Abstract
A key challenge for qualitative methods in applied health research is
the fast pace that can characterize the public health and health and
care service landscape, where there is a need for research informed by
immediate pragmatic questions and relevant findings are required quickly
to inform decision-making. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the
pace at which evidence was needed to inform urgent public health and
healthcare decision-making. This required qualitative researchers to step
up to the challenge of conducting research at speed whilst maintaining
rigor and ensuring the findings are credible. This article illustrates how
working with multidisciplinary, collaborative teams and the tailoring of
qualitative methods to be more pragmatic and ecient can provide
timely and credible results. Using time-limited case studies of applied
qualitative health research drawn from the work of the Behavioral and
Qualitative Science Team from the National Institute for Health and Care
Research Applied Research Collaboration West (NIHR ARC West), we illustrate
our collaborative and intensive pragmatic qualitative (CLIP-Q) approach.
CLIP-Q involves (i) collaboration at all stages of the design, conduct
and implementation of projects and, where possible, co-production with
people with lived experience, (ii) an intensive team-based approach to
data collection and analysis at pace, and (iii) pragmatic study design and ecient strategies at each stage of the research process. The case studies
include projects conducted pre COVID-19 and during the first wave of the
pandemic, where urgent evidence was required in weeks rather than months
to inform rapid public health and healthcare decision making.
the fast pace that can characterize the public health and health and
care service landscape, where there is a need for research informed by
immediate pragmatic questions and relevant findings are required quickly
to inform decision-making. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the
pace at which evidence was needed to inform urgent public health and
healthcare decision-making. This required qualitative researchers to step
up to the challenge of conducting research at speed whilst maintaining
rigor and ensuring the findings are credible. This article illustrates how
working with multidisciplinary, collaborative teams and the tailoring of
qualitative methods to be more pragmatic and ecient can provide
timely and credible results. Using time-limited case studies of applied
qualitative health research drawn from the work of the Behavioral and
Qualitative Science Team from the National Institute for Health and Care
Research Applied Research Collaboration West (NIHR ARC West), we illustrate
our collaborative and intensive pragmatic qualitative (CLIP-Q) approach.
CLIP-Q involves (i) collaboration at all stages of the design, conduct
and implementation of projects and, where possible, co-production with
people with lived experience, (ii) an intensive team-based approach to
data collection and analysis at pace, and (iii) pragmatic study design and ecient strategies at each stage of the research process. The case studies
include projects conducted pre COVID-19 and during the first wave of the
pandemic, where urgent evidence was required in weeks rather than months
to inform rapid public health and healthcare decision making.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 970333 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Frontiers in Sociology |
| Volume | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 15 Sept 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This research was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research Applied Research Collaboration West (NIHR ARC West).
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2022 Horwood, Pithara, Lorenc, Kesten, Murphy, Turner, Farr, Banks, Redwood, Lambert, Donovan and NIHR ARC West Behavioural and Qualitative Science Team.
Keywords
- qualitative methods
- rapid qualitative methods,
- rapid qualitative research,
- qualitative health research
- applied health research
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