Another example of nurses using ethnography is a study by Shambley-Ebron
and Boyle (2006) that explored self-care and mothering in African American
women with HIV/AIDS. The researchers studied 10 African American moth-
ers and found themes related to disabling relationships, strong mothering, and
redefining self-care, with a cultural theme of creating a life of meaning. The
researchers concluded that their study pointed out the strengths of African
American women and helped to generate theory that will promote better care
for this population.
In a meta-ethnography about older persons’ views on risk for falls, the researchers
selected 11 qualitative articles from 7 databases to gain a conceptual understand-
ing about how elders view falls and their needs for fall prevention interventions.
Researchers examined the culture of falls in elderly adults. The researchers found
six key concepts that explained how older adults appraised their risk for falls
and how they coped with fall risk interventions. The six key concepts identified
were: (1) beyond personal control, (2) rationalizing, (3) salience, (4) life change
and identity, (5) taking control, and (6) self-management (McInnes, Seers, &
Tutton, 2011). By synthesizing findings using meta-ethnography, the research-
ers were able to identify a culture unique to older adults who experience falls.
Street (1992) conducted a study that became a book titled Inside Nursing:
A Critical Ethnography of Clinical Nursing Practice. She studied nurses and the
culture of nursing at a large hospital in Australia. Street’s background was social
theory and feminism rather than nursing. Nonetheless, her work provided great
insight into the politics, power struggles, and frustrations reported by nurses
that challenged the traditional view of nursing at the time.
These studies demonstrate that culture does not have to be merely defined
in terms of one’s ethnic group, but that culture embodies the feelings, beliefs,
attitudes, values, and behaviors of a group of people and ethnography can be
conducted on a variety of topics in different settings. Today’s nurse research-
ers “would be well-served by describing specific cultural patterns in order to
develop targeted interventions to best meet increasingly diverse patient needs”
(Oliffe, 2005, p. 397).
Historical Research: Learning from the Past
Historical research is based on documentation of sources that are used to ret-
rospectively examine events or people. “Historical methods are concerned with
uncovering and generating evidence and with interpreting that evidence in the
historical context in which it was created” (Fealy, Kelly, & Watson, 2013, p. 1882).
The questions being asked are “Who are we?” “Where did we come from?” “Why did
we do this?” and “How did we get to this point?” The goal of this type of research is
to explain and understand the past with the hope of guiding the present and future.
9.2 The Four Major Types of Qualitative Research 241