One benefit of using qualitative date when conducting a community health assessment is that the assessor can broaden evidence from understanding behavior pattern and activities of information, not necessarily numerical and quantity in formation. By the same token, the approach could be one in which the assessor makes use of knowledge claim, based mainly on constructivist ideology. It is otherwise known as using different meaning of social and/or historical construction with the purpose of initiating or reshaping theory or partaking standpoints. In this regard, one limitation of using qualitative data is that the results cannot be generalized to the specific community(s). This is because the researcher works with general data, and the classification of the population is wide-ranging, such as elderly men.
Quantitative data is also beneficial because the researcher can rely on statistical/experimental analysis to analysis data (Rudestam & Newton, 2007). For example, QD include the use of descriptive and inferential statistics to find the correlation between variables. In a community health assessment, quantitative data can fail to consider human behavioral studies, such as anthropological, physiological and sociological studies. In a natural setting, quantitative data cannot be used to study things or discuss the meaning of things. For example, emotions, opinions, feelings or motives of the subject cannot be quantified to a varying degree.
A perfect example of when qualitative data may be more appropriate in community health assessment is the use of action research to describe how health needs assessment of a specified community was conducted. An action research is a research model of mostly qualitative, which lets you cultivate facts and understanding, as part of practice (Action Research and Action Learning for Community and Organizational Change, n.d.). Action research can be done in most cases where other research practices may be tough to undertake. Horne & Costello (2003) introduced a study that involved local people and a multiagency steering group, within a primary health care setting. Community development approaches were applied because of the potential it has to address some of the fundamental issues that lead to poor health. The assessment identified a need for more health promotional works to be carried out by health care professionals, i.e., annual health checks. A number of outcomes confirmed the existence of well-known difficulties in accessing health care, such as difficulties with physical distance to secondary care services, as well as the length of the waiting time at the outpatient departments.
Another example of a qualitative data suitable for community health assessment is the implementation of community health workers (CHW) programs. For example, a community health assessment was done in finding weaknesses and strengths of assigning community health workers to every village in Rwanda (Condo et al., 2014). The aim of this study was to assess the capacity of CHWs and the factors affecting the efficiency and effectiveness of the CHW programme. According to the article by Condo et al. (2014), Rwanda faces major gap in human resources placement for health. As a result, the Ministry of health expanded its community health programe, eventually placing 4 trained CHWs in every village in the country.
Another example of a qualitative data suitable for community health assessment is the implementation of community health workers (CHW) programs. For example, a community health assessment was done in finding weaknesses and strengths of assigning community health workers to every village in Rwanda (Condo et al., 2014). The aim of this study was to assess the capacity of CHWs and the factors affecting efficiency and effectiveness of the CHW programme. According to the article by Condo et al. (2014), Rwanda faces major gap in human resources placement for health. As a result, the Ministry of health expanded its community health programe, eventually placing 4 trained CHWs in every village in the country.
An example for when quantitative data may be more appropriate in community health assessment is the examination of community-level determinants of cardiovascular disease risk factors. This public health research uses the consistency of quantitative data designed to capture observations of community tobacco usage, nutrition, and social environments obtained from interviews with residents in communities in 5 countries (Corsi et al., 2012).
There is the second part of a mixed method approach to public health needs assessment that tried to quantitatively determine the impact of the closure of St. Vincent’s Medical Center, a large not-for-profit hospital in NYC on individuals who used its services ( Romera, Kwan, Nesteler & Cohen, 2012). In this example of quantitative data approach, a community survey was carried out. The questions covered topics that include demographics, health status, experiences accessing health care pre- and post-hospital closure, access to medical records, prescriptions, etc. The majority of respondents are from the community immediately surrounding the hospital.
Romero, D., Kwan, A., Nestler, S., & Cohen, N. (2012). Impact of the Closure of a Large Urban Medical Center: A Quantitative Assessment (Part II). Journal Of Community Health, 37(5), 995-1005
Corsi, D. J., Subramanian, S. V., McKee, M., Wei, L., Swaminathan, S., Lopez-Jaramillo, P., & … Schooling, C. M. (2012). Environmental Profile of a Community’s Health (EPOCH): An Ecometric Assessment of Measures of the Community Environment Based on Individual Perception. Plos ONE, 7(9), 1-7.
Horne, M., and J. Costello. 2003. “A public health approach to health needs assessment at the interface of primary care and community development: findings from an action research study.” Primary Health Care Research & Development (Sage Publications, Ltd.) 4, no. 4: 340-352. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed September 7, 2015).
Action Research and Action Learning For Community and Organizational Change.(n.d.). Action research: action and research. Retrieved from http://www.aral.com.au/resources/arfaq.html#a_faq_1
Condo, J., Mugeni, C., Naughton, B., Hall, K., Tuazon, M. A., Omwega, A., & … Binagwaho, A. (2014). Rwanda’s evolving community health worker system: a qualitative assessment of client and provider perspectives. Human Resources For Health, 12(1), 105-119
Rudestam, K. E., & Newton, R. R. (2007). Surviving your dissertation: A comprehensive guide to content and process (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications
