Research Methods in Health Science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Research Methods in Health Science - Essay Example Ethical principles used in the scientific researches, different approaches to the issues of reality, truth and knowledge and many other aspects of researches would be easily interpreted from the perspective of philosophical considerations (Patterson, 2000; Scanlan, 1986). The main challenge in discussion about research methods applied in health science researches is differentiation between quantitative and qualitative research methodologies (Grinnell & Unrau, 2005). It is a wrong claim that quantitative researches are based on empirical data collection and qualitative researches are based on subjective approach implementation. Nevertheless, this supposition is wrong, because empirical data collection is relevant to both quantitative and qualitative researchers. The main distinction between these two methodologies lies in the following terms: quantitative research methodologies imply inductive inference and qualitative researches are focused more on a research question. ... The main goal of the authors was to consider â€Å"a correlation between clinical features and MRI findings in lumbar disc prolapse in order to define the significance of further treatment development† (Janardhana, Rao & Kamath, 2010). The main clinical features studied among patients were the following: pain distribution, neurological signs, and symptoms in lumbar disc prolapse (Janardhana, Rao & Kamath, 2010). Therefore, the authors were focused on patients’ clinical features, such as lower limb radiculopathy and the outpatient department of orthopedics were included in the study. The authors chose quantitative approach to the current health study. This fact can be proven by the fact that a focus group consisted of 119 patients, 59 males and 64 females. The mean age (44.83 years) of patients and a range of female/male age groups indicated in the results section of the study refers to the main features of quantitative research (Moore, 2008). Moreover, in the section of â€Å"Materials and Methods† it was noted that Kappa coefficient was implemented for assessment of intra- and interobserver variations. Furthermore, implementation of statistical tests (Kappa and Logistic regression analysis) confirms the nature of quantitative research. A correlation between research question and a chosen approach It is relevant to notice that in previous studies in this field, MRI findings were rarely correlated with clinical level and MRI level. A high percentage of cases when the L4-5 disc prolapse was not only responsible for L5 radiculopathy in 67 (94.36%) cases imply that there is a â€Å"good correlation between the clinical level and MRI level† (Janardhana, Rao & Kamath, 2010). Moreover, a