Think about the example regarding individuals’ personal experiences of being a carer. How might you go about finding out what this experience is like? What sort of questions would you ask? Once you have thought about what questions to ask, think about how you might approach gathering the information (the method) and why you would use this particular method.

To explore the personal experiences of individuals you would use a qualitative research method such as phenomenology which studies the lived experience of individuals. The data gathering would be through interviews using open questions.

Think about an area in practice which involves supporting patients and carers (e.g. dementia care). Find three recent research articles (ideally less than 5 years old) which relate to your chosen area of practice and the experience of carers. These can be quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods. Read each article and make some notes. Why did you choose these articles? What was the method used in each? What were the results/outcomes? Could I use the evidence generated from these articles in practice and if so how?

The response to the above questions will depend on what research articles the students find.