NU 515 Discuss the pro and cons of the sampling technique used in the article
NU 515 Discuss the pro and cons of the sampling technique used in the article
Convenience Sampling
In their study about the impact of using bar-code medication administration in an emergency department on medication administration error and nursing satisfaction, the researchers use a convenience sample technique where registered nurses in emergency department at the site of the study were included as the subjects (Owens et a., 2020). Convenience sampling is a method that researchers use collect data from a conveniently available pool of respondents or research subjects. Researchers use this technique in situations where additional inputs are not required for the principal study. As a non-probability sampling technique or method, convenience sampling provides a host of benefits or advantages.
The advantages include providing researchers with subjects or respondents that are easily available and accessible.
According to Elfil and Negida (2017), convenience sampling provides many advantages that include being fast, inexpensive and convenient to meet the needs of the researchers based on what they want. Researchers select the sample elements based on their proximity to the research site. The article by Owens et al. (2020) uses convenience sample of registered nurses in the emergency department since they were interested in these providers in relation to the health issue of medication administration errors in the emergency department. The sampling technique allows researchers to get initial primary data concerning a study efficiently.
Conversely, convenience sampling method has disadvantages. These include a high probability of biased results due to the inclusion criteria as participants are selected based on the interests of the researchers, and the possibility of having under representation or over representation that may affect the quality of data and outcomes (Jager et al., 2017). Further, the sampling technique makes it difficult for researchers to generalize their survey findings to the general population.
References
Elfil, M., & Negida, A. (2017). Sampling methods in clinical research; an educational review.
Emergency, 5(1). DOI:10.22037/emergency. v5i1.15215
Jager, J., Putnick, D. L., & Bornstein, M. H. (2017). II. More than just convenient: The scientific
merits of homogeneous convenience samples. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 82(2), 13-30. doi: 10.1111/mono.12296
Owens, K., Palmore, M., Penoyer, D., & Viers, P. (2020). The Effect of Implementing Bar-Code
Medication Administration in an Emergency Department on Medication Administration Errors and Nursing Satisfaction. Journal of Emergency Nursing, 46(6), 884-891. doi: 10.1016/j.jen.2020.07.004.