Sampling strategy

Sampling strategy

1. Target population

As mentioned in the PICOT analysis, the research focuses on nurses as the Virginia Medical Centre who work long hours at the hospital and how that affects the quality of care that they give to patients. The research thereby targets two populations. Firstly, it aims nurses who work twelve hours a day and then exchange their shifts who have to be compared with nurses who work eight hours a day. The target populations are the two groups of nurses and their patients. The patients will only be observed for purposes of determining the quality of care that they have been given.

1. Sampling approach

• sampling approach that focuses on the nurse, a non-probability sampling approach has to be used. Since the study is focusing on a particular quality on the nurses within Virginia Medical Centre, it is only fair to apply quota sampling (Faber, & Fonseca, 2014). Quota sampling helps in tailoring the two characteristics that we are looking for to the population interest.

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  However, the population of patients who will analyze the type of care the nurses gave them will be chosen through random sampling. Even though using quota sampling sets the grounds for potential bias, but it accounts for the population proportions that the research study requires. Additionally, since, in this case, probability sampling is not possible, it is only logical to apply a useful method (Faber, & Fonseca, 2014).

1. Inclusion and exclusion criteria

• inclusion criteria are based on characteristics that favor the research. Any nurse who takes care of the patients within the Virginia Medical Centre is included in the study. The nurses within the examination must be registered and recognized by both the medical center and the nurses’ practitioners (Faber, & Fonseca, 2014). The research focuses on nurses between the ages of twenty-five to thirty-five who are believed to be at their prime age. The sample of nurses excluded from the study is those above the age of thirty-five who are found to have slightly passed their prime working age. To limit bias, nurses who are not registered by nursing practitioners are also excluded from the study. In terms of gender, both male and female nurses are included in the research study.

1. Factors that influence the determination of sample size

• the study is nursing research the sample size of 100 nurses (fifty who work twelve hours and another 50 who work eight hours), the following decision influenced the sample size. Firstly, the study is limited to one year, which is a short time. Analyzing data of large samples might take more than one year. It is approximated that the sample size can easily be interpreted within the one-year duration (Hayat, 2013). Additionally, the sample size is also influenced by the confidence level of the nurses. Choosing fifty from each side quickly determines that the proportion and the sample will give the required confidence for the study. The research is an observational study that could only be made possible by limiting and accurately picking the sample size as much as it can be.

1. Potential threats to validity based on sampling

• the margin of error might be huge, which will affect validity. It can be so based on the fact that the sample was not randomly picked but purposively picked, which in turn increases the margin of error (Hayat, 2013). Since the sample size is minimal it undermines internal validity through focusing on clinically insignificant figures (Hayat, 2013). Lastly, the relationship between the groups that will be evaluated might affect validity. Patients and nurse relationship depending on the sampling might affect validity by giving insignificant results that is not influenced by working hours as focused on by the study.