Collaborative and intensive pragmatic qualitative (CLIP-Q) research

CLIP Q stands for conducting 'collaborative and intensive pragmatic qualitative' research. The approach aims to support responsive public health and healthcare innovation.

In applied health research, it can be difficult for qualitative studies to produce findings quickly enough to guide real time decisions. This challenge became especially clear during the COVID 19 pandemic, when decision makers needed reliable evidence at speed. Qualitative researchers had to adapt, working much faster than usual while still keeping their work rigorous, trustworthy, and high quality.

At the same time, there is a growing emphasis on collaborative research and knowledge co‑production, with researchers working alongside stakeholders and service users to generate insights that are responsive and relevant.

CLIP‑Q meets these challenges by enabling a responsive research process without compromising rigour or credibility. It uses a collaborative, intensive and pragmatic team‑based approach that sharpens research questions and guides methodological strategies. This supports efficient study design and accelerates data collection, analysis and dissemination, ensuring urgent evidence reaches stakeholders as well as academic output

The CLIP-Q approach involves:

• Collaboration at all stages of projects, including their design, conduct and implementation.
Where possible, co-produce projects with people with lived experience. Meaningful collaboration enables the diverse users of findings to be active agents with equal standing to the researchers.

• An intensive, team-based approach to data collection and analysis to produce timely and relevant findings.
Having more than one researcher working on the same study allows for faster data collection and analysis. It also enables peer quality control and exchange of expertise. Collaborative team-based working can improve analytic rigour when working at speed, with the process of examining data from multiple perspectives and assisting collective data interpretation.

• Pragmatic study design and efficient strategies at each stage of the research process.
This requires working with collaborators to focus on key research questions, using flexible designs that can accommodate shifting needs and priorities and timely sharing of findings.

• A two-stage dissemination approach allows for both practical and academic interests to be met.
First the needs of stakeholders and end users are met, through concentrating analysis on critical issues, writing rapid reports and disseminating the work to relevant audiences. Then more in-depth analysis can take place, guiding later academic publications for longer term learning.