CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY

3.1 RESEARCH DESIGN

The researchers choose a correlational research design because it best served

to answer the questions and the purposes of the study. The correlational research

design able the researchers to seek and understand what kind of relationships naturally

occurring variables have with one another. The researchers sought to know the

influence of patient’s death on the stress level of emergency room nurses. The

perceived stress scale will be used as the questionnaire and as an instrument of the

study. The dependent variable of the study is the stress level of emergency room

nurses and the independent variable is the patients’ death.

3.2 POPULATION OF THE STUDY

The population of the study is composed of nurses in the emergency room that

has experienced patient death and coming from both public and private hospitals

around Kabacan, North Cotabato. The researchers aim to gather 50 respondents for the

effectiveness of study’s result.

3.3 SAMPLING PROCEDURE

Purposive sampling method was used for selecting the participants in this study.

This method is implied to deliberately choose participants due to the qualities the

participants possess. The selected participants was from the emergency room nurses,
who works in the emergency department of a hospital and deals people in critical

conditions, emergency related tasks and patient’s death. The participants had the

proper knowledge and information needed by the researcher to come up with

meaningful results regarding their experience on patient’s death. This was achieved by

giving structured questionnaires to the participants and with the sought answers from

the questionnaires, the researchers come up with the data of how patient’s death

influence the stress level of emergency room nurses.

3.4 INSTRUMENT OF THE STUDY

Structured interview which are interview that allow the researcher to gather the

needed information with questions that are highly related and needed to answer by the

respondents, are used as data collection instrument for the study. The emergency room

nurses were interviewed. The interview questions were aimed at eliciting relevant

information concerning the influence of patients’ death on the performance of

emergency room nurses of Antipas Medical Specialists. Interview questions has format

and was asked only formal questions regarding the study. Follow-up questions can be

entertained if the information needed is not enough or is still unclear. After the interview,

the information was transcribed and analyzed by the researchers. The gathered

information was stored properly for confidentiality.

3.5 VARIABLES OF THE STUDY

3.6 DATA COLLECTION

The researchers were asked to know the influence of patient’s death on the

performance of emergency room nurses. The respondents were given a letter to be part

of the study and they have agreed to the terms stated in the letter. Written within the

letter given, the researchers also asked for the respondents’ permission for the

interview to be tape-recorded. The researchers chose twenty emergency room nurses

and then briefed them about the interview to be conducted to them for the study.

As the study is to be conducted, the researchers wished to be transparent in their

study, and as a result, the respondents were given the interview guideline. The

interview guideline was firstly to help them better prepare for the interviews. Secondly,

the interview guideline aided in providing information-rich answers, as the emergency

room nurses had time to prepare for the interviews.

The respondents were interviewed individually in a solemn and quiet room, at the

hospital premises. Structured, face-to-face interviews were used as the source of data

for the emergency room nurses coping mechanisms on patients death. Making use of a

tape recorder allowed the researchers to record fully and accurately what was being

said rather taking notes during the interviews. According to De Vos et al. (2002), it was

very useful to make use of a tape recorder because the researcher is able to

concentrate on what was said in the interviews and could think about a follow-up

question.
3.7 STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

To analyze the interview data collected, the descriptive analysis.