Choosing an appropriate sampling method for the research is crucial because it allows ensuring the credibility of the study. Identifying the target population and its features is an important step made prior to planning the interventions and tests. Nursing research can involve various groups of researchable populations, which may include nurses, clinicians, or individuals with certain health conditions (Stratton, 2021). Nurses are the most appropriate subset of the population to use in my research study as they are the group most qualified to provide the required data.
There is a number of sampling challenges related to this target population. For example, high turnover rates in some health care facilities can cause nurses to leave the study before it is completed (Roy, 2018, p. 83). To prevent this challenge and minimize the risks, researchers should thoroughly analyze recruitment criteria for the project as well as nurses’ retention. The budget has to be planned accordingly because additional investments might be required to retain the participants (Morrison-Beedy, 2018). Another challenge is recruiting nurses for the research in certain regions, such as rural areas, which may have a highly limited number of professional nurses who meet the criteria for the selection (Luck et al., 2017). Several aspects should be considered and applied to address this issue in remote areas. These include the distinctiveness of rural culture, an expanded recruitment budget, and the improvement of local infrastructure.
Purposive sampling can be used as the most appropriate approach to study the problem of high turnover and poor retention of nurses. One of the reasons for it is the fact that “the voluntary nature of nursing research supports the purposive sampling approach, and does not mitigate against it” (Campbell et al., 2020, p. 659). Another reason is the fact that purposive sampling places extensive emphasis on the process of data collection, which ensures the trustworthiness of the study.
References
Campbell, S., Greenwood, M., Prior, S., Shearer, T., Walkem, K., Young, S., Bywaters, D., & Walker, K. (2020). Purposive sampling: Complex or simple? Research case examples. Journal of Research in Nursing, 25(8), 652-661.
Luck, L., Chok, H. N., & Wilkes, L. (2017). Nurses as participants in research: An evaluation of recruitment techniques. Nurse Researcher, 25(2), 44-48.
Morrison-Beedy, D. (2018). How do you go from 1 to 135,000,000? Understanding the impact of nursing faculty on evidence-based practice. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 15(4), 245-246.
Roy, C. (2018). Key issues in nursing theory. Nursing Research, 67(2), 81-92.
Stratton, S. J. (2021). Population research: Convenience sampling strategies. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, 36(4), 373-374.
