Qualitative Research Points for Beginners

What is qualitative research? Qualitative approaches can help answer questions about ‘how’ or ‘why’ ‘How do clinicians prioritise patients for inpatient rehabilitation services?’ ‘Why don’t patients with chronic low back pain stick to exercise recommendations?’ Quantitative research, in comparison, uses numerical data to helps answer about ‘what’ ‘What is our current waiting time compared to previous years?’ ‘What is the effectiveness of therapy A compared to therapy B?’

Qualitative data Qualitative research uses non-numerical data The data are words as spoken language, text Often collected From healthcare consumers, their family carers or clinical staff Through interviews with individuals or focus groups Face-to-face or phone, skype Recorded - audio or visual and/or written notes Analysis is enabled by Transcribing the interview recordings Software is sometimes used to manage the data

Qualitative approaches used in health research Many different methodological approaches For different purposes or underpinned by different theories or philosophical views May differ in sampling, data collection, and analytical methods Phenomenology Ethnography Grounded theory Discourse analysis Feminist research Action research Descriptive qualitative …….and more

Qualitative analysis Various analytical methods according to the approach Text data are coded and sorted into categories This analysis can be managed using software, or using low-tech strategies such as colour coding Basically divide into: –Inductive analysis (eg. Grounded theory) –Deductive analysis (eg. Content analysis)

Can qualitative research be trusted? Quality varies - we need to determine credibility, trustworthiness, applicability Good qualitative research will Take steps to minimise the bias researchers’ views & experiences may bring to the findings Make these steps explicit in the publication of their work The COREQ checklist is helpful (Tong et al 2007) For determining quality of reporting & from that you can make decisions about acceptability of the work Checklist for planning and reporting a new qualitative study

COREQ checklist

(CORQ): 1. Research team & reflexivity Personal characteristics of the researchers Who conducted the interviews? Their credentials, occupation, gender, experience & training? These can all impact on the quality and type of data collected Relationship of researchers with participants Interviewer characteristics – interests in the topic

(CORQ): 2. Study design Theoretical framework Participant selection Sampling –how were participants selected Method of approach Sample size Non-participation Setting Setting of data collection Presence of non-participants Description of sample

(CORQ): 2. Study design cont… Data collection Interview guides Repeat interviews Audio/visual recording Field notes Duration Data saturation Transcripts returned

(CORQ): 3. Analysis & findings Data analysis Number of data coders Description of the coding tree Derivation of themes (inductive or deductive) Software Participant checking Reporting Quotations presented Data & findings consistent Clarity of major & minor themes

References Murray C, Stanley M (Eds). (2015) Qualitative Research Methodologies for Occupational Science and Therapy. New York: Routledge Tong A, Sainsbury P, Craig J. Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ): a 32 item checklist for interviews and focus groups. Int J Quality in Health Care. 2007; 19(6) Hoffmann T, Bennett S, der Mar C. (2010) Evidence-based practice across the health professions. Elsevier Australia Finlay L & Ballinger C (Eds). (2006). Qualitative research for allied health professionals: challenging choices. John Wiley & Sons. 12