La formación de enfermería basada en competencias

Qualitative researchers do not view the size of the respondent pool as important. Instead, qualitative researchers concentrate on looking to understand something, both specifically and in general. As the researcher, I interviewed a total of nine former Program students for this study to understand their Program experiences while in high school and how these experiences affected their adult lives.

It has been a long, laborious process for me to develop the study of nine Program participants of the 1989 and 1990 graduation classes of Ellen Martin High School. First, I contacted a former guidance counselor at Ellen Martin to gather a list of Program participants. I looked for the names of individuals who participated in both Program 1 and Program 2 by contacting a former counselor, who still had access to the school records. This counselor provided a list of 71 students who had participated in Program 1 or Program 2. She listed 26 of the 71 as participating in both years of the Program. Upon examining the list provided by the counselor, I saw a few errors. I remembered individuals who were listed

as participating in only Program 1 but who actually participated in both years of the program.

At that point, I joined Classmates.com and started contacting individuals who were listed as Program participants and as members of Classmates.com. I received email responses from most of those listed on Classmates.com. From those contacts, I was able to put together a list of three individuals who

participated in both years of the Program for either the graduation classes of 1989 or 1990. I interviewed those three individuals for the pilot study that preceded this study. I was able to get additional information from those three individuals because two of them were organizers for class reunions, one for the class of 1989 and one for the class of 1990.

After interviewing the three individuals for the pilot study, I started to get additional contacts from former Program participants. One individual, Adam, from the class of 1989, is now a doorman for a hotel in a large city in the northeast. Adam emailed me twice but did not respond to my emails when I asked him to participate in the study. The class president of the 1989 class contacted me and decided to assist me in my efforts to contact individuals. She made phone calls on my behalf and provided emails to me. Other former students were also making contacts on my behalf.

I determined that there were 34 students in E.B.C.E One in the 1987 – 1988 school year at Ellen Martin High School. Of those, 12 also participated in Program 2 in the 1988 – 1989 school year. There were 37 students in Program 1

1989 – 1990 school year. Therefore, in the two school years mentioned above, there were a total of 71 students in Program 1 and a total of 26 in both years of the Program. From this information,I was able to identify email addresses and/or telephone numbers for twelve former students who participated in both years of the Program in either the 1989 or 1990 graduation classes.

To verify the identities of the participants in the study, I asked each potential participant about their Program externship while at Ellen Martin High. Through this verification process, I eliminated three potential participants. Two of the three participated in Program 1 but didn’t participate in Program 2. One additional individual graduated from Ellen Martin and described an externship experience at a hotel. I determined that she had actually participated in the hospitality program as a senior not the Program. The hospitality program was an experiential program for individuals who wished to enter the hospitality program while in their senior year in high school.

I was able to contact ten of the twelve identified program participants via email and/or telephone. The contact information for two individuals was invalid. I decided to begin the study with ten participants. I sent all ten participants

information about the study via email and regular mail andall ten agreedto participate in the study. Nine of the ten signed forms agreeing to participate in an Internet focus group and a follow-up individual email session. I set up the

discussion board/focus group on the Town Universitywebsite. I then emailed all ten telling them that the initial questions had been posted on the discussion board. Nine of the ten contacted by me responded to the request and answered

the questions. I had to call one participant because he admitted that he didn’t look at his email often and asked me to leave a phone message for him every time I wanted him to respond to questions.

I could not get the last of the ten to respond to any emails. She did call me on the phone one night but didn’t respond to any other contacts from me. So, I went to her place of work, a school in the same city where I live. I went there twice and missed her each time but left written messages for her but she did not respond. I finally decided to stop contacting her and began the study with nine participants.

The participants, ranging in age from 32 to 33, are primarily female and African American. Eight of the nine study participants are female (See Table 9). Seven of the nine participants are African American Females. The one male participant is Caucasian and one female is Hispanic. Seven of the nine

participants graduated from high school in 1990 and two graduated in 1989. I did not inquire about the marital status of the participants but some of them

volunteered that information and I mentioned the marital status of the participants only if they indicated that a change in that status had had an influence on their professional lives. Each of the participant names was changed to maintain confidentiality. Eight of the nine participants have college degrees. Three of the participants have advanced degrees, one M.D., one M.B.A., and one participant with a Masters Degree in Information Systems. Two participants each have two bachelor degrees. One has a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Chemistry with

Another participant has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Public Policy with a focus on Urban and Regional Planning. One participant has a Bachelor of Science Degree in

Professional Aviation with a minor in Aviation Management and one participant has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communication. The final participant attended college for two years and majored in Anthropology before dropping out of college to become a restaurant manager. She is now interested in receiving culinary arts instruction to enhance her chances of owning her own restaurant.

Table 9