Research Skills Are the Clinical Superpower of Dental Hygiene

Developing a strong understanding of research concepts and applying them effectively to clinical dental hygiene practice are skills that evolve through continuous learning, critical thinking, and reflection. Research application is rooted in evidence-based practice, which integrates the best available evidence, clinical expertise, and patient preferences.^1-4 Building research literacy begins with understanding foundational study designs and recognizing the relative strength of the evidence each provides.

Qualitative or Quantitative

Qualitative research seeks to understand participants’ experiences, perceptions, and behavior through observation, open-ended interviewing, and reviewing documents.⁵ An example of qualitative research is starting an oral hygiene education program at a nursing home and surveying residents through questionnaires on the perception of dental care, their current oral hygiene education level, and their attitudes toward learning new oral hygiene skills.⁶

Quantitative research is a methodological approach used to test objective theories by examining the relationships among variables through statistical and numerical analysis. This type of research is primarily concerned with measurement and comparison, allowing researchers to evaluate hypotheses in a systematic manner.^5,7 The primary goals of quantitative research are establishing factual evidence, identifying and predicting future trends, examining relationships between variables, and testing existing theories. Quantitative studies are able to produce objective and generalizable findings when appropriate sampling and experimental controls are used.⁸

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* References and figures can be found in the original article via the link above.