Qualitative Research Methods

Description:

Qualitative methods can aid our understanding of complex social worlds, through an illumination of people’s behaviour and beliefs.  They can also tell us how individuals make sense of their illness and how they and their families cope. Increasingly, qualitative research is an essential component of health evaluation and clinical trials. Qualitative research within a trial can help develop research hypotheses and instruments; gathering complementary, finely-grained information about health choices and behaviour which may help us understand findings, and/or whether interventions are acceptable – for whom and why. Qualitative work may improve our understanding of trial design, research methods (including recruitment), data analysis, and reporting.

Qualitative methods may be used at all stages of trial development and reporting. They can be particularly helpful in developing and evaluating complex healthcare interventions and are recommended by the MRC in the design and development stages of complex interventions.  In this course, participants will cover a range of different qualitative research methods, understand where and why they can be best applied, and grasp some of the approaches to coding, analysing and reporting textual data.  We will demonstrate their use in clinical trials by drawing on examples of current research.  It will be an interactive session and participants will be encouraged to work in groups on designing and undertaking a study.

Background reading

Rapport, F., Storey, M., Porter, A., Snooks, H., Jones, K., Peconi, J., Sanchez, A., Siebert, S., Thorne, K., Clement, C. & Russell, I. (2013). Qualitative research within trials: developing a standard operating procedure for a clinical trials unit. Trials. 14:54.http://www.trialsjournal.com/content/14/1/54

Silverman, D. (2009). Doing Qualitative Research: A Practical Handbook. Sage: Thousand Oaks, CA. Also available in e-Book version (2013).

Cost:

£120 per day; Reduced to £60 per day for postgraduates, unwaged, or those who work for Charitable organisations (on proof of status). If you book 4 or more days from the list http://science.ulster.ac.uk/bamfordcentre/summer-school/index.php contact flexed@ulster.ac.uk before you book to arrange an extra day training at no additional cost.

Website and registration:

http://store.ulster.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?compid=1&modid=5&deptid=15&catid=4&prodid=21

Region:

Northern Ireland

Keywords:

Quality in Qualitative Research, Qualitative Data Handling and Data Analysis, Qualitative Approaches (other)

Related publications and presentations:

Quality in Qualitative Research
Qualitative Data Handling and Data Analysis
Qualitative Approaches (other)

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