Theme 4

I think the paper “Noise in an intensive care unit” used quantitative methods in two cases.

They made a staff survey and gathered information about how the staff felt about the noise in an intensive care unit ([1], “Introduction”). I think the survey was a good to start with to see whether the noise problem is experienced as a problem and to what extent. The limitation may be that it is hard to determine the cause of the noise through a survey.

They also measured the sound pressure in different locations in the unit and analysed sound pressure levels of important medical devices ([1], “Description of measurements”). In this case, it is possible to see what causes the noise. The limitation may be that it doesn’t measure whether a person experiences it as a problem.

My conclusion of this is that I think the methods complemented each other.

One improvement to the survey could be to include more participants (though they did make references to similar studies which showed similar results) as it can be more accurate, and also it can be beneficial if used in the analyze and comparison with the sound pressure measurements (which may not be possible with the external studies). I could not think of any further improvements in the sound pressure measurements.

Which are the benefits and limitations of using quantitative methods?
Data can be collected efficiently and compared. Limitations can be that it doesn’t answer the question ‘why’ and that answers in a question of a survey for example can be limited, and does not always present the exact feeling/response of a participant ([2], p. 1).

Which are the benefits and limitations of using qualitative methods?
Can be used to answer the question ‘why’. Limitations may be that there can be few participants in a study and that the study may take some time due to for example data collecting and interview time where quantitative method have an advantage ([2], p. 1).

References
[1]
Noise in an intensive care unit
Salandin, Andrea and Arnold, Jörg and Kornadt, Oliver, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 130, 3754-3760 (2011), DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1121/1.3655884
[2]
ACET, Inc. (2013).
Selecting an evaluation: Qualitative,
quantitative, and mixed method approaches.
Minneapolis, MN.