Opening up the black box: an introduction to qualitative research methods in anaesthesia
Open Access
- 18 February 2014
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Wiley in Anaesthesia
- Vol. 69 (3), 270-280
- https://doi.org/10.1111/anae.12517
Abstract
Qualitative research methods are a group of techniques designed to allow the researcher to understand phenomena in their natural setting. A wide range is used, including focus groups, interviews, observation, and discourse analysis techniques, which may be used within research approaches such as grounded theory or ethnography. Qualitative studies in the anaesthetic setting have been used to define excellence in anaesthesia, explore the reasons behind drug errors, investigate the acquisition of expertise and examine incentives for hand‐hygiene in the operating theatre. Understanding how and why people act the way they do is essential for the advancement of anaesthetic practice, and rigorous, well‐designed qualitative research can generate useful data and important insights. Meticulous social scientific methods, transparency, reproducibility and reflexivity are markers of quality in qualitative research. Tools such as the consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research checklist and the critical appraisal skills programme are available to help authors, reviewers and readers unfamiliar with qualitative research assess its merits.This publication has 65 references indexed in Scilit:
- Promoting Publication of Rigorous Qualitative ResearchCirculation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, 2013
- An investigation into the causes of unexpected intra‐operative transoesophageal echocardiography findings*Anaesthesia, 2012
- Lies, damn lies, and statistics*Anaesthesia, 2012
- The analysis of 168 randomised controlled trials to test data integrityAnaesthesia, 2012
- On statistical methods to test if sampling in trials is genuinely randomAnaesthesia, 2012
- Video Elicitation Interviews: A Qualitative Research Method for Investigating Physician-Patient InteractionsAnnals of Family Medicine, 2012
- Is Qualitative Research Second Class Science? A Quantitative Longitudinal Examination of Qualitative Research in Medical JournalsPLOS ONE, 2011
- “I Felt Like a New Person.” The Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Older Adults With Chronic Pain: Qualitative Narrative Analysis of Diary EntriesThe Journal of Pain, 2008
- Qualitative Research: Reaching the parts other methods cannot reach: an introduction to qualitative methods in health and health services researchBMJ, 1995
- The methodology of Focus Groups: the importance of interaction between research participantsSociology of Health & Illness, 1994