My phenomenon of interest is dialysis prevention, and I decided to share research by Ladin et al. (2018) for today’s discussion. The research aimed to explain why the decision-making process about dialysis initiation differed among different institutions. Ladin et al. (2018) conducted 35 interviews with nephrologists discussing their attitude toward the decision-making process of dialysis initiation in older adults and utilized thematic and typological analyses to arrive at conclusions. The results revealed four different approaches to the decision-making process, including paternalist, informative (patient-led), interpretive (navigator), and institutionalist. The researchers concluded that perceptions of nephrologists’ role, patient autonomy, and successful versus unsuccessful encounters contribute to variation in decision-making for patients with kidney disease.
The researcher was not guided by any theoretical framework; therefore, it is difficult to speak of alignment between theory and utilized methods. However, it should be said that the methods were appropriate for the purpose of the study, as the researchers aimed to explore the phenomenon of the decision-making process concerning dialysis initiation. According to Gray and Grove (2021), qualitative methods are used for exploratory studies. The methods of the study were not clearly explained. Even though it is possible to get a general idea about the procedures, the questions asked during the interviews were not mentioned, which makes the research difficult to replicate. It should be mentioned, however, that the participant selection and analysis procedures were clearly described.
As for the questions, I want to ask if a sample of 35 interviews is adequate for such explorative studies. How to justify the sample size for qualitative studies?
References
Gray, J. R., & Grove, S. K. (2021). Burns and Grove’s the practice of nursing research: Appraisal, synthesis, and generation of evidence (9th ed.). Elsevier.
Ladin, K., Pandya, R., Perrone, R. D., Meyer, K. B., Kannam, A., Loke, R.,… & Wong, J. B. (2018). Characterizing approaches to dialysis decision making with older adults: a qualitative study of nephrologists. Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 13(8), 1188-1196.