Integrating Qualitative & Quantitative Research Findings

Univ Of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill NC

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Because methods have yet to be developed to integrate findings across qualitative and quantitative studies, the evidence base for practice has yet to reflect all of the best evidence. Accordingly, the immediate aim of the proposed study is to develop methods to conduct mixed research integration studies. This is essential to facilitate the appropriate utilization in practice of all kinds of empirical research findings and to expand the methodological options available to accommodate disparate sources of evidence. Empirical research with findings pertaining to stigma and to adherence to antiretroviral therapy in HIV-positive women will be used to accomplish the objectives of the study, which are to: (a) clarify the relationships between qualitative and quantitative research findings in common research areas;(b) develop research designs for mixed research integration studies that accommodate these relationships, especially the heterogeneity across studies;(c) develop analytic techniques to link or transform qualitative and quantitative research findings for combination;and (d) produce credible and usable integrations of findings. All channels of communication will be used to conduct a comprehensive high-recall search of the literature. Reports retrieved will be appraised and compared for their informational content and formal properties. Among the specific methods that will be used are Ragin's comparative case analysis and Bayesian approaches to meta-analysis. The material outcomes of the project will include: (a) guidelines for conducting mixed research integration studies;(b) a set of procedures and tools to appraise, evaluate, classify, and combine findings in methodologically disparate studies;and (c) a set of research integrations produced from the methods developed in the project. This study is a continuation of the NINR/NIH study, "Analytic techniques for qualitative metasynthesis" (NR04907 &NR04907S, 06/01/00-02/28/05). This study is also in response to PA- 02-072, Methodology and Measurement in the Behavioral and Social Sciences, and addresses priorities in the NIH Roadmap initiative pertaining to the development of innovative methodologies and priorities in the Fiscal Year 2004 Plan for HIV-Related Research.