Scribd
Upload
73 views

Qualitative Research Methods in Pharmacy Practice: Disclosure of Relevant Financial Relationships

This document outlines a workshop on qualitative research methods in pharmacy practice. It begins with an introduction and overview of qualitative research. It defines qualitative research as focusing on how people interpret their experiences and make sense of the world. The document discusses what questions qualitative research can answer, common methods like interviews and focus groups, and how to analyze qualitative data through an iterative coding process. It also addresses ensuring quality and reliability in qualitative research. The workshop activities involve a focus group recording, transcript analysis, presentation of findings, and reflections on own research practices.

Uploaded by

Abhishek Joshi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
73 views

Qualitative Research Methods in Pharmacy Practice: Disclosure of Relevant Financial Relationships

This document outlines a workshop on qualitative research methods in pharmacy practice. It begins with an introduction and overview of qualitative research. It defines qualitative research as focusing on how people interpret their experiences and make sense of the world. The document discusses what questions qualitative research can answer, common methods like interviews and focus groups, and how to analyze qualitative data through an iterative coding process. It also addresses ensuring quality and reliability in qualitative research. The workshop activities involve a focus group recording, transcript analysis, presentation of findings, and reflections on own research practices.

Uploaded by

Abhishek Joshi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 7

12-4-2012

Qualitative research methods


in pharmacy practice
Ruth Edwards
Antonella Tonna

EAHP Milano 2012

Disclosure of Relevant Financial


Relationships

• Nothing to declare

1
12-4-2012

Workshop outline

• Introduction
• Overview of qualitative research
• Group activities:
– Focus group recording
– Analysis of focus group transcript
– Presentation of data
– Reflections on own practice

What is qualitative research?


"Qualitative research is a form of social inquiry that
focuses on the way people interpret and make
sense of their experiences and the world in which
they live.
A number of different approaches exist within the
wider framework of this type of research, but
most of these have the same aim: to understand
the social reality of individuals, groups and
cultures.
Researchers use qualitative approaches to explore
the behaviour, perspectives and experiences of
the people they study.”
(Holloway, 1997, p.2)

2
12-4-2012

What is qualitative research?


• Provides a ‘deeper’ understanding of
social phenomena than would be
obtained from a purely quantitative
methodology
• Focuses on words and texts rather
than numbers and statistics
• Wide range of different activities
• Debate on whether qualitative
research is “scientific”

What is qualitative research?


Terminology used includes:
• realism vs idealism i.e. aims to determine
people’s perceptions of reality
• artificial vs natural i.e. the natural
environment vs the artificial laboratory
environment
• deductive vs inductive i.e. which way
round? Starting with theory or with
observation?
• Theoretical perspectives in qualitative
research … (Reeves et al., 2008)

3
12-4-2012

Attitudes in qualitative research


“Qualitative research is still based on
specific attitudes – of openness towards
who and what is being studied, of
flexibility in approaching a field and
moving in it, of understanding a
subject’s or a fields structure rather
than projecting a structure into what is
studied.”
(Flick, 2008 p. 14)

In our opinion, as Hammersley puts it:

“…which of these approaches is most


appropriate should depend on our
purposes, and the stage that our
research has reached, not on
paradigmatic commitments.”

(Hammersley, 1992 p. 169)

4
12-4-2012

What research questions can be


answered?

• Where lack of evidence – as an initial


exploration
• To explore views, perceptions and
experiences
• To gain an in-depth knowledge of why
individuals are behaving so

What methods can be used?


• Interviews
– face-to-face; telephone; structured, semi-
structured, unstructured
• Focus groups
• Observation
• Analysis of text documents (discourse analysis)
• Combined with quantitative methods:
– To inform development of e.g. survey
– To explore results of e.g. survey in more depth
– Open ended questions as part of a
questionnaire

5
12-4-2012

Data analysis - the “iterative” process


Transcribe data

Develop provisional coding frame


(themes/sub-themes/relationships)

Re-coding of transcripts Initial coding of transcripts

Continuous revision Constant comparison


of coding frame between coding frame and
transcripts

Identification of patterns
Most prominent themes (counting not quantifying), similarities between
groups? Notable differences/exceptions? – explanation
Extracted from: Barbour (2004)

Ensuring quality

• Reliability and validity - applicable?


• Credibility, relevance, reflexivity
(Mays and Pope, 2000)

• Generalisability – internal and external.


“internal generalisability’ refers to the
generalisability of a conclusion within the setting or
group studied, while ‘external generalisability’ refers
to its generalisability beyond that setting or group”
(Maxwell, 2005 in Flick, 2008 p.42)

6
12-4-2012

References
• BARBOUR, R., 2004. An Introduction to Qualitative Methods
for Health Professionals. Edinburgh: Wellcome Trust Clinical
Research Facility Education Programme
• FLICK, U., 2008. Designing Qualitative Research. London:
SAGE Publications.
• HAMMERSLEY, M., 1991. What's Wrong With Ethnography?
Oxford: Routledge.
• HOLLOWAY, I., 1997. Basic Concepts for Qualitative
Research. Oxford. Blackwell Science.
• MAYS, N. and POPE, C., 2000. Assessing quality in
qualitative research. British Medical Journal, 320, pp. 50-52
• REEVES, S. et al., 2008. Why use theories in qualitative
research? BMJ, 337, pp. 631-634.

Group activities

1. Focus group recording


2. Analysis of focus group transcript
3. Presentation of data
4. Reflections on own practice

You might also like