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Chapter 7 Discussion
Issues of confidentiality were key for the documentary data collection and again
this required sufficient time to be factored in for this stage of data collection as
no data could be removed from the case study site with any identifiable
information on it. All of the residents sets of documentation were photocopied on
site and all information which identified them was erased prior to the documents
leaving the case study site.
7.5.4 Issues related to validity of data collection tools
It was the first time for these interview, observation and documentary data
collection tools to be used in a research study however all of the data collection
tools were designed from the literature and subsequent concept analysis.
Furthermore all of the data collection tools were piloted prior to use in the main
study. Future research studies may contribute to the validation of these data
collection tools. The KAOP as a data collection tool has recently been re-
affirmed by Doherty et al, (2011) and its reliability has been found to be alpha
0.79 (Lambrinou et al, 2005).
7.6 Conclusions
To conclude the chapter and thesis, the following are suggested as directions for
future work.
7.6.1 Future Research Directions
Hollander and Kane (2003) suggest that research can improve practice in
residential care. They suggest that research can contribute in four ways: 1) By
developing new concepts and methods that help define fundamental goals, 2) By
designing practical tools that document the nature and magnitude of problems to
be addressed and the outcomes that are achieved, 3) By assessing interventions
and strategies for improving care and finally 4) By evaluating new models,
programs, or systems of service delivery. While this research was the first to
specifically explore autonomy for older people in residential care in Ireland,
phase two only focused on enhancing one small element of autonomy. Therefore,
now that there are attributes of resident autonomy identified, future research
could focus on ways in which resident autonomy can be further enhanced.