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QUALITATIVE

This paper aims to provide an overview of qualitative research methods in health sciences. Qualitative research is defined as the study of phenomena through words rather than numbers. It is especially useful for answering questions about why certain things are observed and for assessing complex interventions. Common data collection methods include document studies, observations, interviews, and focus groups. Data is then transcribed, coded, and analyzed using qualitative software. Various techniques can be used to enhance and assess the quality of qualitative research. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods provides better tools for addressing a wider range of research problems.

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Tessa Lonka Tenido
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25 views2 pages

QUALITATIVE

This paper aims to provide an overview of qualitative research methods in health sciences. Qualitative research is defined as the study of phenomena through words rather than numbers. It is especially useful for answering questions about why certain things are observed and for assessing complex interventions. Common data collection methods include document studies, observations, interviews, and focus groups. Data is then transcribed, coded, and analyzed using qualitative software. Various techniques can be used to enhance and assess the quality of qualitative research. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods provides better tools for addressing a wider range of research problems.

Uploaded by

Tessa Lonka Tenido
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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RESEARCH CONTENT

This paper aims to provide an overview of the use and assessment of


qualitative research methods in the health sciences. Qualitative research can
be defined as the study of the nature of phenomena and is especially
appropriate for answering questions of why something is (not) observed,
assessing complex multi-component interventions, and focussing on
intervention improvement. The most common methods of data collection are
document study, (non-) participant observations, semi-structured interviews
and focus groups. For data analysis, field-notes and audio-recordings are
transcribed into protocols and transcripts, and coded using qualitative data
management software. Criteria such as checklists, reflexivity, sampling
strategies, piloting, co-coding, member-checking and stakeholder involvement
can be used to enhance and assess the quality of the research conducted.
Using qualitative in addition to quantitative designs will equip us with better
tools to address a greater range of research problems, and to fill in blind spots
in current neurological research and practice.

What is qualitative research?


Qualitative research is defined as “the study of the nature of phenomena”,
including “their quality, different manifestations, the context in which they
appear or the perspectives from which they can be perceived”, but excluding
“their range, frequency and place in an objectively determined chain of cause
and effect” [1]. This formal definition can be complemented with a more
pragmatic rule of thumb: qualitative research generally includes data in form
of words rather than numbers [2].

Why conduct qualitative research?


Because some research questions cannot be answered using (only)
quantitative methods. For example, one Australian study addressed the issue
of why patients from Aboriginal communities often present late or not at all to
specialist services offered by tertiary care hospitals. Using qualitative
interviews with patients and staff, it found one of the most significant access
barriers to be transportation problems, including some towns and
communities simply not having a bus service to the hospital [3]. A quantitative
study could have measured the number of patients over time or even looked at
possible explanatory factors – but only those previously known or suspected to
be of relevance. To discover reasons for observed patterns, especially the
invisible or surprising ones, qualitative designs are needed.

While qualitative research is common in other fields, it is still relatively


underrepresented in health services research. The latter field is more
traditionally rooted in the evidence-based-medicine paradigm, as seen in
"research that involves testing the effectiveness of various strategies to
achieve changes in clinical practice, preferably applying randomised
controlled trial study designs (...)" [4]. This focus on quantitative research
and specifically randomised controlled trials (RCT) is visible in the idea of a
hierarchy of research evidence which assumes that some research designs are
objectively better than others, and that choosing a "lesser" design is only
acceptable when the better ones are not practically or ethically feasible [5, 6].
Others, however, argue that an objective hierarchy does not exist, and that,
instead, the research design and methods should be chosen to fit the specific
research question at hand – "questions before methods" [2, 7,8,9]. This means
that even when an RCT is possible, some research problems require a different
design that is better suited to addressing them. Arguing in JAMA, Berwick
uses the example of rapid response teams in hospitals, which he describes as
"a complex, multicomponent intervention – essentially a process of social
change"

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