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4.4.2 Choosing the research methodology Both Flick (2006) and Patton (2002) stressed the importance of clarifying the purpose of the research during the embryonic stage of research design. This researcher’s purpose was to describe and explain the case of Australian nurses providing mental healthcare in remote areas. The aim of this study was to understand and comprehend the social world of remote nurses delivering mental healthcare. Based on the purpose and aim of the study (Polit & Beck, 2004; Gribich, 1999) the researcher`s case study adopted a qualitative research methodology, which sought to develop an understanding of human action in social settings. According to Polit and Beck (2004) the naturalistic paradigm of qualitative research develops from the ontological assumption that reality is not fixed but exists within a context where there are multiple interpretations of reality. The researcher`s qualitative case study was grounded in a philosophical position which accepts that the ways in which people construct and make sense of their worlds and their lives, is highly variable and locally specific (Flick 2006). The study’s purpose and aims influenced the researcher’s choice of research design. In order to describe the provision of mental healthcare, the researcher needed to discover what methods remote nurses used, embedded in their practice, to provide such care. The literature review identified several factors that promote, facilitate, support, hinder or prevent remote nurses providing mental healthcare. The researcher’s aim was to investigate the qualitative questions of ‘how’ and ‘why’ remote nurses deliver mental healthcare in the manner and circumstances in which they do, as opposed to the quantifiable questions of ‘how much’ remote mental healthcare is delivered or ‘how many’ individuals, professions or health clinician groups deliver remote mental healthcare (Benbasat, Goldstein & Mead,