Qualitative Research Methods

Do you want to examine patient or healthcare workers' attitudes to a current issue in healthcare, perhaps to inform contingency planning and therefore benefit patients?  Or perhaps you want to develop a better understanding of an issue, based on users' perspectives, to help you plan and develop specific clinical services?

These types of research questions are not easily answered by the quantitative research designs that are common in healthcare.  They are best answered by qualitative research, an area that has gained momentum in recent years, especially with the rise of patient-centred care.  Qualitative methods include structured and unstructured interviews, ethnography and focus groups.

Here we suggest how we can provide advice and support to help you develop qualitative proposals.  If you need assistance with any of the activities listed below, please contact us:

The goals of qualitative research can be summarised as follows:

• to achieve an in-depth understanding of a particular aspect of an individual's or group's experience;
• to explore how individuals give meaning to, and express their views and experiences;
• to uncover and describe in detail aspects of social life and to explore why they occur rather than how often;
• to explore the complexity, ambiguity and specific detail of processes that take place in a social context.

Turning your Research into a Research Question and Writing your Research Proposal

Decide on a general area of interest and think about why this area suits you; what your aims and objectives are; how NHS patients or service users will benefit from this research.  You need to build a research team that includes clinical, academic and service user representatives.

The methodology you select should be the one that will be the most effective to collect the data  needed to answer your research question(s).

Do you know the difference between qualitative and quantitative research methods?  Which research method is most appropriate to YOUR research?

You may plan to do research using exclusively qualitative methodology or you may plan to use a mixed method design (qualitative and quantitative approaches in the same research project).  Qualitative methods can be used to identify meaningful concepts and language to use in a quantitative survey.  Or qualitative methods can be used to explain associations found in quantitative research.

Study Design and Methods Development

A local RDS Adviser can help you with issues relating to:

Selection of type of qualitative method
Approaches to qualitative research vary greatly e.g. Framework, Grounded Theory, Discourse Analysis and IPA.  Which is appropriate for your research questions?

Feasibility and ethical considerations
The effect of your research on participants e.g. does the design methodology pose practical or ethical problems for those taking part?

Sampling
What method of sampling with give you the most useful data?
Have you provided a convincing rationale about who you are going to recruit; why you have chosen this population and how you will access and recruit them?
What sample size will you need - have you thought about data saturation?

Data Collection
Method of data collection [e.g. recording equipment)
Data collection tools, e.g. the design of interview schedules or materials to stimulate focus group discussions.
Where field work will take place and issues relating to this, e.g. cost of hiring a venue?
Equipment requirement such as digital recorders?

Rigour
Qualitative research must be rigourous and uses concepts such as triangulations, validity and reflexivity.
When collecting qualitative data, you will need to reflect on your own role and the potential bias you bring to the research (reflexivity).

Data Analysis
Preliminary organisation/analysis of data perhaps using 'Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis (CAQDAS) software.
Are you familiar with the different approaches to analysis?

Costing
Costs associated with qualitative research include:
Travel to collect data
Transcription of recorded interviews
Recording Equipment
'Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis' (CAQDAS) software.

PPI
How are you involving patients and/or the public in planning the research.  Link

Key Texts

There are hundreds of good text books on qualitative research to choose from.  Our team of qualitative research specialists recommend those listed in the link below as a good starting point:

Key texts (.pdf)

Patient and Public Involvement

The success of grant applications weighs heavily on the amount of consideration given to PPI, to find out more about this, visit PPI Web Site (PPIRes)

RfPB Funding of Qualitative Research

Instances of successful RfPB funding of qualitative research are increasing.  Click to view further information on a selection of successful bids.

If you require further one to one support on this type of research, please feel free to contact a member of the qualitative research team directly:

 

Based at:	Name	E-mail address
University of Essex	Qualitative Research Methods Lead Gill Green	gillgr@essex.ac.uk
University of Essex	Jennie Todd	jtodd@essex.ac.uk
University of Bedfordshire	Emma Wilkinson	emma.wilkinson@beds.ac.uk
NHS Cambridge	Melanie Rein	melanie.rein@cambridgeshire.nhs.uk
NHS Cambridge	Matthew Norton	matthew.norton@cambridgeshire.nhs.uk
If you are unsure who to contact, then please get in touch with the Central Co-ordinator Tel: 01206 874856 or by E-mail: rdsc@essex.ac.uk

 
Page last modified: 05 January 2010. Contact us. Site kindly hosted by the University of Essex.