to act any differently, and if so, how? Researchers should also

check for representativeness. This means that researchers should challenge

their assumption that the participants included in a study indeed represent

the group. In addition, all cases that do not fit the typical profile that emerged

from the data should be examined. These extreme or negative cases should be

analyzed to see why they are not represented by the researchers’ findings. Such

exceptional cases should be few and able to be logically explained.

Confirmation of a study’s findings is enhanced if the findings can be

replicated. This means that if another researcher can essentially do the same

study with similar results, this helps to validate the original researcher’s findings.

Another strategy is to get feedback from the study participants about how well

the results represent what they actually experienced. Having the participants

themselves confirm the findings of the study lends credibility to the results.

Writing Reports

Another challenge of qualitative research is reporting the results. Traditional

formats for reporting quantitative research do not fit well with most qualita-

tive studies, and many authorities have suggested that qualitative reports focus

much more on detailed description and integration of the discussion of methods

(Houghton et al., 2015). A typical report of qualitative research would follow

a format similar to that presented in Box 14-2. Traditional reports contain an

introduction, explanation of the significance of the project, a review of the

relevant literature, description of methods, findings, discussion, and conclu-

sions. However, there are several ways in which qualitative research may be

presented, and researchers should carefully choose the strategy for presentation

that best represents what they are trying to convey. Thought should be given

to creatively reporting findings if it would enhance the ability of nurses to bet-

ter apply the research in practice. That said, the results of the study must be

reported with sufficient rigor and details about the methods used to establish

trustworthiness of the findings so that readers can have confidence that the

results represent suggestions for best practice.

Although there are several ways to approach the reporting of qualitative data,

Van Manen (1988) identified three that are often referred to when considering

how to write the report: realist tales, confessionist tales, and impressionist

tales. Realist tales are the most common and were used by ethnographers such

as Margaret Mead (Marshall & Rossman, 2011). When using this approach,

researchers write a real-life account of the culture being studied and present it by

using a third-person voice, clearly separating researchers from the participants

KEY TERMS

representativeness:

The degree to

which elements of

the sample are like

elements in the

population

replicated: When

another researcher

has findings similar

to a previous study

realist tales: A

real-life account of

the culture being

studied presented

in a third-person

voice that

clearly separates

researchers from

participants

confessionist

tales: Qualitative

researchers’

personal accounts

that provide

insight about data

collection and

scientific rigor

impressionist

tales: Qualitative

researchers’

storytelling

and personal

descriptions about

the experiences of

conducting studies

388 CHAPTER 14 What Do the Qualitative Data Mean?