To tailor a local quality improvement intervention to improve statin prescribing.
From our perspective as seasoned qualitative researchers, conducting effective semistructured interviews requires: (1) a relational focus, including active engagement and curiosity, and (2) practice in the skills of interviewing. First, a relational focus emphasises the unique relationship between interviewer and interviewee. To obtain quality data, interviews should not be conducted with a transactional question-answer approach but rather should be unfolding, iterative interactions between the interviewer and interviewee. Second, interview skills can be learnt. Some of us will naturally be more comfortable and skilful at conducting interviews but all aspects of interviews are learnable and through practice and feedback will improve. Throughout this article, we highlight strategies to balance relationship and rigour when conducting semistructured interviews in primary care and the healthcare setting.
Qualitative research interviews are ‘attempts to understand the world from the subjects’ point of view, to unfold the meaning of peoples’ experiences, to uncover their lived world prior to scientific explanations’ (p 1). 7 Qualitative research interviews unfold as an interviewer asks questions of the interviewee in order to gather subjective information about a particular topic or experience. Though the definitions and purposes of qualitative research interviews vary slightly in the literature, there is common emphasis on the experiences of interviewees and the ways in which the interviewee perceives the world (see table 2 for summary of definitions from seminal texts).
Definitions of qualitative interviews
Authors | Definition | Purpose |
DiCicco-Bloom and Crabtree | Semistructured interviews are ‘organized around a set of predetermined open-ended questions, with other questions emerging from the dialogue between interviewer and interviewee/s’ (2006, p 315) | ‘To contribute to a body of knowledge that is conceptual and theoretical and is based on the meanings that life experiences hold for the interviewees’ (2006, p 314) |
Hatch | ‘special kinds of conversations or speech events that are used by researchers to explore informants’ experiences and interpretations’ (2002, p. 91) | ‘To uncover the meaning structures that participants use to organize their experiences and make sense of their worlds’ (2002, p 91) |
Kvale | ‘attempts to understand the world from the subjects' point of view, to unfold the meaning of peoples' experiences, to uncover their lived world prior to scientific explanations’ (1996, p 1) | ‘To gather descriptions of the life-world of the interviewee with respect to interpretation of the meaning of the described phenomena’ (1983, p 174) |
Josselson | ‘a shared product of two people—one the interviewer, the other the interviewee—talk about and they talk together’ (2013, p 1) | ‘To enter the world of the participant and try to understand how it looks and feels from the participant’s point of view’ (2013, p 80) |
The most common type of interview used in qualitative research and the healthcare context is semistructured interview. 8 Figure 1 highlights the key features of this data collection method, which is guided by a list of topics or questions with follow-up questions, probes and comments. Typically, the sequencing and wording of the questions are modified by the interviewer to best fit the interviewee and interview context. Semistructured interviews can be conducted in multiple ways (ie, face to face, telephone, text/email, individual, group, brief, in-depth), each of which have advantages and disadvantages. We will focus on the most common form of semistructured interviews within qualitative research—individual, face-to-face, in-depth interviews.
Key characteristics of semistructured interviews.
The overall purpose of using semistructured interviews for data collection is to gather information from key informants who have personal experiences, attitudes, perceptions and beliefs related to the topic of interest. Researchers can use semistructured interviews to collect new, exploratory data related to a research topic, triangulate other data sources or validate findings through member checking (respondent feedback about research results). 9 If using a mixed methods approach, semistructured interviews can also be used in a qualitative phase to explore new concepts to generate hypotheses or explain results from a quantitative phase that tests hypotheses. Semistructured interviews are an effective method for data collection when the researcher wants: (1) to collect qualitative, open-ended data; (2) to explore participant thoughts, feelings and beliefs about a particular topic; and (3) to delve deeply into personal and sometimes sensitive issues.
In the following section, we provide recommendations for the steps required to carefully design and conduct semistructured interviews with emphasis on applications in family medicine and primary care research (see table 3 ).
Steps to designing and conducting semistructured interviews
Step | Task |
1 | Determining the purpose and scope of the study |
2 | Identifying participants |
3 | Considering ethical issues |
4 | Planning logistical aspects |
5 | Developing the interview guide |
6 | Establishing trust and rapport |
7 | Conducting the interview |
8 | Memoing and reflection |
9 | Analysing the data |
10 | Demonstrating the trustworthiness of the research |
11 | Presenting findings in a paper or report |
Step 1: determining the purpose and scope of the study.
The purpose of the study is the primary objective of your project and may be based on an anecdotal experience, a review of the literature or previous research finding. The purpose is developed in response to an identified gap or problem that needs to be addressed.
Research questions are the driving force of a study because they are associated with every other aspect of the design. They should be succinct and clearly indicate that you are using a qualitative approach. Qualitative research questions typically start with ‘What’, ‘How’ or ‘Why’ and focus on the exploration of a single concept based on participant perspectives. 10
After deciding on the purpose of the study and research question(s), the next step is to determine who will provide the best information to answer the research question. Good interviewees are those who are available, willing to be interviewed and have lived experiences and knowledge about the topic of interest. 11 12 Working with gatekeepers or informants to get access to potential participants can be extremely helpful as they are trusted sources that control access to the target sample.
Sampling strategies are influenced by the research question and the purpose of the study. Unlike quantitative studies, statistical representativeness is not the goal of qualitative research. There is no calculation of statistical power and the goal is not a large sample size. Instead, qualitative approaches seek an in-depth and detailed understanding and typically use purposeful sampling. See the study of Hatch for a summary of various types of purposeful sampling that can be used for interview studies. 12
‘How many participants are needed?’ The most common answer is, ‘it depends’—it depends on the purpose of the study, what kind of study is planned and what questions the study is trying to answer. 12–14 One common standard in qualitative sample sizes is reaching thematic saturation, which refers to the point at which no new thematic information is gathered from participants. Malterud and colleagues discuss the concept of information power , or a qualitative equivalent to statistical power, to determine how many interviews should be collected in a study. They suggest that the size of a sample should depend on the aim, homogeneity of the sample, theory, interview quality and analytic strategy. 14
An ethical attitude should be present from the very beginning of the research project even before you decide who to interview. 15 This ethical attitude should incorporate respect, sensitivity and tact towards participants throughout the research process. Because semistructured interviewing often requires the participant to reveal sensitive and personal information directly to the interviewer, it is important to consider the power imbalance between the researcher and the participant. In healthcare settings, the interviewer or researcher may be a part of the patient’s healthcare team or have contact with the healthcare team. The researchers should ensure the interviewee that their participation and answers will not influence the care they receive or their relationship with their providers. Other issues to consider include: reducing the risk of harm; protecting the interviewee’s information; adequately informing interviewees about the study purpose and format; and reducing the risk of exploitation. 10
Careful planning particularly around the technical aspects of interviews can be the difference between a great interview and a not so great interview. During the preparation phase, the researcher will need to plan and make decisions about the best ways to contact potential interviewees, obtain informed consent, arrange interview times and locations convenient for both participant and researcher, and test recording equipment. Although many experienced researchers have found themselves conducting interviews in less than ideal locations, the interview location should avoid (or at least minimise) interruptions and be appropriate for the interview (quiet, private and able to get a clear recording). 16 For some research projects, the participants’ homes may make sense as the best interview location. 16
Initial contacts can be made through telephone or email and followed up with more details so the individual can make an informed decision about whether they wish to be interviewed. Potential participants should know what to expect in terms of length of time, purpose of the study, why they have been selected and who will be there. In addition, participants should be informed that they can refuse to answer questions or can withdraw from the study at any time, including during the interview itself.
Audio recording the interview is recommended so that the interviewer can concentrate on the interview and build rapport rather than being distracted with extensive note taking 16 (see table 4 for audio-recording tips). Participants should be informed that audio recording is used for data collection and that they can refuse to be audio recorded should they prefer.
Suggestions for successful audio recording of interviews
Component | Suggestions |
Clarity | Audio-recording equipment should clearly capture the interview so that both interviewer’s and interviewee’s voices are easily heard for transcription. Many interviewers use small battery-powered recorders but sometimes the microphones do not work well. |
Reliable | Audio-recording equipment needs to be reliable and easy to use. Increasingly, researchers are using their smartphones to record interviews. |
Familiarity | Whatever kind of recording equipment is used, the researcher needs to be familiar with it and should test it at the interview location before starting the actual interview—you do not want to be fumbling with technology during the interview. |
Backup | If you are the sole interviewer and do not have an additional person taking notes, we recommend having two recording devices for each interview in case one device fails or runs out of batteries. Make sure to bring extra batteries. |
Note-taking | Some researchers recommend taking notes or having a partner take notes during the interviews in addition to the audio recording. Taking notes can ensure that all interview questions have been answered, guide follow-up questions so that the interview can flow from the interviewee’s lead and serve as a backup in the case of malfunctioning recorders. |
Most researchers will want to have interviews transcribed verbatim from the audio recording. This allows you to refer to the exact words of participants during the analysis. Although it is possible to conduct analyses from the audio recordings themselves or from notes, it is not ideal. However, transcription can be extremely time consuming and, if not done yourself, can be costly.
In the planning phase of research, you will want to consider whether qualitative research software (eg, NVivo, ATLAS.ti, MAXQDA, Dedoose, and so on) will be used to assist with organising, managing and analysis. While these tools are helpful in the management of qualitative data, it is important to consider your research budget, the cost of the software and the learning curve associated with using a new system.
Semistructured interviews include a short list of ‘guiding’ questions that are supplemented by follow-up and probing questions that are dependent on the interviewee’s responses. 8 17 All questions should be open ended, neutral, clear and avoid leading language. In addition, questions should use familiar language and avoid jargon.
Most interviews will start with an easy, context-setting question before moving to more difficult or in-depth questions. 17 Table 5 gives details of the types of guiding questions including ‘grand tour’ questions, 18 core questions and planned and unplanned follow-up questions.
Questions and prompts in semistructured interviewing
Type of question | Definition | Purpose | Example |
Grand tour | General question related to the content of the overall research question, which participant knows a lot about | ||
Core questions | Five to 10 questions that directly relate to the information the researcher wants to know | ||
Planned follow-up questions | Specific questions that ask for more details about particular aspects of the core questions | ||
Unplanned follow-up questions | Questions that arise during the interview based on participant responses |
To illustrate, online supplementary appendix A presents a sample interview guide from our study of weight gain during pregnancy among young women. We start with the prompt, ‘Tell me about how your pregnancy has been so far’ to initiate conversation about their thoughts and feelings during pregnancy. The subsequent questions will elicit responses to help answer our research question about young women’s perspectives related to weight gain during pregnancy.
After developing the guiding questions, it is important to pilot test the interview. Having a good sense of the guide helps you to pace the interview (and not run out of time), use a conversational tone and make necessary adjustments to the questions.
Like all qualitative research, interviewing is iterative in nature—data collection and analysis occur simultaneously, which may result in changes to the guiding questions as the study progresses. Questions that are not effective may be replaced with other questions and additional probes can be added to explore new topics that are introduced by participants in previous interviews. 10
Interviews are a special form of relationship, where the interviewer and interviewee converse about important and often personal topics. The interviewer must build rapport quickly by listening attentively and respectfully to the information shared by the interviewee. 19 As the interview progresses, the interviewer must continue to demonstrate respect, encourage the interviewee to share their perspectives and acknowledge the sensitive nature of the conversation. 20
To establish rapport, it is important to be authentic and open to the interviewee’s point of view. It is possible that the participants you recruit for your study will have preconceived notions about research, which may include mistrust. As a result, it is important to describe why you are conducting the research and how their participation is meaningful. In an interview relationship, the interviewee is the expert and should be treated as such—you are relying on the interviewee to enhance your understanding and add to your research. Small behaviours that can enhance rapport include: dressing professionally but not overly formal; avoiding jargon or slang; and using a normal conversational tone. Because interviewees will be discussing their experience, having some awareness of contextual or cultural factors that may influence their perspectives may be helpful as background knowledge.
Location and set-up.
The interview should have already been scheduled at a convenient time and location for the interviewee. The location should be private, ideally with a closed door, rather than a public place. It is helpful if there is a room where you can speak privately without interruption, and where it is quiet enough to hear and audio record the interview. Within the interview space, Josselson 15 suggests an arrangement with a comfortable distance between the interviewer and interviewee with a low table in between for the recorder and any materials (consent forms, questionnaires, water, and so on).
Many interviewers start with chatting to break the ice and attempt to establish commonalities, rapport and trust. Most interviews will need to begin with a brief explanation of the research study, consent/assent procedures, rationale for talking to that particular interviewee and description of the interview format and agenda. 11 It can also be helpful if the interviewer shares a little about who they are and why they are interested in the topic. The recording equipment should have already been tested thoroughly but interviewers may want to double-check that the audio equipment is working and remind participants about the reason for recording.
During the interview, the interviewer should adopt a friendly and non-judgemental attitude. You will want to maintain a warm and conversational tone, rather than a rote, question-answer approach. It is important to recognise the potential power differential as a researcher. Conveying a sense of being in the interview together and that you as the interviewer are a person just like the interviewee can help ease any discomfort. 15
During a face-to-face interview, there is an opportunity to observe social and non-verbal cues of the interviewee. These cues may come in the form of voice, body language, gestures and intonation, and can supplement the interviewee’s verbal response and can give clues to the interviewer about the process of the interview. 21 Listening is the key to successful interviewing. 22 Listening should be ‘attentive, empathic, nonjudgmental, listening in order to invite, and engender talk’ 15 15 (p 66). Silence, nods, smiles and utterances can also encourage further elaboration from the interviewee.
As the interview progresses, the interviewer can repeat the words used by the interviewee, use planned and unplanned follow-up questions that invite further clarification, exploration or elaboration. As DiCicco-Bloom and Crabtree 10 explain: ‘Throughout the interview, the goal of the interviewer is to encourage the interviewee to share as much information as possible, unselfconsciously and in his or her own words’ (p 317). Some interviewees are more forthcoming and will offer many details of their experiences without much probing required. Others will require prompting and follow-up to elicit sufficient detail.
As a result, follow-up questions are equally important to the core questions in a semistructured interview. Prompts encourage people to continue talking and they can elicit more details needed to understand the topic. Examples of verbal probes are repeating the participant’s words, summarising the main idea or expressing interest with verbal agreement. 8 11 See table 6 for probing techniques and example probes we have used in our own interviewing.
Probing techniques for semistructured interviews (modified from Bernard 30 )
Probing technique | Description | Example |
Wait time | Interviewer remains silent after asking a question. This allows the interviewee to think about their response and often encourages the interviewee to speak. | (Wait, do not respond with additional questioning until participant speaks) |
Echo | Interviewer repeats or summarises the participant’s words, encouraging them to go into more detail. | . |
Verbal agreement | Interviewer uses affirming words to encourage the interviewee to continue speaking. | |
Expansion | Interviewer asks participant to elaborate on a particular response. | . . |
Explanation | Interviewer asks participant to clarify a specific comment. | |
Leading | Interviewer asks interviewee to explain their reasoning. | . |
After an interview, it is essential for the interviewer to begin to reflect on both the process and the content of the interview. During the actual interview, it can be difficult to take notes or begin reflecting. Even if you think you will remember a particular moment, you likely will not be able to recall each moment with sufficient detail. Therefore, interviewers should always record memos —notes about what you are learning from the data. 23 24 There are different approaches to recording memos: you can reflect on several specific ideas, or create a running list of thoughts. Memos are also useful for improving the quality of subsequent interviews.
The data analysis strategy should also be developed during planning stages because analysis occurs concurrently with data collection. 25 The researcher will take notes, modify the data collection procedures and write reflective memos throughout the data collection process. This begins the process of data analysis.
The data analysis strategy used in your study will depend on your research question and qualitative design—see the study of Creswell for an overview of major qualitative approaches. 26 The general process for analysing and interpreting most interviews involves reviewing the data (in the form of transcripts, audio recordings or detailed notes), applying descriptive codes to the data and condensing and categorising codes to look for patterns. 24 27 These patterns can exist within a single interview or across multiple interviews depending on the research question and design. Qualitative computer software programs can be used to help organise and manage interview data.
Similar to validity and reliability, qualitative research can be assessed on trustworthiness. 9 28 There are several criteria used to establish trustworthiness: credibility (whether the findings accurately and fairly represent the data), transferability (whether the findings can be applied to other settings and contexts), confirmability (whether the findings are biased by the researcher) and dependability (whether the findings are consistent and sustainable over time).
When presenting the results of interview analysis, researchers will often report themes or narratives that describe the broad range of experiences evidenced in the data. This involves providing an in-depth description of participant perspectives and being sure to include multiple perspectives. 12 In interview research, the participant words are your data. Presenting findings in a report requires the integration of quotes into a more traditional written format.
Though semistructured interviews are often an effective way to collect open-ended data, there are some disadvantages as well. One common problem with interviewing is that not all interviewees make great participants. 12 29 Some individuals are hard to engage in conversation or may be reluctant to share about sensitive or personal topics. Difficulty interviewing some participants can affect experienced and novice interviewers. Some common problems include not doing a good job of probing or asking for follow-up questions, failure to actively listen, not having a well-developed interview guide with open-ended questions and asking questions in an insensitive way. Outside of pitfalls during the actual interview, other problems with semistructured interviewing may be underestimating the resources required to recruit participants, interview, transcribe and analyse the data.
Despite their limitations, semistructured interviews can be a productive way to collect open-ended data from participants. In our research, we have interviewed children and adolescents about their stress experiences and coping behaviours, young women about their thoughts and behaviours during pregnancy, practitioners about the care they provide to patients and countless other key informants about health-related topics. Because the intent is to understand participant experiences, the possible research topics are endless.
Due to the close relationships family physicians have with their patients, the unique settings in which they work, and in their advocacy, semistructured interviews are an attractive approach for family medicine researchers, even if working in a setting with limited research resources. When seeking to balance both the relational focus of interviewing and the necessary rigour of research, we recommend: prioritising listening over talking; using clear language and avoiding jargon; and deeply engaging in the interview process by actively listening, expressing empathy, demonstrating openness to the participant’s worldview and thanking the participant for helping you to understand their experience.
Correction notice: This article has been corrected. Reference details have been updated.
Contributors: Both authors contributed equally to this work.
Funding: The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests: None declared.
Patient consent for publication: Not required.
Provenance and peer review: Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.
What is it?
Primary research involves collecting data from primary (original) sources. For example, your study may involve questioning participants through a questionnaire or interview, or it may analyse company or government documents, or study the impact of one variable on another.
What are the benefits of primary research?
There are advantages and disadvantages of any approach. The advantages of conducting primary research are that it is current, as you have collected up-to-date data, and is accurate to your topic, as it should directly answer your research question. The disadvantages are that it can be time-consuming to collect and analyse the information and to plan and organise the research (so you have to be extra organised).
How do I write it?
This is usually dependent on the data you are collecting. However, the layout when writing up primary research follows a similar pattern:
There may be some forms of research, for example some interviews, where you are expected to merge your results and discussion sections together, as you discuss the results in depth as each result is announced.
Interviews with members and nonmembers can help tell the story behind your quantitative research data, but only if done right. Find out how to make interviews effective and what pitfalls to avoid.
The proliferation of cheap, high-quality online survey tools has revolutionized our ability to conduct surveys to obtain quick snapshots of what our members are thinking. For all but the most complex projects, it is possible to begin and conclude a well-defined study of a subject of interest with the participation of a representative group of members within a 10-day timeframe. Perhaps more than any other development, this technology has made it possible for us to become "data driven" associations, as was put forth in 7 Measures of Success: What Remarkable Associations Do That Others Don't .
At the same time, we need to balance this easy source of quantitative data with a similar easy source of qualitative data. Why? Survey tools do a great job of providing us with definitive numbers and visuals to help tell our story, to ensure that our colleagues or committees understand and buy into our key findings. Databases also provide much better snapshots in the form of statistical reports and charts to help us document usage and sales baselines and trends. But to obtain greater insight into what actually determines these levels and drives changes, we often need to go deeper and directly engage representative members and customers in two-way dialogue.
There are entire books regarding methodology for qualitative interviews, but as associations we often benefit by simplifying them considerably. Here are some suggestions:
Conduct only telephone interviews (rather than face-to-face), prescheduling from a small random sample of the members or other targeted constituency. This allows them to speak at their convenience, although speaking to them at home or on a cellphone undermines the quality of conversation.
Prepare a discussion guide in advance. Rather than treat this as an agenda or survey form, keep it broad and flexible. After all, an interview is two-way communication. The majority of each interview will probably consist of follow-up questions to probe initial responses more deeply.
Use (or be) good interviewers. Effective interviewers (and facilitators) are friendly and open, and they know how to probe effectively. Through active listening, surface level discussions rapidly give way to deeper motivations, and if the interviewer can demonstrate objectivity and candor, he or she can quickly establish a trusting relationship in the interview. You should welcome digressions, and don't worry if every interview is unique. The end product of aggregating all the interviews will be far more robust as a result.
Guarantee confidentiality. Ensure participants that no individual information or attribution will be released to others in transcripts or written reports.
Allow interviews to run long. Even with the shortest guides and most focused of objectives, we often find that interviews run 30 minutes or more. Members rarely get a chance to speak directly with their association. A member who begins an interview emphasizing their time constraints inevitably is the one who will speak the longest.
Don't do too many interviews. Since time is money, structure the interviews as a discrete project, with a limited number of conversations. For any specific topic, we find most issues converge within 10 to 15 interviews—that is, we begin to hear repeated comments and similar thinking so we are not learning much new information from each new conversation. As with all qualitative research, we are generally not trying to establish or force a consensus; instead we want to hear the widest range of perspectives possible and understand why members feel that way.
Often we think of focus groups when considering qualitative research. Group dynamics are sometimes important to measure, and focus groups have also migrated online to a certain extent, but there are several reasons why in-depth interviews are superior.
Relative absence of bias. Interviews generally have less observer or participant bias. Even a trained moderator will encounter subtle bias in membership focus groups. In associations people often know each other, which can lead to conscious or subconscious posturing or suppression of some comments. Groups may seem to have homogeneous participants, yet some factor differentiates them once they are in the room. For example, we may find while discussing a service with which two people have had negative experiences that they are overly eager to share. If they speak first, it can undermine the perceptions of those who speak later and have had no experiences, or only positive ones. In interviews, the member is rarely trying to impress the interviewer except by trying to be as articulate and well understood as possible.
Built-in flexibility. Although you lose some rapport and communications through phone contact, it is far more cost-effective, allowing you to efficiently conduct interviews back-to-back and to give members who miss an appointment to call back at their convenience. Too often we are constrained in focus groups by having members gathered at a conference or in their local area, which yields a sampling of only our most motivated “super-users” and cognoscenti, or group dynamics reflecting participants who are very familiar with one another.
An interview is two-way communication. The majority of each interview will probably consist of follow-up questions to probe initial responses more deeply.
"Feed" your survey. Often we design surveys based on our assumptions regarding what matters, drawn from internal management perspectives, questions from the last survey, or good ideas a consultant brought in. However, it is harder to get a candid take on current issues that are of greatest concern to members. Conducting interviews as part of the process of designing the survey helps provide timely, titillating observations, unproven hypotheses, and possible hidden connections between attitudes and behavior that you will want to quantify in the survey work.
Enough talk time for members. A 90-minute focus group allows each participant to speak perhaps eight to 10 minutes. Online surveys generally take between five and 15 minutes. Many members may only have only a few minutes of thought to share, but for subjects that do warrant more in-depth discussion and a clear understanding of their background, a 20- to 30-minute period for one person's feedback is more appropriate. Interviews lose a group dynamic, but they also spare interviewees from spending time listening to others—helpful particularly if your members have type A personalities and tend to equate "listening" with "waiting to speak again." (Yes, we all have many of them in our databases!)
Candor and intimacy. Even if you have never spoken to members regarding their inner feelings, don't worry—they will make it easy for you. Often members are flattered to be asked. They make the time to speak with you and they reward you with candor. Sometimes you may not like what you hear, but the more the interviewer plays the role of objective outsider, the better the process will be. As a market research director, I often introduced myself as "acting as an independent researcher today" and that's often all you need in order to pull yourself out of the equation and to put the focus of conversation where it belongs—on the member or customer you're interviewing.
Low-cost and easy interpretation. Even surveys that are easy to administer online require some statistical knowledge to properly interpret. To conduct and analyze, interviews require a finger to dial, an ear to listen, a telephone, and a keyboard or notepad. Like surveys today, interviews can launch in real time, and it is easy to share top-line reports in a day for time-sensitive projects.
Of course, interviews also have inherent weaknesses. These are a few of their limitations:
Missing objectivity. There is a potential for observer bias in just about all qualitative research. If the people conducting the interviews are staff or service providers who can't maintain a strong sense of objectivity inside and out, the interviewee will pull their punches and not tell the whole truth, or the interpretation of the end results starts to resemble a process of hearing what you want to hear. Be on the lookout for what can be an almost subliminal bias.
Negative reactions. I often found that associations need to be prepared to accept what they hear. Not all of it is pleasant. The kneejerk reaction to negative feedback often can be outright rejection—a belief that the method just wasn't reliable enough. This may be true, but it is important to balance a sudden keen interest in valid methodology with an urgent need to cover one's backside. We are often politically sensitive and very PC, and when interviewees take advantage of glasnost to say exactly what they feel, it can be jarring. Sometimes you will need to smooth off the rough edges and edit the unadulterated stream of feedback, unless you are a big fan of Impromptu Job Loss or like being perceived as a traitor when you're only the messenger.
Open-endedness. Digressions and lack of standardization across interviews can be a good or a bad thing. When you try to make interviews "sum up" to a consensus or quantify them, you'll be disappointed. To push for consensus is to force interviews to do something they don't do well. It is best to accept this limitation, even to the point of managing your interviewee's expectations upfront. Sometimes an interviewee will refer to our "phone survey" and we gently correct them, since survey implies a rigid format. Interviews often yield digressions into arcane specialties, heretical opinions, conspiracy theories, and wildly inventive suggestions that each represent a unique viewpoint.
Subject to these caveats, qualitative interviews can be a valuable tool to help inform most association problems. Like some people we know, the feedback we receive may be amorphous, messy, and sometimes contradictory. However, regular use of the method can improve member and customer relations and provide a critical additional source of intelligence that we rarely obtain otherwise.
Editor’s Note: This article, originally published in 2009, has been updated.
Kevin Whorton is principal of Whorton Marketing & Research in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Email: [email protected]
Kevin whorton, read these next.
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Chapter 10: Qualitative Data Collection & Analysis Methods
As the preceding sections have suggested, qualitative interviews are an excellent way to gather detailed information. Whatever topic is of interest to the researcher can be explored in much more depth by employing this method than with almost any other method. Not only are participants given the opportunity to elaborate in a way that is not possible with other methods, such as survey research, but, in addition, they are able share information with researchers in their own words and from their own perspectives, rather than attempting to fit those perspectives into the perhaps limited response options provided by the researcher. Because qualitative interviews are designed to elicit detailed information, they are especially useful when a researcher’s aim is to study social processes, or the “how” of various phenomena. Yet another, and sometimes overlooked, benefit of qualitative interviews that occurs in person is that researchers can make observations beyond those that a respondent is orally reporting. A respondent’s body language, and even her or his choice of time and location for the interview, might provide a researcher with useful data.
As with quantitative survey research, qualitative interviews rely on respondents’ ability to accurately and honestly recall whatever details about their lives, circumstances, thoughts, opinions, or behaviors are being examined. Qualitative interviewing is also time-intensive and can be quite expensive. Creating an interview guide, identifying a sample, and conducting interviews are just the beginning of the process. Transcribing interviews is labor-intensive, even before coding begins. It is also not uncommon to offer respondents some monetary incentive or thank-you for participating, because you are asking for more of the participants’ time than if you had mailed them a questionnaire containing closed-ended questions. Conducting qualitative interviews is not only labor intensive but also emotionally taxing. Researchers embarking on a qualitative interview project with a subject that is sensitive in nature should keep in mind their own abilities to listen to stories that may be difficult to hear.
Research Methods for the Social Sciences: An Introduction Copyright © 2020 by Valerie Sheppard is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
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Primary research is a research method that relies on direct data collection , rather than relying on data that’s already been collected by someone else. In other words, primary research is any type of research that you undertake yourself, firsthand, while using data that has already been collected is called secondary research.
Primary research is often used in qualitative research , particularly in survey methodology, questionnaires, focus groups, and various types of interviews . While quantitative primary research does exist, it’s not as common.
When to use primary research, types of primary research, examples of primary research, advantages and disadvantages of primary research, frequently asked questions.
Primary research is any research that you conduct yourself. It can be as simple as a 2-question survey, or as in-depth as a years-long longitudinal study . The only key is that data must be collected firsthand by you.
Primary research is often used to supplement or strengthen existing secondary research. It is usually exploratory in nature, concerned with examining a research question where no preexisting knowledge exists. It is also sometimes called original research for this reason.
Primary research can take many forms, but the most common types are:
Surveys and questionnaires collect information about a group of people by asking them questions and analyzing the results. They are a solid choice if your research topic seeks to investigate something about the characteristics, preferences, opinions, or beliefs of a group of people.
Surveys and questionnaires can take place online, in person, or through the mail. It is best to have a combination of open-ended and closed-ended questions, and how the questions are phrased matters. Be sure to avoid leading questions, and ask any related questions in groups, starting with the most basic ones first.
Observational studies are an easy and popular way to answer a research question based purely on what you, the researcher, observes. If there are practical or ethical concerns that prevent you from conducting a traditional experiment , observational studies are often a good stopgap.
There are three types of observational studies: cross-sectional studies , cohort studies, and case-control studies. If you decide to conduct observational research, you can choose the one that’s best for you. All three are quite straightforward and easy to design – just beware of confounding variables and observer bias creeping into your analysis.
Similarly to surveys and questionnaires, interviews and focus groups also rely on asking questions to collect information about a group of people. However, how this is done is slightly different. Instead of sending your questions out into the world, interviews and focus groups involve two or more people – one of whom is you, the interviewer, who asks the questions.
There are 3 main types of interviews:
While interviews are a rich source of information, they can also be deceptively challenging to do well. Be careful of interviewer bias creeping into your process. This is best mitigated by avoiding double-barreled questions and paying close attention to your tone and delivery while asking questions.
Alternatively, a focus group is a group interview, led by a moderator. Focus groups can provide more nuanced interactions than individual interviews, but their small sample size means that external validity is low.
Primary research can often be quite simple to pursue yourself. Here are a few examples of different research methods you can use to explore different topics.
Primary research is a great choice for many research projects, but it has distinct advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages include:
Disadvantages include:
The 3 main types of primary research are:
Exploratory research explores the main aspects of a new or barely researched question.
Explanatory research explains the causes and effects of an already widely researched question.
There are several methods you can use to decrease the impact of confounding variables on your research: restriction, matching, statistical control, and randomisation.
In restriction , you restrict your sample by only including certain subjects that have the same values of potential confounding variables.
In matching , you match each of the subjects in your treatment group with a counterpart in the comparison group. The matched subjects have the same values on any potential confounding variables, and only differ in the independent variable .
In statistical control , you include potential confounders as variables in your regression .
In randomisation , you randomly assign the treatment (or independent variable) in your study to a sufficiently large number of subjects, which allows you to control for all potential confounding variables.
A questionnaire is a data collection tool or instrument, while a survey is an overarching research method that involves collecting and analysing data from people using questionnaires.
When conducting research, collecting original data has significant advantages:
However, there are also some drawbacks: data collection can be time-consuming, labour-intensive, and expensive. In some cases, it’s more efficient to use secondary data that has already been collected by someone else, but the data might be less reliable.
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Qualitative interviewing is a foundational method in qualitative research and is widely used in health research and the social sciences. Both qualitative semi-structured and in-depth unstructured interviews use verbal communication, mostly in face-to-face interactions, to collect data about the attitudes, beliefs, and experiences of participants. Interviews are an accessible, often affordable, and effective method to understand the socially situated world of research participants. The approach is typically informed by an interpretive framework where the data collected is not viewed as evidence of the truth or reality of a situation or experience but rather a context-bound subjective insight from the participants. The researcher needs to be open to new insights and to privilege the participant’s experience in data collection. The data from qualitative interviews is not generalizable, but its exploratory nature permits the collection of rich data which can answer questions about which little is already known. This chapter introduces the reader to qualitative interviewing, the range of traditions within which interviewing is utilized as a method, and highlights the advantages and some of the challenges and misconceptions in its application. The chapter also provides practical guidance on planning and conducting interview studies. Three case examples are presented to highlight the benefits and risks in the use of interviewing with different participants, providing situated insights as well as advice about how to go about learning to interview if you are a novice.
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Highlights that qualitative research is used increasingly in dentistry. Interviews and focus groups remain the most common qualitative methods of data collection.
Suggests the advent of digital technologies has transformed how qualitative research can now be undertaken.
Suggests interviews and focus groups can offer significant, meaningful insight into participants' experiences, beliefs and perspectives, which can help to inform developments in dental practice.
Qualitative research is used increasingly in dentistry, due to its potential to provide meaningful, in-depth insights into participants' experiences, perspectives, beliefs and behaviours. These insights can subsequently help to inform developments in dental practice and further related research. The most common methods of data collection used in qualitative research are interviews and focus groups. While these are primarily conducted face-to-face, the ongoing evolution of digital technologies, such as video chat and online forums, has further transformed these methods of data collection. This paper therefore discusses interviews and focus groups in detail, outlines how they can be used in practice, how digital technologies can further inform the data collection process, and what these methods can offer dentistry.
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Introduction.
Traditionally, research in dentistry has primarily been quantitative in nature. 1 However, in recent years, there has been a growing interest in qualitative research within the profession, due to its potential to further inform developments in practice, policy, education and training. Consequently, in 2008, the British Dental Journal (BDJ) published a four paper qualitative research series, 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 to help increase awareness and understanding of this particular methodological approach.
Since the papers were originally published, two scoping reviews have demonstrated the ongoing proliferation in the use of qualitative research within the field of oral healthcare. 1 , 6 To date, the original four paper series continue to be well cited and two of the main papers remain widely accessed among the BDJ readership. 2 , 3 The potential value of well-conducted qualitative research to evidence-based practice is now also widely recognised by service providers, policy makers, funding bodies and those who commission, support and use healthcare research.
Besides increasing standalone use, qualitative methods are now also routinely incorporated into larger mixed method study designs, such as clinical trials, as they can offer additional, meaningful insights into complex problems that simply could not be provided by quantitative methods alone. Qualitative methods can also be used to further facilitate in-depth understanding of important aspects of clinical trial processes, such as recruitment. For example, Ellis et al . investigated why edentulous older patients, dissatisfied with conventional dentures, decline implant treatment, despite its established efficacy, and frequently refuse to participate in related randomised clinical trials, even when financial constraints are removed. 7 Through the use of focus groups in Canada and the UK, the authors found that fears of pain and potential complications, along with perceived embarrassment, exacerbated by age, are common reasons why older patients typically refuse dental implants. 7
The last decade has also seen further developments in qualitative research, due to the ongoing evolution of digital technologies. These developments have transformed how researchers can access and share information, communicate and collaborate, recruit and engage participants, collect and analyse data and disseminate and translate research findings. 8 Where appropriate, such technologies are therefore capable of extending and enhancing how qualitative research is undertaken. 9 For example, it is now possible to collect qualitative data via instant messaging, email or online/video chat, using appropriate online platforms.
These innovative approaches to research are therefore cost-effective, convenient, reduce geographical constraints and are often useful for accessing 'hard to reach' participants (for example, those who are immobile or socially isolated). 8 , 9 However, digital technologies are still relatively new and constantly evolving and therefore present a variety of pragmatic and methodological challenges. Furthermore, given their very nature, their use in many qualitative studies and/or with certain participant groups may be inappropriate and should therefore always be carefully considered. While it is beyond the scope of this paper to provide a detailed explication regarding the use of digital technologies in qualitative research, insight is provided into how such technologies can be used to facilitate the data collection process in interviews and focus groups.
In light of such developments, it is perhaps therefore timely to update the main paper 3 of the original BDJ series. As with the previous publications, this paper has been purposely written in an accessible style, to enhance readability, particularly for those who are new to qualitative research. While the focus remains on the most common qualitative methods of data collection – interviews and focus groups – appropriate revisions have been made to provide a novel perspective, and should therefore be helpful to those who would like to know more about qualitative research. This paper specifically focuses on undertaking qualitative research with adult participants only.
Qualitative research is an approach that focuses on people and their experiences, behaviours and opinions. 10 , 11 The qualitative researcher seeks to answer questions of 'how' and 'why', providing detailed insight and understanding, 11 which quantitative methods cannot reach. 12 Within qualitative research, there are distinct methodologies influencing how the researcher approaches the research question, data collection and data analysis. 13 For example, phenomenological studies focus on the lived experience of individuals, explored through their description of the phenomenon. Ethnographic studies explore the culture of a group and typically involve the use of multiple methods to uncover the issues. 14
While methodology is the 'thinking tool', the methods are the 'doing tools'; 13 the ways in which data are collected and analysed. There are multiple qualitative data collection methods, including interviews, focus groups, observations, documentary analysis, participant diaries, photography and videography. Two of the most commonly used qualitative methods are interviews and focus groups, which are explored in this article. The data generated through these methods can be analysed in one of many ways, according to the methodological approach chosen. A common approach is thematic data analysis, involving the identification of themes and subthemes across the data set. Further information on approaches to qualitative data analysis has been discussed elsewhere. 1
Qualitative research is an evolving and adaptable approach, used by different disciplines for different purposes. Traditionally, qualitative data, specifically interviews, focus groups and observations, have been collected face-to-face with participants. In more recent years, digital technologies have contributed to the ongoing evolution of qualitative research. Digital technologies offer researchers different ways of recruiting participants and collecting data, and offer participants opportunities to be involved in research that is not necessarily face-to-face.
Research interviews are a fundamental qualitative research method 15 and are utilised across methodological approaches. Interviews enable the researcher to learn in depth about the perspectives, experiences, beliefs and motivations of the participant. 3 , 16 Examples include, exploring patients' perspectives of fear/anxiety triggers in dental treatment, 17 patients' experiences of oral health and diabetes, 18 and dental students' motivations for their choice of career. 19
Interviews may be structured, semi-structured or unstructured, 3 according to the purpose of the study, with less structured interviews facilitating a more in depth and flexible interviewing approach. 20 Structured interviews are similar to verbal questionnaires and are used if the researcher requires clarification on a topic; however they produce less in-depth data about a participant's experience. 3 Unstructured interviews may be used when little is known about a topic and involves the researcher asking an opening question; 3 the participant then leads the discussion. 20 Semi-structured interviews are commonly used in healthcare research, enabling the researcher to ask predetermined questions, 20 while ensuring the participant discusses issues they feel are important.
Interviews can be undertaken face-to-face or using digital methods when the researcher and participant are in different locations. Audio-recording the interview, with the consent of the participant, is essential for all interviews regardless of the medium as it enables accurate transcription; the process of turning the audio file into a word-for-word transcript. This transcript is the data, which the researcher then analyses according to the chosen approach.
Qualitative studies often utilise one-to-one, face-to-face interviews with research participants. This involves arranging a mutually convenient time and place to meet the participant, signing a consent form and audio-recording the interview. However, digital technologies have expanded the potential for interviews in research, enabling individuals to participate in qualitative research regardless of location.
Telephone interviews can be a useful alternative to face-to-face interviews and are commonly used in qualitative research. They enable participants from different geographical areas to participate and may be less onerous for participants than meeting a researcher in person. 15 A qualitative study explored patients' perspectives of dental implants and utilised telephone interviews due to the quality of the data that could be yielded. 21 The researcher needs to consider how they will audio record the interview, which can be facilitated by purchasing a recorder that connects directly to the telephone. One potential disadvantage of telephone interviews is the inability of the interviewer and researcher to see each other. This is resolved using software for audio and video calls online – such as Skype – to conduct interviews with participants in qualitative studies. Advantages of this approach include being able to see the participant if video calls are used, enabling observation of non-verbal communication, and the software can be free to use. However, participants are required to have a device and internet connection, as well as being computer literate, potentially limiting who can participate in the study. One qualitative study explored the role of dental hygienists in reducing oral health disparities in Canada. 22 The researcher conducted interviews using Skype, which enabled dental hygienists from across Canada to be interviewed within the research budget, accommodating the participants' schedules. 22
A less commonly used approach to qualitative interviews is the use of social virtual worlds. A qualitative study accessed a social virtual world – Second Life – to explore the health literacy skills of individuals who use social virtual worlds to access health information. 23 The researcher created an avatar and interview room, and undertook interviews with participants using voice and text methods. 23 This approach to recruitment and data collection enables individuals from diverse geographical locations to participate, while remaining anonymous if they wish. Furthermore, for interviews conducted using text methods, transcription of the interview is not required as the researcher can save the written conversation with the participant, with the participant's consent. However, the researcher and participant need to be familiar with how the social virtual world works to engage in an interview this way.
Ensuring informed consent before any interview is a fundamental aspect of the research process. Participants in research must be afforded autonomy and respect; consent should be informed and voluntary. 24 Individuals should have the opportunity to read an information sheet about the study, ask questions, understand how their data will be stored and used, and know that they are free to withdraw at any point without reprisal. The qualitative researcher should take written consent before undertaking the interview. In a face-to-face interview, this is straightforward: the researcher and participant both sign copies of the consent form, keeping one each. However, this approach is less straightforward when the researcher and participant do not meet in person. A recent protocol paper outlined an approach for taking consent for telephone interviews, which involved: audio recording the participant agreeing to each point on the consent form; the researcher signing the consent form and keeping a copy; and posting a copy to the participant. 25 This process could be replicated in other interview studies using digital methods.
There are advantages and disadvantages of using face-to-face and digital methods for research interviews. Ultimately, for both approaches, the quality of the interview is determined by the researcher. 16 Appropriate training and preparation are thus required. Healthcare professionals can use their interpersonal communication skills when undertaking a research interview, particularly questioning, listening and conversing. 3 However, the purpose of an interview is to gain information about the study topic, 26 rather than offering help and advice. 3 The researcher therefore needs to listen attentively to participants, enabling them to describe their experience without interruption. 3 The use of active listening skills also help to facilitate the interview. 14 Spradley outlined elements and strategies for research interviews, 27 which are a useful guide for qualitative researchers:
Greeting and explaining the project/interview
Asking descriptive (broad), structural (explore response to descriptive) and contrast (difference between) questions
Asymmetry between the researcher and participant talking
Expressing interest and cultural ignorance
Repeating, restating and incorporating the participant's words when asking questions
Creating hypothetical situations
Asking friendly questions
Knowing when to leave.
For semi-structured interviews, a topic guide (also called an interview schedule) is used to guide the content of the interview – an example of a topic guide is outlined in Box 1 . The topic guide, usually based on the research questions, existing literature and, for healthcare professionals, their clinical experience, is developed by the research team. The topic guide should include open ended questions that elicit in-depth information, and offer participants the opportunity to talk about issues important to them. This is vital in qualitative research where the researcher is interested in exploring the experiences and perspectives of participants. It can be useful for qualitative researchers to pilot the topic guide with the first participants, 10 to ensure the questions are relevant and understandable, and amending the questions if required.
Regardless of the medium of interview, the researcher must consider the setting of the interview. For face-to-face interviews, this could be in the participant's home, in an office or another mutually convenient location. A quiet location is preferable to promote confidentiality, enable the researcher and participant to concentrate on the conversation, and to facilitate accurate audio-recording of the interview. For interviews using digital methods the same principles apply: a quiet, private space where the researcher and participant feel comfortable and confident to participate in an interview.
Study focus: Parents' experiences of brushing their child's (aged 0–5) teeth
1. Can you tell me about your experience of cleaning your child's teeth?
How old was your child when you started cleaning their teeth?
Why did you start cleaning their teeth at that point?
How often do you brush their teeth?
What do you use to brush their teeth and why?
2. Could you explain how you find cleaning your child's teeth?
Do you find anything difficult?
What makes cleaning their teeth easier for you?
3. How has your experience of cleaning your child's teeth changed over time?
Has it become easier or harder?
Have you changed how often and how you clean their teeth? If so, why?
4. Could you describe how your child finds having their teeth cleaned?
What do they enjoy about having their teeth cleaned?
Is there anything they find upsetting about having their teeth cleaned?
5. Where do you look for information/advice about cleaning your child's teeth?
What did your health visitor tell you about cleaning your child's teeth? (If anything)
What has the dentist told you about caring for your child's teeth? (If visited)
Have any family members given you advice about how to clean your child's teeth? If so, what did they tell you? Did you follow their advice?
6. Is there anything else you would like to discuss about this?
A focus group is a moderated group discussion on a pre-defined topic, for research purposes. 28 , 29 While not aligned to a particular qualitative methodology (for example, grounded theory or phenomenology) as such, focus groups are used increasingly in healthcare research, as they are useful for exploring collective perspectives, attitudes, behaviours and experiences. Consequently, they can yield rich, in-depth data and illuminate agreement and inconsistencies 28 within and, where appropriate, between groups. Examples include public perceptions of dental implants and subsequent impact on help-seeking and decision making, 30 and general dental practitioners' views on patient safety in dentistry. 31
Focus groups can be used alone or in conjunction with other methods, such as interviews or observations, and can therefore help to confirm, extend or enrich understanding and provide alternative insights. 28 The social interaction between participants often results in lively discussion and can therefore facilitate the collection of rich, meaningful data. However, they are complex to organise and manage, due to the number of participants, and may also be inappropriate for exploring particularly sensitive issues that many participants may feel uncomfortable about discussing in a group environment.
Focus groups are primarily undertaken face-to-face but can now also be undertaken online, using appropriate technologies such as email, bulletin boards, online research communities, chat rooms, discussion forums, social media and video conferencing. 32 Using such technologies, data collection can also be synchronous (for example, online discussions in 'real time') or, unlike traditional face-to-face focus groups, asynchronous (for example, online/email discussions in 'non-real time'). While many of the fundamental principles of focus group research are the same, regardless of how they are conducted, a number of subtle nuances are associated with the online medium. 32 Some of which are discussed further in the following sections.
Some key considerations associated with face-to-face focus groups are: how many participants are required; should participants within each group know each other (or not) and how many focus groups are needed within a single study? These issues are much debated and there is no definitive answer. However, the number of focus groups required will largely depend on the topic area, the depth and breadth of data needed, the desired level of participation required 29 and the necessity (or not) for data saturation.
The optimum group size is around six to eight participants (excluding researchers) but can work effectively with between three and 14 participants. 3 If the group is too small, it may limit discussion, but if it is too large, it may become disorganised and difficult to manage. It is, however, prudent to over-recruit for a focus group by approximately two to three participants, to allow for potential non-attenders. For many researchers, particularly novice researchers, group size may also be informed by pragmatic considerations, such as the type of study, resources available and moderator experience. 28 Similar size and mix considerations exist for online focus groups. Typically, synchronous online focus groups will have around three to eight participants but, as the discussion does not happen simultaneously, asynchronous groups may have as many as 10–30 participants. 33
The topic area and potential group interaction should guide group composition considerations. Pre-existing groups, where participants know each other (for example, work colleagues) may be easier to recruit, have shared experiences and may enjoy a familiarity, which facilitates discussion and/or the ability to challenge each other courteously. 3 However, if there is a potential power imbalance within the group or if existing group norms and hierarchies may adversely affect the ability of participants to speak freely, then 'stranger groups' (that is, where participants do not already know each other) may be more appropriate. 34 , 35
Face-to-face focus groups should normally be conducted by two researchers; a moderator and an observer. 28 The moderator facilitates group discussion, while the observer typically monitors group dynamics, behaviours, non-verbal cues, seating arrangements and speaking order, which is essential for transcription and analysis. The same principles of informed consent, as discussed in the interview section, also apply to focus groups, regardless of medium. However, the consent process for online discussions will probably be managed somewhat differently. For example, while an appropriate participant information leaflet (and consent form) would still be required, the process is likely to be managed electronically (for example, via email) and would need to specifically address issues relating to technology (for example, anonymity and use, storage and access to online data). 32
The venue in which a face to face focus group is conducted should be of a suitable size, private, quiet, free from distractions and in a collectively convenient location. It should also be conducted at a time appropriate for participants, 28 as this is likely to promote attendance. As with interviews, the same ethical considerations apply (as discussed earlier). However, online focus groups may present additional ethical challenges associated with issues such as informed consent, appropriate access and secure data storage. Further guidance can be found elsewhere. 8 , 32
Before the focus group commences, the researchers should establish rapport with participants, as this will help to put them at ease and result in a more meaningful discussion. Consequently, researchers should introduce themselves, provide further clarity about the study and how the process will work in practice and outline the 'ground rules'. Ground rules are designed to assist, not hinder, group discussion and typically include: 3 , 28 , 29
Discussions within the group are confidential to the group
Only one person can speak at a time
All participants should have sufficient opportunity to contribute
There should be no unnecessary interruptions while someone is speaking
Everyone can be expected to be listened to and their views respected
Challenging contrary opinions is appropriate, but ridiculing is not.
Moderating a focus group requires considered management and good interpersonal skills to help guide the discussion and, where appropriate, keep it sufficiently focused. Avoid, therefore, participating, leading, expressing personal opinions or correcting participants' knowledge 3 , 28 as this may bias the process. A relaxed, interested demeanour will also help participants to feel comfortable and promote candid discourse. Moderators should also prevent the discussion being dominated by any one person, ensure differences of opinions are discussed fairly and, if required, encourage reticent participants to contribute. 3 Asking open questions, reflecting on significant issues, inviting further debate, probing responses accordingly, and seeking further clarification, as and where appropriate, will help to obtain sufficient depth and insight into the topic area.
Moderating online focus groups requires comparable skills, particularly if the discussion is synchronous, as the discussion may be dominated by those who can type proficiently. 36 It is therefore important that sufficient time and respect is accorded to those who may not be able to type as quickly. Asynchronous discussions are usually less problematic in this respect, as interactions are less instant. However, moderating an asynchronous discussion presents additional challenges, particularly if participants are geographically dispersed, as they may be online at different times. Consequently, the moderator will not always be present and the discussion may therefore need to occur over several days, which can be difficult to manage and facilitate and invariably requires considerable flexibility. 32 It is also worth recognising that establishing rapport with participants via online medium is often more challenging than via face-to-face and may therefore require additional time, skills, effort and consideration.
As with research interviews, focus groups should be guided by an appropriate interview schedule, as discussed earlier in the paper. For example, the schedule will usually be informed by the review of the literature and study aims, and will merely provide a topic guide to help inform subsequent discussions. To provide a verbatim account of the discussion, focus groups must be recorded, using an audio-recorder with a good quality multi-directional microphone. While videotaping is possible, some participants may find it obtrusive, 3 which may adversely affect group dynamics. The use (or not) of a video recorder, should therefore be carefully considered.
At the end of the focus group, a few minutes should be spent rounding up and reflecting on the discussion. 28 Depending on the topic area, it is possible that some participants may have revealed deeply personal issues and may therefore require further help and support, such as a constructive debrief or possibly even referral on to a relevant third party. It is also possible that some participants may feel that the discussion did not adequately reflect their views and, consequently, may no longer wish to be associated with the study. 28 Such occurrences are likely to be uncommon, but should they arise, it is important to further discuss any concerns and, if appropriate, offer them the opportunity to withdraw (including any data relating to them) from the study. Immediately after the discussion, researchers should compile notes regarding thoughts and ideas about the focus group, which can assist with data analysis and, if appropriate, any further data collection.
Qualitative research is increasingly being utilised within dental research to explore the experiences, perspectives, motivations and beliefs of participants. The contributions of qualitative research to evidence-based practice are increasingly being recognised, both as standalone research and as part of larger mixed-method studies, including clinical trials. Interviews and focus groups remain commonly used data collection methods in qualitative research, and with the advent of digital technologies, their utilisation continues to evolve. However, digital methods of qualitative data collection present additional methodological, ethical and practical considerations, but also potentially offer considerable flexibility to participants and researchers. Consequently, regardless of format, qualitative methods have significant potential to inform important areas of dental practice, policy and further related research.
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Gill, P., Baillie, J. Interviews and focus groups in qualitative research: an update for the digital age. Br Dent J 225 , 668–672 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2018.815
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Last Updated on September 11, 2023 by Karl Thompson
An interview involves an interviewer asking questions verbally to a respondent. Interviews involve a more direct interaction between the researcher and the respondent than questionnaires. Interviews can either be conducted face to face, via phone, video link or social media.
This post has primarily been written for students studying the Research Methods aspect of A-level sociology, but it should also be useful for students studying methods for psychology, business studies and maybe other subjects too!
Structured or formal interviews are those in which the interviewer asks the interviewee the same questions in the same way to different respondents. This will typically involve reading out questions from a pre-written and pre-coded structured questionnaire, which forms the interview schedule. The most familiar form of this is with market research, where you may have been stopped on the street with a researcher ticking boxes based on your responses.
Unstructured or Informal interviews (also called discovery interviews) are more like a guided conversation. Here the interviewer has a list of topics they want the respondent to talk about, but the interviewer has complete freedom to vary the specific questions from respondent to respondent, so they can follow whatever lines of enquiry they think are most appropriated, depending on the responses given by each respondent.
Semi-Structured interviews are those in which respondents have a list of questions, but they are free to ask further, differentiated questions based on the responses given. This allows more flexibility that the structured interview yet more structure than the informal interview.
Group interviews – Interviews can be conducted either one to one (individual interviews) or in a a group, in which the interviewer interviews two or more respondents at a time. Group discussions among respondents may lead to deeper insight than just interviewing people along, as respondents ‘encourage’ each other.
The Interview Schedule – A list of questions or topic areas the interviewer wishes to ask or cover in the course of the interview. The more structured the interview, the more rigid the interiew schedule will be. Before conducting an interview it is usual for the reseracher to know something about the topic area and the respondents themselves, and so they will have at least some idea of the questions they are likely to ask: even if they are doing ‘unstructred interviews’ an interviewer will have some kind of interview schedule, even if it is just a list of broad topic areas to discuss, or an opening question.
The problem of Leading Questions – In Unstructured Interviews, the interviewer should aim to avoid asking leading questions.
The key strength of unstructured interviews is good validity , but for this to happen questioning should be as open ended as possible to gain genuine, spontaneous information rather than ‘rehearsed responses’ and questioning needs to be sufficient enough to elicit in-depth answers rather than glib, easy answers.
Rapport and empathy – unstructured interviews encourage a good rapport between interviewee and interviewer. Because of their informal nature, like guided conversations, unstructured interviews are more likely to make respondents feel at ease than with the more formal setting of a structured questionnaire or experiment. This should encourage openness, trust and empathy.
They are good for finding out why respondents do not do certain things . For example postal surveys asking why people do not claim benefits have very low response rates, but informal interviews are perfect for researching people who may have low literacy skills.
Empowerment for respondents – the researcher and respondents are on a more equal footing than with more quantitative methods. The researcher doesn’t assume they know best. This empowers the respondents. Feminists researchers in particular believe that the unstructured interview can neutralise the hierarchical, exploitative power relations that they believe to be inherent in the more traditional interview structure. They see the traditional interview as a site for the exploitation and subordination of women, with the interviewers potentially creating outcomes against their interviewees’ interests. In traditional interview formats the interviewer directs the questioning and takes ownership of the material; in the feminist (unstructured) interview method the woman would recount her experiences in her own words with the interviewer serving only as a guide to the account.
The main theoretical disadvantage is the lack of reliability – unstructured Interviews lack reliability because each interview is unique – a variety of different questions are asked and phrased in a variety of different ways to different respondents.
We also need to keep in mind that interviews can only tap into what people SAY about their values, beliefs and actions, we don’t actually get to see these in action, like we would do with observational studies such as Participant Observation. This has been a particular problem with self-report studies of criminal behaviour. These have been tested using polygraphs, and follow up studies of school and criminal records and responses found to be lacking in validity, so much so that victim-surveys have become the standard method for measuring crime rather than self-report studies.
Sudman and Bradburn (1974) conducted a review of literature and found that responses varied depending on the relative demographics of the interviewer and respondent. For example white interviewers received more socially acceptable responses from black respondents than they did from white respondents. Similar findings have been found with different ethnicities, age, social class and religion.
Practical disadvantages – unstructured Interviews may take a relatively long time to conduct. Some interviews can take hours. They also need to be taped and transcribed, and in the analysis phase there may be a lot of information that is not directly relevant to one’s research topic that needs to be sifted through.
There are few ethical problems , assuming that informed consent is gained and confidentially ensured. Although having said this, the fact that the researcher is getting more in-depth data, more of an insight into who the person really is, does offer the potential for the information to do more harm to the respondent if it got into the wrong hands (but this in turn depends on the topics discussed and the exact content of the interviews.
Fo r Interactionists , interviews are based on mutual participant observation. The context of the interview is intrinsic to understanding responses and no distinction between research interviews and other social interaction is recognised. Data are valid when mutual understanding between interviewer and respondent is agreed.
For more posts on research methods please see my research methods page.
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If you’re looking for targeted, relevant data which is optimised for your specific needs, primary research could be the solution.
Primary research definition.
Primary research is data which is obtained first-hand. This means that the researcher conducts the research themselves or commissions the data to be collected on their behalf. Primary research means going directly to the source, rather than relying on pre-existing data samples.
This type of research is particularly relevant where the data collected needs to be specific to the context. For example, a company may perform primary market research to discover customer perceptions of their brand. This could not be collected from any existing data source as it is unique to the business.
Primary research can also help to position a person or company as an authoritative figure in the field. The research may then be quoted by other authors, who reference the original researcher as the source, further increasing their position. However, the researcher retains full control over the data, as the data owner.
You don’t have to be an expert to conduct primary research. It can be done by people at all levels, from students who require data for their university projects to market researchers who want to gauge reactions to a new product .
There are two types of research: primary research and secondary research. Every method of conducting market research falls into one of these categories and it is important to understand the difference between the two.
The key difference between these two types of research is that primary research is collected first-hand whilst secondary research is gathered from pre-existing studies.
Primary research is also referred to as field research. It involves original research, which is carried out first-hand, often for a specific purpose. It can be conducted through a range of methods including questionnaires or surveys .
One describes the set of questions you ask an individual, the other the process of collecting and interpreting data from many individuals. Know the difference?
Secondary research is also known as desk research. This type of research relies on pre-existing data sources such as company websites, articles and market research reports. It is generally carried out at a desk, either offline (via books, research documents, etc) or online (via websites, pdf reports, etc).
Most market research will typically begin with secondary market research. This is usually initiated by typing a query into a search engine and is used as a knowledge basis from which to conduct further investigations. Once it is established what data already exists, the researcher can then decide whether to proceed with primary research or to delve deeper into secondary research.
Primary research is often seen as being more valuable than secondary research as it answers a specific question rather than relying on second-hand data which was originally collected for another purpose. This means that primary research is generally more conclusive than secondary research. However, it takes more time to conduct this type of research and is therefore more costly.
There are many ways of gathering primary research. The most suitable method will depend on the questions you want to answer and the problem you’re trying to solve. The most common primary market research methods are interviews, surveys, focus groups and observations.
Interviews take the form of a one-to-one or small group question and answer session, which can be conducted over the phone or in a face-to-face environment. Interviews are most useful where a large amount of information needs to be collected from a small sample of subjects. Interviews are often used to obtain information from an expert about a specialist topic. This type of research is highly personal, so follow-on questions can be asked to ensure clarity.
Surveys are most frequently conducted online using paid or free survey tools and offer a convenient and cost-effective solution where a response is required from a larger population. Questions are pre-written, offering the respondent little flexibility if their answer doesn’t fit (making functionality such as skip logic essential) and response rates can be variable. The length of a survey is a delicate balance: if a survey is too long, participants may get bored and leave the survey incomplete. However, if the survey is short, not enough data will be collected to form a full picture.
Focus groups are used to collect data from a small group of people who are often subject matter experts in the topic of research. Discussion is initiated between the group members to discover their thoughts. This method is commonly used by businesses to gain insight into niche markets and learn about their customers.
Observations are carried out impartially, by simply observing an event and taking organised notes. In this method, there is no direct interaction between the researcher and the subject. This method removes the potential bias which could be encountered during an interview or survey as the encounters observed are genuine reactions. Observations can be carried out by camera or by a trained observer. This method is commonly used by toy manufacturers when testing their products on children.
Primary research has many advantages, although it is not the most appropriate type of research for every situation. It is important to consider the individual requirements before deciding on the most appropriate research method for the situation.
Primary research methods offer a targeted approach to market research. This allows specific issues to be addressed, keeping the research completely relevant to the objectives and scope of the project. This means that the research is specific to the individual market, rather than the mass market.
This type of research also allows the marketer to have complete control over the methodology used, along with the representative sample size and the sample selection process. This helps to further improve the relevancy of the research to the person or organisation.
Secondary research is often outdated and may no longer be accurate for the market the researcher is trying to target. Primary research guarantees that the information collected is up-to-date and relevant, enabling accurate trends to be revealed.
Primary research also allows the person or organisation to control ownership of the data. They may choose to release the information to enhance their position as an authority in the field, or they may choose to keep the data private to avoid giving competitors an advantage.
The main disadvantage of conducting primary research is the cost involved in the process. Secondary research can often be collected without cost, whilst primary research is more involved, increasing the cost of obtaining it.
Primary research can also be time consuming to carry out, especially if a large sample size is required. The time required to effectively plan primary research, carry it out and analyse the data is much greater than the time taken to conduct secondary research.
Inaccuracy must also be accounted for. Respondents may be biased based on their previous experiences with an organisation or may not fully understand a question on a survey, leading to misleading or inaccurate responses.
Surveys are a cost-effective method of sampling a large group of people. They involve a series of easy to answer questions which are generally multiple choice. This allows quantitative data to be collected and analysed by the researcher.
The multiple-choice questions can also be supplemented with open-ended questions to gather more detailed information and allow thematic analysis to be undertaken.
To sum up, primary research is a great option for individuals and organisations who need original data to meet a specific need or to answer a particular question. It may be more costly and time-consuming than using secondary data, but in many instances the benefits outweigh the associated costs.
Ready to get started, discover our enterprise survey software, survey uses, survey distribution, survey templates, comparisons, useful links.
Survey research is a critical component of measurement and applied social research. It is a broad area that encompasses many procedures that involve asking questions to specific respondents.
A survey can be anything from a short feedback form to intensive, in-depth interviews that attempt to gather specific data about situations, events, or circumstances. Although there are several methods of application that researchers can apply using this tool, you can divide surveys into two generic categories: interviews and questionnaires.
Innovations in this area in recent years allow for advanced software solutions to provide more data to researchers because of the availability of online and mobile surveys. That means the people who are in the most challenging places to reach can still provide feedback on critical ideas, services, or solutions.
Several survey research advantages and disadvantages exist, so reviewing each critical point is necessary to determine if there is value in using this approach for your next project.
1. It is an inexpensive method of conducting research. Surveys are one of the most inexpensive methods of gathering quantitative data that is currently available. Some questionnaires can be self-administered, making it a possibility to avoid in-person interviews. That means you have access to a massive level of information from a large demographic in a relatively short time. You can place this option on your website, email it to individuals, or post it on social media profile.
Some of these methods have no financial cost at all, relying on personal efforts to post and collect the information. Robust targeting is necessary to ensure that the highest possible response rate becomes available to create a more accurate result.
2. Surveys are a practical solution for data gathering. Surveys or a practical way to gather information about something specific. You can target them to a demographic of your choice or manage them in several different ways. It is up to you to determine what questions get asked and in what format. You can use polls, questionnaires, quizzes, open-ended questions, and multiple-choice to collect info in real-time situations so that the feedback is immediately useful.
3. It is a fast way to get the results that you need. Surveys provide fast and comfortable results because of today’s mobile and online tools. It is not unusual for this method of data collection to generate results in as little as one day, and sometimes it can be even less than that depending on the scale and reach of your questions. You no longer need to wait for another company to deliver the solutions that you need because these questionnaires give you insights immediately. That means you can start making decisions in the shortest amount of time possible.
4. Surveys provide opportunities for scalability. A well-constructed survey allows you to gather data from an audience of any size. You can distribute your questions to anyone in the world today because of the reach of the Internet. All you need to do is send them a link to the page where you solicit information from them. This process can be done automatically, allowing companies to increase the efficiency of their customer onboarding processes.
Marketers can also use surveys as a way to create lead nurturing campaigns. Scientific research gains a benefit through this process as well because it can generate social insights at a personal level that other methods are unable to achieve.
5. It allows for data to come from multiple sources at once. When you construct a survey to meet the needs of a demographic, then you have the ability to use multiple data points collected from various geographic locations. There are fewer barriers in place today with this method than ever before because of the online access we have around the world.
Some challenges do exist because of this benefit, namely because of the cultural differences that exist between different countries. If you conduct a global survey, then you will want to review all of the questions to ensure that an offense is not unintentionally given.
6. Surveys give you the opportunity to compare results. After researchers quantify the information collected from surveys, the data can be used to compare and contrast the results from other research efforts. This benefit makes it possible to use the info to measure change. That means a questionnaire that goes out every month or each year becomes more valuable over time.
When you can gather a significant amount of data, then the picture you are trying to interpret will become much clearer. Surveys provide the capability of generating new strategies or identifying new trends to create more opportunities.
7. It offers a straightforward analysis and visualization of the data. Most surveys are quantitative by design. This process allows for the advantage of a straightforward analysis process so that the results can be quickly visualized. That means a data scientist doesn’t need to be available to start the work of interpreting the results. You can take advantage of third-party software tools that can turn this info into usable reports, charts, and tables to facilitate the presentation efforts.
8. Survey respondents can stay anonymous with this research approach. If you choose to use online or email surveys, then there is a fantastic opportunity to allow respondents to remain anonymous. Complete invisibility is also possible with postal questionnaires, allowing researchers to maximize the levels of comfort available to the individuals who offer answers. Even a phone conversation doesn’t require a face-to-face meeting, creating this unique benefit.
When people have confidence in the idea that their responses will not be directly associated with their reputation, then researchers have an opportunity to collect information with greater accuracy.
9. It is a research tool with fewer time constraints. Surveys have fewer time limits associated with them when compared to other research methods. There is no one on the other end of an email or postal questionnaire that wants an immediate answer. That means a respondent can take additional time to complete each answer in the most comfortable way possible. This benefit is another way to encourage more honesty within the results since having a researcher presence can often lead to socially desirable answers.
10. Surveys can cover every component of any topic. Another critical advantage that surveys provide is the ability to ask as many questions as you want. There is a benefit in keeping an individual questionnaire short because a respondent may find a lengthy process to be frustrating. The best results typically come when you can create an experience that involves 10 or fewer questions.
Since this is a low-cost solution for gathering data, there is no harm in creating multiple surveys that have an easy mode of delivery. This benefit gives you the option to cover as many sub-topics as possible so that you can build a complete profile of almost any subject matter.
1. There is always a risk that people will provide dishonest answers. The risk of receiving a dishonest answer is lower when you use anonymous surveys, but it does not disappear entirely. Some people want to help researchers come to whatever specific conclusion they think the process is pursuing. There is also a level of social desirability bias that creeps into the data based on the interactions that respondents have with questionnaires. You can avoid some of this disadvantage by assuring individuals that their privacy is a top priority and that the process you use prevents personal information leaks, but you can’t stop this problem 100% of the time.
2. You might discover that some questions don’t get answers. If you decide to use a survey to gather information, then there is a risk that some questions will be left unanswered or ignored. If some questions are not required, then respondents might choose not to answer them. An easy way to get around this disadvantage is to use an online solution that makes answering questions a required component of each step. Then make sure that your survey stays short and to the point to avoid having people abandon the process altogether.
3. There can be differences in how people understand the survey questions. There can be a lot of information that gets lost in translation when researchers opt to use a survey instead of other research methods. When there is not someone available to explain a questionnaire entirely, then the results can be somewhat subjective. You must give everyone an opportunity to have some understanding of the process so that you can encourage accurate answers.
It is not unusual to have respondents struggle to grasp the meaning of some questions, even though the text might seem clear to the people who created it. Whenever miscommunication is part of the survey process, the results will skew in unintended directions. The only way to avoid this problem is to make the questions as simple as possible.
4. Surveys struggle to convey emotions with the achievable results. A survey does not do a good job of capturing a person’s emotional response to the questions then counter. The only way to gather this information is to have an in-person interview with every respondent. Facial expressions and other forms of body language can add subtlety to a conversation that isn’t possible when someone is filling out an online questionnaire.
Some researchers get stuck trying to interpret feelings in the data they receive. A sliding-scale response that includes various levels of agreement or disagreement can try to replicate the concept of emotion, but it isn’t quite the same as being in the same room as someone. Assertion and strength will always be better information-gathering tools than multiple-choice questions.
5. Some answers can be challenging to classify. Surveys produce a lot of data because of their nature. You can tabulate multiple-choice questions, graph agreement or disagreement in specific areas, or create open-ended questions that can be challenging to analyze. Individualized answers can create a lot of useful information, but they can also provide you with data that cannot be quantified. If you incorporate several questions of this nature into a questionnaire, then it will take a long time to analyze what you received.
Only 10% of the questions on the survey should have an open-ended structure. If the questions are confusing or bothersome, then you might find that the information you must manually review is mostly meaningless.
6. You must remove someone with a hidden agenda as soon as possible. Respondent bias can be a problem in any research type. Participants in your survey could have an interest in your idea, service, or product. Others might find themselves being influenced to participate because of the subject material found in your questionnaire. These issues can lead to inaccurate data gathering because it generates an imbalance of respondents who either see the process as overly positive or negative.
This disadvantage of survey research can be avoided by using effective pre-screening tools that use indirect questions that identify this bias.
7. Surveys don’t provide the same level of personalization. Any marketing effort will feel impersonal unless you take the time to customize the process. Because the information you want to collect on a questionnaire is generic by nature, it can be challenging to generate any interest in this activity because there is no value promised to the respondent. Some people can be put off by the idea of filling out a generic form, leading them to abandon the process.
This issue is especially difficult when your survey is taken voluntarily online, regardless of an email subscription or recent purchase.
8. Some respondents will choose answers before reading the questions. Every researcher hopes that respondents will provide conscientious responses to the questions offered in a survey. The problem here is that there is no way to know if the person filling out the questionnaire really understood the content provided to them. You don’t even have a guarantee that the individual read the question thoroughly before offering a response.
There are times when answers are chosen before someone fully reads the question and all of the answers. Some respondents skip through questions or make instant choices without reading the content at all. Because you have no way to know when this issue occurs, there will always be a measure of error in the collected data.
9. Accessibility issues can impact some surveys. A lack of accessibility is always a threat that researchers face when using surveys. This option might be unsuitable for individuals who have a visual or hearing impairment. Literacy is often necessary to complete this process. These issues should come under consideration during the planning stages of the research project to avoid this potential disadvantage. Then make the effort to choose a platform that has the accessibility options you need already built into it.
10. Survey fatigue can be a real issue that some respondents face. There are two issues that manifest themselves because of this disadvantage. The first problem occurs before someone even encounters your questionnaire. Because they feel overwhelmed by the growing number of requests for information, a respondent is automatically less inclined to participate in a research project. That results in a lower overall response rate.
Then there is the problem of fatigue that happens while taking a survey. This issue occurs when someone feels like the questionnaire is too long or contains questions that seem irrelevant. You can tell when this problem happens because a low completion rate is the result. Try to make the process as easy as possible to avoid the issues with this disadvantage.
Surveys sometimes have a poor reputation. Researchers have seen response rates decline because this method of data gathering has become unpopular since the 1990s. Part of the reason for this perception is due to the fact that everyone tries to use it online since it is a low-cost way to collect information for decision-making purposes.
That’s why researchers are moving toward a rewards-based system to encourage higher participation and completion rates. The most obvious way to facilitate this behavior is to offer something tangible, such as a gift card or a contest entry. You can generate more responses by creating an anonymous process that encourages direct and honest answers.
These survey research advantages and disadvantages prove that this process isn’t as easy as it might see from the outside. Until you sit down to start writing the questions, you may not entirely know where you want to take this data collection effort. By incorporating the critical points above, you can begin to craft questions in a way that encourages the completion of the activity.
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Methodology
Published on January 20, 2023 by Tegan George . Revised on January 12, 2024.
Secondary research is a research method that uses data that was collected by someone else. In other words, whenever you conduct research using data that already exists, you are conducting secondary research. On the other hand, any type of research that you undertake yourself is called primary research .
Secondary research can be qualitative or quantitative in nature. It often uses data gathered from published peer-reviewed papers, meta-analyses, or government or private sector databases and datasets.
When to use secondary research, types of secondary research, examples of secondary research, advantages and disadvantages of secondary research, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions.
Secondary research is a very common research method, used in lieu of collecting your own primary data. It is often used in research designs or as a way to start your research process if you plan to conduct primary research later on.
Since it is often inexpensive or free to access, secondary research is a low-stakes way to determine if further primary research is needed, as gaps in secondary research are a strong indication that primary research is necessary. For this reason, while secondary research can theoretically be exploratory or explanatory in nature, it is usually explanatory: aiming to explain the causes and consequences of a well-defined problem.
Secondary research can take many forms, but the most common types are:
Literature reviews, case studies, content analysis.
There is ample data available online from a variety of sources, often in the form of datasets. These datasets are often open-source or downloadable at a low cost, and are ideal for conducting statistical analyses such as hypothesis testing or regression analysis .
Credible sources for existing data include:
A literature review is a survey of preexisting scholarly sources on your topic. It provides an overview of current knowledge, allowing you to identify relevant themes, debates, and gaps in the research you analyze. You can later apply these to your own work, or use them as a jumping-off point to conduct primary research of your own.
Structured much like a regular academic paper (with a clear introduction, body, and conclusion), a literature review is a great way to evaluate the current state of research and demonstrate your knowledge of the scholarly debates around your topic.
A case study is a detailed study of a specific subject. It is usually qualitative in nature and can focus on a person, group, place, event, organization, or phenomenon. A case study is a great way to utilize existing research to gain concrete, contextual, and in-depth knowledge about your real-world subject.
You can choose to focus on just one complex case, exploring a single subject in great detail, or examine multiple cases if you’d prefer to compare different aspects of your topic. Preexisting interviews , observational studies , or other sources of primary data make for great case studies.
Content analysis is a research method that studies patterns in recorded communication by utilizing existing texts. It can be either quantitative or qualitative in nature, depending on whether you choose to analyze countable or measurable patterns, or more interpretive ones. Content analysis is popular in communication studies, but it is also widely used in historical analysis, anthropology, and psychology to make more semantic qualitative inferences.
Secondary research is a broad research approach that can be pursued any way you’d like. Here are a few examples of different ways you can use secondary research to explore your research topic .
Secondary research is a very common research approach, but has distinct advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages include:
Disadvantages include:
Many researchers using the same secondary research to form similar conclusions can also take away from the uniqueness and reliability of your research. Many datasets become “kitchen-sink” models, where too many variables are added in an attempt to draw increasingly niche conclusions from overused data . Data cleansing may be necessary to test the quality of the research.
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If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.
Research bias
A systematic review is secondary research because it uses existing research. You don’t collect new data yourself.
The research methods you use depend on the type of data you need to answer your research question .
Quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics, while qualitative research deals with words and meanings.
Quantitative methods allow you to systematically measure variables and test hypotheses . Qualitative methods allow you to explore concepts and experiences in more detail.
We strongly encourage students to use sources in their work. You can cite our article (APA Style) or take a deep dive into the articles below.
George, T. (2024, January 12). What is Secondary Research? | Definition, Types, & Examples. Scribbr. Retrieved June 11, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/secondary-research/
Largan, C., & Morris, T. M. (2019). Qualitative Secondary Research: A Step-By-Step Guide (1st ed.). SAGE Publications Ltd.
Peloquin, D., DiMaio, M., Bierer, B., & Barnes, M. (2020). Disruptive and avoidable: GDPR challenges to secondary research uses of data. European Journal of Human Genetics , 28 (6), 697–705. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41431-020-0596-x
Other students also liked, primary research | definition, types, & examples, how to write a literature review | guide, examples, & templates, what is a case study | definition, examples & methods, what is your plagiarism score.
BMC Health Services Research volume 24 , Article number: 713 ( 2024 ) Cite this article
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A significant proportion of patients and informal caregivers favor an active role in decisions concerning their health. Simultaneously, governments aim to shift treatment from a professional care setting to a community setting, in light of an ageing population, a decreasing number of health workers and allocation of scarce resources. This transition of care solicits patients’ and informal caregivers’ ability to self-manage. Therefore, the Maastricht University Medical Centre + has established the Academy for Patients and Informal caregivers. The aim is to proactively and professionally support patients and their informal caregivers to enhance their self-management. For that, the Academy offers activities in three categories: (1) instruction of nursing techniques, (2) training of e-health competencies and (3) the provision of self-management programs. Both patients with an episodic care need, as well as patients and informal caregivers with chronic illness, are eligible to participate in the Academy’s activities. However, little is known about the experience of these interventions from the perspective of patients, informal caregivers and healthcare professionals.
We conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 patients, 8 informal caregivers and 19 health care professionals who either participated in, referred to or received patients from the Academy. Topics revolved around self-management and the Quadruple aim, covering topics such as patient experiences, healthcare costs, health and well-being of the population and improving work life for health professionals. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis.
Patients and caregivers experienced an increase in the ability to manage health needs independently, leading to increased mental well-being and self-efficacy. They felt recognized as partners in care, although managing illness needs came with its own burdens. Health care professionals indicated that they felt assured of the quality, uniformity and availability of activities due to its central organization, with instruction nurses finding greater meaning in their work. On the level of health care systems, participants in this study mentioned a decrease in use of formal healthcare, whilst enabling a more equitable division of care.
Stakeholders’ experiences with the Academy for Patients and Informal caregivers indicate that participation contributes to development of self-management, whilst also improving working conditions, reducing the appeal to formal care and advancing equity in healthcare. The burden for patients and informal caregivers is to be considered in future developments.
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The nature of disease has changed tremendously over the past century. Chronic illnesses are increasingly prevalent and cause the highest burden of disease worldwide [ 1 ]. Simultaneously, an increasing shortage of health workers exists worldwide. In order to attain effective coverage of health services, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a global shortage of 7.2 million health workers in 2013. This number is projected to grow with an additional 18 million health workers by 2030 [ 2 ]. In order to guarantee continuity of care and to optimize allocation of scarce resources, including the use of health work force, governments aim to shift treatment from a professional care setting to an informal care setting [ 3 ].
Concurrently, active and informed participation of patients in their own health care is increasingly implemented in daily practice, fueled by their own desire and ethical imperative [ 4 , 5 ]. Patients’ participation in care is associated with favorable health outcomes, such as increased compliance, enhanced quality of life, and the delivery of more appropriate and cost-effective treatments [ 6 , 7 ]. In more recent years, the participation of families, partners, other informal caregivers and representatives in one’s health care has been increasingly recognized as important [ 8 , 9 ].
These transitions of care solicit patients’ and informal caregivers’ ability to self-manage. It can be seen in the light of a paradigm shift in health-related thinking, in which the current paradigm emphasizes the ability to adapt and self-manage [ 10 , 11 ]. Self-management can be defined as a dynamic, interactive and daily process in which individuals engage to manage chronic illness [ 12 ]. It refers to the individual’s ability, together with family, community and health care professionals, to manage symptoms, treatment, physical- and psychosocial consequences, and lifestyle changes inherent with a chronic condition. Schulman-Green et al. identified three categories of self-management processes: focusing on illness needs, activating resources and living with a chronic illness [ 13 , 14 ].
In order to optimize patients’ and informal caregivers’ self-management, self-management support can be deployed. In self-management support, professionals apply a patient-centered collaborative approach to promote patient activation, education and empowerment [ 15 ]. Self-management support interventions have proven to be useful and beneficial when it comes to health-related quality of life, self-efficacy, disease specific self-care behavior and cost effectiveness [ 16 , 17 ]. However, many self-management support programs specifically target a single disease, focus on a single process of self-management and omit the experiences of informal caregivers. Additionally, self-management support interventions appear to be difficult to implement in practice. This is in part due to the fact that self-management support benefits from catering to individual needs, consuming scarce time and resources from the individual professional in practice [ 18 ].
To overcome this, the Maastricht University Medical Centre + established the Academy for Patients and Informal caregivers (API) in 2018, forming a comprehensive, centralized infrastructure within the organization [ 19 ]. The API proactively and professionally instructs patients and their informal caregivers to enhance their self-management, as a means to positively influence quality of care, to decrease usage of care and to support patients’ transitions to their home environments. Currently, the API employs three main categories of activities, resonating the three categories of self-management processes by Schulman-Green et al.: (1) centralized, professional instruction of nursing techniques by experienced and certified nurses, focusing on illness needs; (2) training of necessary e-health competencies to increase compliance to supportive applications and augment self-monitoring, in relation to the category of activating resources and (3) provision of comprehensive educational programs that aid in self-managing chronic illness to enhance quality of living with a chronic illness for both patients and informal caregivers [ 13 ]. The API intends to provide a palette of activities (Table 1 ) to optimally support patients’ and informal caregivers’ self-management.
This study qualitatively explored the experiences with the API as a form of self-management support from the perspectives of participating patients, their informal caregivers and health care professionals, in and outside of the hospital.
We took a phenomenological approach for this cross-sectional, explorative interview study. Individual, semi-structured interviews were conducted with patients, informal caregivers and professionals. Standards for reporting qualitative research (SRQR) [ 22 ] and Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ) [ 23 ] were used as guides in reporting.
Both patients and their informal caregivers with an episodic care need as well as patients and their informal caregivers with chronic illness are eligible to participate in the activities of the Academy (Table 1 ). Patients and informal caregivers who had participated in one of the activities of the API, as well as healthcare professionals working with the API, were able to partake in this study. From the hospital setting both instruction nurses Footnote 1 working at the API as well as referring and receiving professionals were purposively sampled. Referring professionals could both be consultants, as well as nurse(s) (practitioners), nurse team managers and care coordinators. Receiving professionals are nurses working in home care. All professionals were invited through an e-mail that included written information on the study and an informed consent form.
Additionally, instruction nurses at the API conveniently recruited patients and informal caregivers. The API nurses informed patients and informal caregivers on the study orally and asked to share contact details when interested. The principal investigator (MB) subsequently informed potential participants in more detail over the telephone. When patients or informal caregivers expressed interest to partake, an information letter and an informed consent form were provided and an interview was scheduled. No other prior relation was established with participants.
After obtaining written informed consent, interviews were held either in person at the hospital, in a room booked for the interview, or digitally (Microsoft Teams) using a semi-structured interview guide (see Additional files 1 and 2 ). The interview guide pivoted around two empirical concepts. One the one hand, the categories of self-management processes as described by Schulman-Green et al., were used to deepen experiences with self-management when brought up by the participants [ 13 ]. On the other hand, the aspects of the Quadruple Aim were explored. The Quadruple Aim is a compass to optimize health system performance through simultaneously improving patient experiences, reducing costs, improving health and improving work life for health professionals [ 24 ]. The interview guide was piloted with one patient and one informal caregiver to optimize its understandability prior to the start of data collection. The interviews were conducted by MB and AS. MB is experienced in qualitative research and moderating focus group interviews, whereas AS had limited experience with qualitative research. She was guided throughout this process by MB and MvB. Each interview was pre-discussed with MB. Up until the fourth interview, the interviews were transcribed and formulation of questions and depth of answers and subsequent follow-up questions were discussed with MB and MvB, immediately after each interview. All interviews executed by AS were deemed of sufficient quality by MB and MvB and therefore included in the analysis. Only the interviewer and the participants were present, with one exception where a spouse provided technical assistance to a patient during a digital interview. No repeat interviews were carried out. In total, there were 18 months between the first and the last interview.
All interviews were audio-recorded digitally, transcribed verbatim by MB and AS and pseudonymized (see Tables 2 and 3 ; and Table 4 for coding). After transcription, the audio-recordings were deleted for privacy reasons. Data collection was continued until both the principal investigator (MB) and co-researchers (AS, HvdB and MvB) agreed upon data sufficiency.
A member check, consisting of a brief summary of the interview, was performed for each participant. The data were coded inductively following the principles and steps of thematic analysis [ 25 ]. The data were independently, separately coded by MB and AS for the first 33 interviews, and any differences in coding were regularly discussed. For the last 9 interviews MB initially coded the interviews, after which HvdB checked the (additional) coding. This iterative constant comparison process led to continuous additions and optimalisation of the coding tree until all interviews were analyzed. Any persisting discrepancies in coding were discussed with MvB, until consensus was reached. NVivo Pro 12.6.1.970 was used to organize and code the data [ 26 ]. An overview of the coding tree can be found as a supplement (Additional file 3 ).
The researchers acknowledge the fact that preconceptions, such as previous personal and professional experiences and pre-study beliefs are of influence on and inherent to the process of qualitative research [ 27 ]. To optimally tackle this, the research team consists of a members with complementary perspectives, namely clinicians, policy makers and educationalists. The participating clinicians have clinical experience both in and outside the hospital.
MB is a medical doctor and PhD student who has worked in a hospital setting and holds a master degree in healthcare policy, innovation and management. AS is also a medical doctor and participated in the research as part of her master thesis. HM is the chair of the board of directors of the Maastricht University Medical Centre + and has a background as a gynecologist. She conducted PhD research into gynecological oncology. MvZ is the director of the Maastricht University Medical Centre Academy with experience in different roles such as Human Resources Advisor and manager focusing on nursing education. WvM is an internist/intensivist at Maastricht University Medical Centre + and full professor in medical education research focusing on professional development. He holds the position of postgraduate dean. MvB is a family physician and full professor at Maastricht University, focusing on interprofessional education and collaboration in primary health care.
In total 15 patients, 8 informal caregivers and 19 health care professionals were interviewed. Member checks were sent after each interview leading to one alteration. One participant altered the interpreted ‘cognitive capabilities’ to ‘ability and willingness to learn’. Non-participation for healthcare professionals was mostly due to time restrictions. Patients and informal caregivers declined participation mostly due to energy restrictions and/or overburdening. The duration of the interviews varied between 15 and 60 minutes.
Our sample contained patients and informal caregivers who participated in activities from the three different categories provided by the Academy. The majority of the patients and informal caregivers were between 45 and 64 years old and most of them obtained a bachelor’s degree or higher (ISCED levels 6, 7 and 8). Most informal caregivers had a spousal relation to the patient. Most participating professionals were female and worked in the hospital setting, with most of them having a background as a nurse or nurse practitioner. Professionals with experience in an extramural setting were also part of our sample.
The analysis of the interviews yielded themes on three different levels: the level of (1) patients and informal caregivers, (2) health care professionals and (3) health care systems. In the following sections, we discuss different themes for each level, displaying perspectives of all participants, substantiated with illustrative quotes. An overview of themes and subsequent thematic statements can be found in Table 5 [ 28 ].
Managing illness needs: knowledge, skills and monitoring health status (thematic statement 1, 2 and 3).
All groups of participants perceived that the activities contributed to the patients’ and informal caregivers’ knowledge on their conditions and accompanying health needs, such as relevance of a health-task for their treatment, and importance of associated parameters and (alarm) symptoms. Professionals specifically pointed out paying attention to ‘hygiene ’ (H2) and ‘raising awareness’ on possible ‘complications’ (IN2)
Additionally, participants reported that as a result of the activities, patients and informal caregivers gained specific knowledge on the execution of the skills instructed, supporting the correct completion of health tasks. To this end, patients and informal caregivers were ‘happy with the aids and the instruction’ (P4) that they were provided with, in order to help them optimally execute these health tasks.
You need to receive an instruction, otherwise you don’t know how to do it [administer an injection]. (…) So it is nice to have such a session and to be shown and to execute it yourself.” IC3
In line with the completion of health tasks, patients also learned to continuously monitor their health status, whether supported through an e-health application or not, and to consequently perform health promoting activities. This increased their treatment compliance. It was underscored by the instances in which patients actively deliberated whether or not to execute health tasks or to adjust their treatment regiments to manage side effects.
Now [whilst using an application] you’re actually reminded to take that blood pressure three times a week and measure your weight, which you wouldn’t normally do. And now you do.” P12. Well, what it accomplished is that a picture emerges. You get a picture of how all [parameters] move[s] over time. (…) Weight is very important to her, so that’s what you focus on the most. She can’t get above 75 kilos, so she tries to get back below that.” IC8
Having knowledge and skills and being able to monitor health status results in a feeling of autonomy and freedom. One patient put it as follows: “[the instruction] leads to freedom and not to restrictions.” (P1) These feelings leads to improved mental well-being through having ownership over ones’ health.
You are dependent on a lot of things. And mentally that does something to you. And the moment you can take a bit of control, it improves your mental state. So in my case that’s very nice. Yes, I can really confirm that, because it seems like nothing, but it is a lot.” P7
Additionally, patients and informal caregivers reported that being autonomous leads to less (stress in) waiting for homecare professionals and reduces the feeling of ‘the invasion of privacy’ (P7) by professionals having to come by. Patients and informal caregivers underscore the positivity of the fact that their partner or informal carer can become part of their disease management, instead of having to stand by as an outsider. However, both patients and informal caregivers do not want to burden the other too much.
It certainly saves me stress. And I know, the homecare workers are just people too, and sometimes things come up and they are late and when they are ten minutes or fifteen minutes late I can live with that, because I’m often like that myself. But on the other hand, don’t be an hour late, because then I’m really biting my nails. I will start with putting on the stockings myself.” P2 Otherwise you have to wait for home care. And that’s four times a day (…) in total that will be around seventy home visits, just for a cataract surgery. Think about the costs, but also the inconvenience for yourself. I don’t know about you, but if you just sit and wait for a courier to bring a package… Just sit and wait, for four weeks, three times a day.’’ R5
Patients and informal caregivers reported several perceived advantages of enhanced self-management. For example, the aforementioned knowledge, completion of health tasks and execution of health promoting activities also lead to improved self-efficacy of patients and informal caregivers. Professionals hoped that partaking in the activities may lower ‘the threshold to do things independently’ (H2) in the future. Patients and informal caregivers confirmed this. They hoped that ‘they don’t need it in the future, but if so’ , they are ‘more confident’ (P7) and ‘more aware of the fact that there are always things they can do themselves’ (IC3)
Participants in the educational programs for people living with a chronic illness (Table 1 , category 3), expressed their appreciation for and benefits of peer-to-peer contact.
Above all, I saw that [the peer-to-peer contact] had a positive impact on my wife. That she could see that others could deal with it relatively casually. Because she very much has this fear of, ‘Gee, what if something happens to me’. (…) I do think it helped her find a bit of a way through that.” IC6
Patients and informal caregivers reported that they feel acknowledged as partners in care. They report positive on the fact that a hospital recognizes that people are able to do certain activities themselves and entrust them with these activities. In turn, professionals indicated that they are ‘perhaps used to taking over things from them [patients] too often’ (IN3).
You never think about that [doing things autonomously] if you never come to the hospital, but that they look at what you can do independently, yes, that is also a part of quality of care. I think it’s a good thing that that happens.” IC3
Generally, the activities that are currently executed, more specifically simple nursing techniques (Table 1 , category 1), are simple in the eyes of all participants. Therefore, they do not mind executing these tasks independently. Many participants expected that their willingness to independently execute a health task to decrease if they would be asked to execute a more complex skill. A patient executing a task that was classified as ‘complex’ by the API reported: “It is simple, right? It’s just a tube with two ends: one end you attach to the bag [containing feeding], the other end you attach to the tube in your nose. It’s really not that complicated.” (P9). This participant, however, could imagine “when you’re anxious for everything and scared to do something wrong, it [tube feeding] might feel as quite an undertaking” (P9). This resonated with experiences of other participants.
“You know, it’s only a compression stocking. It’s not some sort of surgery that I have to do every day, I don’t have to change a tube or change a stoma, although you might get used to that very quickly too, but this only regards putting on a stocking.” IC2
Carrying out health tasks independently generally takes little time, according to participants. However, sometimes even a small investment of time can have serious implications on the daily lives of participants. Additionally, participants understand they were asked to perform certain tasks, but warned that there are limits to the load that informal caregivers are willing to carry, both physically and mentally. An example of the physical load is when, for example, the health task is executed by informal caregivers who have illnesses themselves or when ergonomic considerations are not taken into account. The cognitive load could be related to scheduling or anxiousness regarding executing health tasks independently.
You can’t say to someone: now go and put those stockings on yourself when they themselves have to get out of bed at 6.30 a.m. every day to go to work. (…) That’s when I think, in that case we have homecare professionals, they can come too. You have to have time for it, as crazy as that sounds. As I said, it’s only ten minutes, but those ten minutes can be of inconvenience.” P2 Oftentimes, they [the patient and the informal caregiver] do know the purpose of what we come for, with, for example, connecting and disconnecting tube feeding. They know quite well how to do it, but often they just find it too suspenseful.” H2 Well, I have arthrosis in my thumb and it is quite tough when putting the stockings on. But anyway, you just have to do it.” IC2
Perceived workload (thematic statement 9 and 10).
All participants expected a reduction in workload for both professionals working in the homecare provision, as well as in the hospital. The latter is in part due to the fact that ward nurses don’t have to “squeeze in” instructions themselves on busy wards, and in part due to the fact that ward nurses do not have to refer to homecare professionals anymore. In turn, transfer nurses indicated that some indications for home visits are a lot less prevalent, as opposed to earlier.
““They [instruction nurses] relieve the workload. Because sometimes we [transfer nurses] spend a lot of time at simple home care requests, when you can’t find a suitable home care organization. We’ve experienced that so many times, that you have to call so many organizations before you find someone who can deliver that care. So I think that [the activities are] a relief, I think that’s a very clear profit for us.” T2”
Often those injections, that used to be something that a lot of people were referred for, to us [in home care]. That is actually a lot less already.” H2
Health care professionals within the hospital indicated that the centralized approach, in which instruction nurses have dedicated time for the activities within the API, assured the quality, uniformity and availability of activities. This is due to the fact that instruction nurses are educated in motivating and instructing and experienced in training patients and informal caregivers, have access to proper training material such as necessary ‘aids to make it [executing the health task] easier’ (IN1) and can subsequently hand out ‘information leaflets’ (IN3), and ‘have more time’ (IN1) to educate patients and informal caregivers.
They take over a part of our work, and I really like that. It also just makes me feel nicer for the patients. That I know, okay, they can now have their attention, get a calm explanation, they can ask questions straight away. Yes, that just feels nicer than when I’m s"tanding there and my pager goes off ten times and then I have to leave and return again.” R10
As for health professionals working in home care: they have indicated that the training does not affect them directly and hence find it difficult to judge the impact thereof on their working conditions. Home care nurses suggested that education is an integral part of their work, and underscore the importance of ‘working together’ (H1) in transitional care.
I don’t see how many referrals should have come, as compared to how many [patients] actually were referred to us.” R11
According to patients and informal caregivers, the independent execution of health tasks leads to an improvement of meaningfulness of work for healthcare professionals. This resonates with the experiences of instruction nurses, who indicated to have more time to pay personal attention to patients as compared to ward nurses and now can optimally support patients and informal caregivers in self-management.
And the additional attention I can now give [as an instruction nurse] at the Academy. (…) And the patients love it, and they ask me: will you come back tomorrow? (…) It’s not just having fun, it’s more the attention that the patient just misses, because the nursing staff doesn’t have time for it.” IN4
Use of formal care and associated costs (thematic statement 13).
Patients, informal caregivers and health care professionals alike expected or experienced a reduction in the usage of professional care. This could be either in terms of ‘shortened hospital stays’ (TN2), ‘less visits’ (H1) by home care or a ‘reduction of out-patient hospital visits’ (IN2). The use of e-health applications has the potential of preventing ‘hospitalizations of patients’ (R9). However, this type of care is currently executed on-top of normal care as it is not yet embedded in the care path, possibly increasing costs rather than a reducing them.
It has helped, that sometimes people go home without home care. And sometimes with significantly reduced home care. And that’s just nice because, well it’s fairly known, that there’s shortage in health care. And that’s very evident in home care.” TN2 Top-on means: people get regular care through out-patient visits, and the SanaCoach comes as an extra. It does not replace out-patient visits.” R2
Participants indicated that as a result of patients and informal caregivers independently executing tasks and thus not needing help from professionals, healthcare professionals are able to redirect their attention to people who need it most. This can be more complex cases or people without informal caregivers who can take care for them. This was substantiated by transfer nurses: they see an increase in ´patients with more problems´ (TN2) and when a part of their population can independently execute health tasks, they are given ´more space to devote their time to complex cases´ (TN2). Lastly, professionals also warned for ‘the loneliness of elderly’ (IN1), as for some people the visit of the home care nurse is the only social contact they might have in a day.
There will be more time for the individual behind some doors who needs more extensive home care. The person with dementia that is still living at home independently. (…) It is nice to have space to drink a cup of coffee with these people, because now you do not need to go and change a stoma or change tube feeding, as those people can now do it independently.” R11
In terms of care experience, patients and informal caregivers indicated to experience the activities of the API as a ‘nice addition’ (P5), but overall the activities did not rigorously alter their health care experience. Health care professionals within the hospital characterized the activities as a ´service’ (R2) to patients and informal caregivers.
Our study explored the experiences of participating patients, their informal caregivers and health care professionals – in and outside of the hospital – with the Academy for Patients and Informal caregivers as a comprehensive infrastructure to promote self-management through active patient involvement in treatment, e-health and self-management programs. In the following sections we will discuss the results in relation to the two empirical concepts that formed the basis of our semi-structured interview guide, self-management and Quadruple aim. Subsequently, we discuss our findings in the light of patient- and family centered care and the participative role of informal caregivers and associated burden.
Patients and informal caregivers indicated that they felt enabled to manage illness needs independently, including correctly completing (simple) health tasks and monitoring their health status. Patients and informal caregivers experienced a subsequent increase in mental wellbeing and self-efficacy, and felt acknowledged as a partner in care. Schulman-Green and colleagues formulated three different categories of self-management processes with accompanying tasks and skills [ 13 ]. Many of the skills and tasks required for the first category of self-management processes, focusing on illness needs, such as learning skills, monitoring symptoms, developing confidence and self-efficacy, correspond with the experiences described by participants in this study. Furthermore, these findings resonate with the ‘improving clinical outcomes’ aim as part of the Quadruple aim [ 24 ].
The second self-management process, activating resources, such as healthcare resources using e-health applications and social resources in terms of peer-support, were also reported by participants in this study. To a lesser extent, skills and tasks as part of the process of living with a chronic illness were reported, partly due to the fact that most of the patients and informal caregivers who were interviewed had diseases of limited duration, as opposed to chronic diseases with more consistent symptoms. The instruction nurses working at the API experienced an increase in the meaningfulness of their work, resonating with the ‘improving work life of clinicians’ part of the Quadruple aim. On health system level, participants in this study reported a decrease in use of formal healthcare whilst obtaining a more equitable division of care and maintaining an equal, generally positive, health care experience. The latter findings resonate with the last two aims of the Quadruple aim, namely reducing costs and improving patient experience. Additionally, the principle of equity was touched upon by the participants and unearthed as a theme in data analysis. This extended the findings from the Quadruple Aim, to the further expanded Quintuple Aim [ 29 ]. Overall, the qualitative findings in this study echo with the five aims as part of the Quintuple Aim, that forms an updates compass to optimize health system performance originating from the Quadruple Aim.
The independent execution of health tasks and subsequent self-management is an acceptable burden for the participants in this study. Participants in our study anticipated an increasing burden, the more complex health tasks become. Recently, several initiatives have been developed in which essential nursing care activities are taught to informal caregivers, in for example surgical wards and intensive care units [ 30 , 31 ]. They report that active participation in care by informal caregivers was experienced as an acceptable burden, but holds the danger of losing touch with oneself for informal caregivers [ 32 , 33 ]. Our study adds to these findings with experiences from a transitional care setting as opposed to a clinical setting. Furthermore, our study describes experiences with nursing techniques, such as the described administration of subcutaneous injections or putting on stockings, as opposed to fundamental care activities such as support with personal cleansing and support with eating and drinking. However, caregiver burden is expected to become increasingly prevalent in the light of an aging population and the lack of formal support for informal caregivers. Especially spousal caregivers face greater challenges as compared to adult children assisting a parent, due to the fact that they, in almost all cases, live with the care recipient, feel that they have little to no choice other than to take up the care responsibilities and are more vulnerable as they are older themselves [ 34 ]. Additional training for instruction nurses in self-management support, specifically focusing on (the determinants and risk factors of) caregiver burden seem paramount in light of these demographic changes. Additionally, self-management programs for informal caregivers could be deployed [ 35 ].
One of the main strengths of the presented study is the incorporation of the views of patients, informal caregivers and health care professionals to triangulate the results. Additionally, data were iteratively analyzed and discussed within the research team, providing the researchers with the opportunity to validate the findings. Moreover, data were collected over a long period of time (i.e. 18 months), leading to a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding, as well as adding to the consistency of our findings. Furthermore, participants actively participated in or referred to the entire set of activities executed as part of the API, providing a comprehensive description of experiences. However, a limitation of this study might be that not each activity has been as thoroughly explored, which implies that data sufficiency might not have been obtained for each activity within the API. For example, only two participants of educational programs for living with a chronic illness participated. In our analysis we focused on all processes as parts of self-management and the findings for different categories seem consistent with these processes. Therefore, we think that the omission of themes due to the fact that data sufficiency might not be reached for each individual activity, is limited. Also, our sample of participants was relatively well-educated and young, came from one hospital and had a Dutch, cultural background. Therefore, our sample was homogeneous and different cultural backgrounds were not explored. This seems relevant, as age, cognitive abilities and cultural beliefs have been identified as factors affecting self-management [ 14 ]. It remains unknown whether older, frailer or more culturally diverse groups have similar experiences with this intervention as the current group did. We hypothesize that execution of the activities in an older, frailer or culturally diverse population might be less feasible in its current form. However, through the training of younger, well-educated participants, a larger share of formal care remains available to others – potentially needing it more – making healthcare more equitable. Exploring the motives of patients and informal caregivers who declined partaking in an activity or the motives of physicians not to ask specific groups to partake, might offer valuable additional insights to which population this intervention is applicable to.
The Academy for Patients and Informal caregivers has the potential to adequately support patients and informal caregivers’ self-management, whilst also contributing to meaningfulness of work of healthcare professionals, reducing the appeal to formal care and possibly advancing equity in healthcare. The burden of self-management seems acceptable for participants, but the growing burden on informal caregivers should be taken into consideration in the future direction of development of the Academy of Patients and Informal caregivers. This can be operationalized through the training of instruction nurses on this topic and involve the informal caregiver in the shared decision making process when deliberating to participate in one of the activities of the Academy for Patients and Informal caregivers.
A copy of the code tree is provided in the Additional file 3. Anonymized transcripts are available in Dutch upon well-founded request.
Not applicable.
Instruction nurses work at the API and have had additional training in didactic skills, motivational interviewing and specific train-the-training courses for educational programmes to optimally equip them to support patients and informal caregivers´ self-management.
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The authors would like to thank the coordinator and instruction nurses of the Academy for Patients and Informal caregivers of the Maastricht University Medical Centre+ for their help in the recruitment of participants. Additionally, the authors would like to thank Hélène van den Besselaar for analyzing the last interviews.
National health insurers VGZ and CZ have made funds available through the ‘Innovatiefonds Zorgverzekeraars’, freely translated to ‘Fund for innovations by health insurers’, to execute activities within the Academy for Patients and Informal caregivers. The researchers received no reimbursements from this. The Open Access fee was paid by the institutions of the researchers: no sponsor was acquired. The principal investigator was appointed as physician-researcher during the research and is anticipated to work for a foundation facilitating the valorization of the research.
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Care and Public Health Research Institute (CAPHRI; department of Family Medicine), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
Matthijs H. Bosveld, Anne G.M. Smits & Marloes A. van Bokhoven
Maastricht University Medical Centre+ (board of directors), Maastricht, The Netherlands
Helena J.M.M. Mertens
Maastricht University Medical Centre+ (Academy), Maastricht, The Netherlands
Michel J.J.M. van Zandvoort
Maastricht University Medical Centre+ (department of Intensive Care), School of Health Professions Education, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
Walther N.K.A. van Mook
School of Health Professions Education (SHE), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
Matthijs H. Bosveld & Walther N.K.A. van Mook
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Conceptualization: MB, AS, MvB & WvM; Methodology: MB, AS, MvB & WvM; Formal analysis and investigation: MB, AS & MvB; Writing - original draft preparation: MB, MvB & WvM; Writing - review and editing: MB, AS, MvB, WvM, HM & MvZ; Resources: HM & MvZ; Supervision: MvB, WvM & HM.
Correspondence to Matthijs H. Bosveld .
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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the medical ethics committee of the Maastricht University Medical Centre+, file number 2021–2790.
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Bosveld, M.H., Smits, A.G., Mertens, H.J. et al. Patients and informal caregivers in the lead: a qualitative study on the experiences of patients, informal caregivers, and healthcare professionals with involvement in treatment, e-health and self-management programs. BMC Health Serv Res 24 , 713 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-024-11156-z
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Secondary research: definition, methods, & examples.
18 min read This ultimate guide to secondary research helps you understand changes in market trends, customers buying patterns and your competition using existing data sources.
In situations where you’re not involved in the data gathering process ( primary research ), you have to rely on existing information and data to arrive at specific research conclusions or outcomes. This approach is known as secondary research.
In this article, we’re going to explain what secondary research is, how it works, and share some examples of it in practice.
Secondary research, also known as desk research, is a research method that involves compiling existing data sourced from a variety of channels . This includes internal sources (e.g.in-house research) or, more commonly, external sources (such as government statistics, organisational bodies, and the internet).
Secondary research comes in several formats, such as published datasets, reports, and survey responses , and can also be sourced from websites, libraries, and museums.
The information is usually free — or available at a limited access cost — and gathered using surveys , telephone interviews, observation, face-to-face interviews, and more.
When using secondary research, researchers collect, verify, analyse and incorporate it to help them confirm research goals for the research period.
As well as the above, it can be used to review previous research into an area of interest. Researchers can look for patterns across data spanning several years and identify trends — or use it to verify early hypothesis statements and establish whether it’s worth continuing research into a prospective area.
There are five key steps to conducting secondary research effectively and efficiently:
First, understand what you will be researching and define the topic by thinking about the research questions you want to be answered.
Ask yourself: What is the point of conducting this research? Then, ask: What do we want to achieve?
This may indicate an exploratory reason (why something happened) or confirm a hypothesis. The answers may indicate ideas that need primary or secondary research (or a combination) to investigate them.
If secondary research is needed, think about where you might find the information. This helps you narrow down your secondary sources to those that help you answer your questions. What keywords do you need to use?
Which organisations are closely working on this topic already? Are there any competitors that you need to be aware of?
Create a list of the data sources, information, and people that could help you with your work.
Now that you have the list of data sources, start accessing the data and collect the information into an organised system. This may mean you start setting up research journal accounts or making telephone calls to book meetings with third-party research teams to verify the details around data results.
As you search and access information, remember to check the data’s date, the credibility of the source, the relevance of the material to your research topic, and the methodology used by the third-party researchers. Start small and as you gain results, investigate further in the areas that help your research’s aims.
When you have your data in one place, you need to understand, filter, order, and combine it intelligently. Data may come in different formats where some data could be unusable, while other information may need to be deleted.
After this, you can start to look at different data sets to see what they tell you. You may find that you need to compare the same datasets over different periods for changes over time or compare different datasets to notice overlaps or trends. Ask yourself: What does this data mean to my research? Does it help or hinder my research?
In this last stage of the process, look at the information you have and ask yourself if this answers your original questions for your research. Are there any gaps? Do you understand the information you’ve found? If you feel there is more to cover, repeat the steps and delve deeper into the topic so that you can get all the information you need.
If secondary research can’t provide these answers, consider supplementing your results with data gained from primary research. As you explore further, add to your knowledge and update your findings. This will help you present clear, credible information.
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Unlike secondary research, primary research involves creating data first-hand by directly working with interviewees, target users, or a target market. Primary research focuses on the method for carrying out research, asking questions, and collecting data using approaches such as:
Using these methods, researchers can get in-depth, targeted responses to questions, making results more accurate and specific to their research goals. However, it does take time to do and administer.
Unlike primary research, secondary research uses existing data, which also includes published results from primary research. Researchers summarise the existing research and use the results to support their research goals.
Both primary and secondary research have their places. Primary research can support the findings found through secondary research (and fill knowledge gaps), while secondary research can be a starting point for further primary research. Because of this, these research methods are often combined for optimal research results that are accurate at both the micro and macro level.
First-hand research to collect data. May require a lot of time | The research collects existing, published data. May require a little time |
Creates raw data that the researcher owns | The researcher has no control over data method or ownership |
Relevant to the goals of the research | May not be relevant to the goals of the research |
The researcher conducts research. May be subject to researcher bias | The researcher collects results. No information on what researcher bias existsSources of secondary research |
Can be expensive to carry out | More affordable due to access to free data |
There are two types of secondary research sources: internal and external. Internal data refers to in-house data that can be gathered from the researcher’s organisation. External data refers to data published outside of and not owned by the researcher’s organization.
Internal data is a good first port of call for insights and knowledge, as you may already have relevant information stored in your systems. Because you own this information — and it won’t be available to other researchers — it can give you a competitive edge. Examples of internal data include:
External data is useful when you: 1) need information on a new topic, 2) want to fill in gaps in your knowledge, or 3) want data that breaks down a population or market for trend and pattern analysis. Examples of external data include:
How and why might you conduct secondary research? Let’s look at a few examples:
There are plenty of sites that hold data for people to view and use in their research. For example, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, or Wiley Online Library all provide previous research on a particular topic. Researchers can create free accounts and use the search facilities to look into a topic by keyword, before following the instructions to download or export results for further analysis.
This can be useful for exploring a new market that your organisation wants to consider entering. For instance, by viewing the U.K census data for that area, you can see what the demographics of your target audience are , and create compelling marketing campaigns accordingly.
If you’re interested in seeing the historical views on a particular topic, for example, attitudes to women’s rights in the US, you can turn to secondary sources.
Textbooks, news articles, reviews, and journal entries can all provide qualitative reports and interviews covering how people discussed women’s rights. There may be multimedia elements like video or documented posters of propaganda showing biased language usage.
By gathering this information, synthesising it, and evaluating the language, who created it and when it was shared, you can create a timeline of how a topic was discussed over time.
Educational institutions, such as schools and colleges, create a lot of research-based reports on younger audiences or their academic specialisms. Dissertations from students also can be submitted to research journals, making these places useful places to see the latest insights from a new generation of academics.
Information can be requested — and sometimes academic institutions may want to collaborate and conduct research on your behalf. This can provide key primary data in areas that you want to research, as well as secondary data sources for your research.
There are several benefits of using secondary research, which we’ve outlined below:
The disadvantages of secondary research are worth considering in advance of conducting research :
Now that you know the basics of secondary research, when do researchers normally conduct secondary research?
It’s often used at the beginning of research, when the researcher is trying to understand the current landscape. In addition, if the research area is new to the researcher, it can form crucial background context to help them understand what information exists already. This can plug knowledge gaps, supplement the researcher’s own learning or add to the research.
Secondary research can also be used in conjunction with primary research. Secondary research can become the formative research that helps pinpoint where further primary research is needed to find out specific information. It can also support or verify the findings from primary research.
You can use secondary research where high levels of control aren’t needed by the researcher, but a lot of knowledge on a topic is required from different angles.
Secondary research should not be used in place of primary research as both are very different and are used for various circumstances.
Before you start your secondary research, ask yourself these questions:
If your organisation has past research, it’s best to review this work before starting a new project. The older work may provide you with the answers, and give you a starting dataset and context of how your organisation approached the research before. However, be mindful that the work is probably out of date and view it with that note in mind. Read through and look for where this helps your research goals or where more work is needed.
When you have clear goals, and understand what you need to achieve, you can look for the perfect type of secondary or primary research to support the aims. Different secondary research data will provide you with different information – for example, looking at news stories to tell you a breakdown of your market’s buying patterns won’t be as useful as internal or external data e-commerce and sales data sources.
If you are looking for credibility, you want to consider how accurate the research results will need to be, and if you can sacrifice credibility for speed by using secondary sources to get you started. Bear in mind which sources you choose — low-credibility data sites, like political party websites that are highly biased to favor their own party, would skew your results.
When you’re looking to conduct research, you want the results to be as useful as possible, so using data that is 10 years old won’t be as accurate as using data that was created a year ago. Since a lot can change in a few years, note the date of your research and look for earlier data sets that can tell you a more recent picture of results. One caveat to this is using data collected over a long-term period for comparisons with earlier periods, which can tell you about the rate and direction of change.
If you can’t verify the data by looking at the research methodology, speaking to the original team or cross-checking the facts with other research, it could be hard to be sure that the data is accurate. Think about whether you can use another source, or if it’s worth doing some supplementary primary research to replicate and verify results to help with this issue.
We created a front-to-back guide on conducting market research, The ultimate guide to conducting market research , so you can understand the research journey with confidence.
In it, you’ll learn more about:
Download the free guide for a clearer view on secondary research and other key research types for your business.
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1. the biggest problems and greatest strengths of the u.s. political system, table of contents.
The public sees a number of specific problems with American politics. Partisan fighting, the high cost of political campaigns, and the outsize influence of special interests and lobbyists are each seen as characteristic of the U.S. political system by at least 84% of Americans.
Yet 63% also say that “ordinary Americans care about making the political system work well” is a good description of U.S. politics today. Still, when asked to describe a strength of the political system in their own words, more than half either say “nothing” (22%) or decline to give an answer (34%).
More than eight-in-ten adults say that each of the following is at least a somewhat good description of the U.S. political system today:
About six-in-ten (63%) think ordinary Americans want to make the political system work well. This is the rare positive sentiment that a majority views as a good descriptor of the political system.
Fewer than half of adults hold the view that the government deserves more credit than it gets: Majorities say that “the federal government does more for ordinary Americans than people give it credit for” (59%) and “Congress accomplishes more than people give it credit for” (65%) are both bad descriptions of the political system.
Nearly seven-in-ten adults express frustration with the availability of unbiased information about politics: 68% say the statement “it is easy to find unbiased information about what is happening in politics” is not a good description of the political system.
And just 22% of Americans say that political leaders facing consequences for acting unethically is a good description of the political system. They are more than three times as likely to say that this is a bad description (76% say this).
Partisans have similar views of many of the descriptions of the political system included in the survey.
Overwhelming majorities in both parties think there is too much partisan fighting, campaigns cost too much, and lobbyists and special interests have too much say in politics. And just 24% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents and 20% of Republicans and Republican leaners say that political leaders face consequences if they act unethically.
The widest partisan gap is over a description of the federal government. Democrats are roughly twice as likely as Republicans to say “the federal government does more for ordinary Americans than people give it credit for” (54% vs. 26%).
There is a narrower gap in views of Congress’ accomplishments: 37% of Democrats and 28% of Republicans say it accomplishes more than people give it credit for.
Democrats are also more likely to say, “It is easy to find unbiased information about what is happening in politics” (36% of Democrats and 25% of Republicans say this is a good description of the political system today), while Republicans are slightly more likely than Democrats to view ordinary Americans as wanting to make the political system work well (67% of Republicans and 61% of Democrats say this is a good description).
When asked to describe in their own words the biggest problem with the political system in the U.S. today, Americans point to a wide range of factors.
Negative characteristics attributed to politicians and political leaders are a common complaint: 31% of U.S. adults say politicians are the biggest problem with the system, including 15% who point to greed or corruption and 7% who cite dishonesty or a lack of trustworthiness.
The biggest problem, according to one woman in her 50s, is that politicians are “hiding the truth and fulfilling their own agendas.” Similarly, a man in his 30s says, “They don’t work for the people. They are too corrupt and busy filling their pockets.”
What do you see as the biggest problem with the political system in the U.S. today?
“An almost total lack of credibility and trust. Coupled with a media that’s so biased, that they’ve lost all objectivity.” –Man, 70s
“Lying about intentions or not following through with what elected officials said they would do.” –Woman, 20s
“Blind faith in political figures.” –Woman, 50s
“Our elected officials would rather play political games than serve the needs of their constituents.” –Woman, 50s
“Same politicians in office too long.” –Woman, 30s
“Extremism on both sides exploited by the mainstream media for ratings. It is making it impossible for both parties to work together.” –Man, 30s
“It has become too polarized. No one is willing to compromise or be moderate.” –Woman, 40s
“Too much money in politics coming from large corporations and special interest.” –Man, 30s
“The people have no say in important matters, we have NO representation at all. Our lawmakers are isolated and could care less what we want.” –Man, 60s
About two-in-ten adults cite deep divisions between the parties as the biggest problem with the U.S. political system, with respondents describing a lack of cooperation between the parties or among elected leaders in Washington.
“Both of the political parties are so busy trying to stop the other party, they are wasting their opportunities to solve the problems faced by our nation,” in the view of one man in his 70s.
Even as some blame polarization, others (10% of respondents) identify the other party as the system’s biggest problem. Some Republicans say that the biggest problem is “Democrats” while some Democrats simply say “Republicans.”
Smaller but substantial shares of adults name the media and political discourse (9%), the influence of money in politics (7%), government’s perceived failures (6%), specific policy areas and issues (6%) or problems with elections and voting (4%) as the biggest problem with the political system today.
Far fewer adults name a specific strength of the political system today when asked to describe the system’s biggest strength in their own words. More than half either say that the system lacks a biggest strength (22%) or decline to answer (34%). As one woman in her 60s writes, “I’m not seeing any strengths!”
Among those who do identify strengths of the U.S. political system, the structure of political institutions and the principles that define the constitutional order are named most frequently (by 12% of respondents). Many respondents specifically point to the Constitution itself or refer to the separation of powers or the checks and balances created by the Constitution.
A man in his 20s believes that the “separation of powers and federalism work pretty well,” while one in his 30s writes that the system’s greatest strength is “the checks and balances to make sure that monumental changes aren’t made unilaterally.”
What do you see as the biggest strength of the U.S. political system today?
“Everyone getting a say; democracy.” –Woman, 40s
“The right to have your opinions heard.” –Man, 60s
“In spite of our differences, we are still a democracy, and I believe there are people within our government who still care and are interested in the betterment of our country.” –Woman, 50s
“The freedom of speech and religion” –Woman, 50s
“If we have fair, honest elections we can vote out the corruption and/or incompetent politicians.” –Man, 70s
“The Constitution.” –Man, 50s
“The checks and balances to control the power of any office. The voice of the people and the options to remove an official from office.” –Man, 60s
“New, younger voices in government.” –Woman, 40s
“If we can’t get more bipartisanship we’ll become weaker. Our biggest strength is our working together.” –Woman, 60s
“The way that every two years the people get to make their voice heard.” –Man, 30s
About one-in-ten (9%) refer to individual freedoms and related democratic values, while a similar share (8%) discuss the right to vote and the existence of free elections. A woman in her 70s echoes many similar comments when she points to “the possibility of change in upcoming elections.”
However, even some of the descriptions of positive characteristics of the system are couched in respondents’ doubts about the way the system is working today. One woman in her 50s adds a qualification to what she views as the system’s biggest strength, saying, “Theoretically every voter has a say.”
Smaller shares of the public point to the positive characteristics of some politicians (4%) or the positive characteristics of the American people (4%) as reasons for optimism.
The public remains roughly evenly split over whether there are clear solutions to the biggest issues facing the country. Half of Americans today say there are clear solutions to most of the big issues facing the country, while about as many (48%) say most big issues don’t have clear solutions.
There are relatively modest demographic and political differences in perceptions of whether the solutions to the nations’ problems are clear or not.
While both men and women are relatively divided on this question, women are 6 percentage points more likely to think the big issues facing the country don’t have clear solutions.
While 43% of Hispanic adults and about half of Black (50%) and White (48%) adults say there aren’t clear solutions for most big issues, that rises to 62% among Asian adults.
Age differences on this question are modest, but those under 30 are slightly more likely than those 30 and older to say most big issues have clear solutions.
Both Republicans and Democrats are relatively split on this question, though Republicans are slightly more likely to say there are clear solutions to most big issues.
Those with higher levels of political engagement are more likely to say there are clear solutions to most big issues facing the country.
About six-in-ten adults with high levels of political engagement (61%) say there are clear solutions to big issues today, compared with half of those with medium levels of engagement and 41% of those with lower engagement.
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An interview is similar to a survey, in which the researcher interacts directly with the respondent. ... Disadvantages of primary research . Some of the advantages of primary research are: More up to date. The researcher collects data at the time were needed. This is different from secondary data, where there is more time lag between data ...
Advantages and disadvantages of primary research. Primary research is a great choice for many research projects, but it has distinct advantages and disadvantages. Advantages of primary research. Advantages include: The ability to conduct really tailored, thorough research, down to the "nitty-gritty" of your topic. You decide what you want ...
Advantages and disadvantages of interviews. Interviews are a great research tool. They allow you to gather rich information and draw more detailed conclusions than other research methods, taking into consideration nonverbal cues, off-the-cuff reactions, and emotional responses.. However, they can also be time-consuming and deceptively challenging to conduct properly.
Interviews involve direct, one-on-one conversations where detailed information is solicited from participants. They are particularly useful for gathering qualitative data, offering deep insights into participants' attitudes, experiences, and emotions. ... Advantages and Disadvantages of Primary Research. Primary research, characterized by its ...
The most common primary market research methods are interviews, surveys, focus groups and observations. ... Advantages and disadvantages of primary research. Primary research has many advantages, although it is not the most appropriate type of research for every situation. It is important to consider the individual requirements before deciding ...
Here are some of the primary research methods organizations or businesses use to collect data: 1. Interviews (telephonic or face-to-face) Conducting interviews is a qualitative research method to collect data and has been a popular method for ages. These interviews can be conducted in person (face-to-face) or over the telephone.
Primary research: Interviews Why should I use interviews as part of my primary research? Interviews allow you to find out information about facts, attitudes and opinions. They provide you with the opportunity to get in-depth responses, helping you to better understand the behaviour and motivations of your interviewees.
Many types of primary research exist. This guide is designed to provide you with an overview of primary research that is often done in writing classes. Interviews: Interviews are one-on-one or small group question and answer sessions. Interviews will provide a lot of information from a small number of people and are useful when you want to get ...
Cheek notes how collaboration provides both advantages and disadvantages 68. For example, collaboration can be advantageous, saving time and building on the divergent knowledge, skills and ...
Here are the four main types of primary research: Surveys. Observations. Interviews. Focus groups. When conducting primary research, you can collect qualitative or quantitative data (or both). Qualitative primary data collection provides a vast array of feedback or information about products and services.
It provides flexibility to the interviewers. The interview has a better response rate than mailed questions, and the people who cannot read and write can also answer the questions. The interviewer can judge the non-verbal behavior of the respondent. The interviewer can decide the place for an interview in a private and silent place, unlike the ...
interview is often used and this can be carried out in various ways. Methods discussed in this directed reading include the face-to-face interview, group interviews such as focus groups, and remote inter-view conducted by telephone or using the computer. These methods are discussed in detail including advantages and disadvantages of
Semistructured interviews can be conducted in multiple ways (ie, face to face, telephone, text/email, individual, group, brief, in-depth), each of which have advantages and disadvantages. We will focus on the most common form of semistructured interviews within qualitative research—individual, face-to-face, in-depth interviews.
There are advantages and disadvantages of any approach. The advantages of conducting primary research are that it is current, as you have collected up-to-date data, and is accurate to your topic, as it should directly answer your research question. ... There may be some forms of research, for example some interviews, where you are expected to ...
To conduct and analyze, interviews require a finger to dial, an ear to listen, a telephone, and a keyboard or notepad. Like surveys today, interviews can launch in real time, and it is easy to share top-line reports in a day for time-sensitive projects. Weaknesses of Interviews . Of course, interviews also have inherent weaknesses.
10.7 Strengths and Weaknesses of Qualitative Interviews As the preceding sections have suggested, qualitative interviews are an excellent way to gather detailed information. Whatever topic is of interest to the researcher can be explored in much more depth by employing this method than with almost any other method.
Advantages and disadvantages of primary research. Primary research is a great choice for many research projects, but it has distinct advantages and disadvantages. Advantages of primary research. Advantages include: The ability to conduct really tailored, thorough research, down to the 'nitty-gritty' of your topic. You decide what you want ...
Qualitative interviewing is employed today as a primary method across the social and health sciences and ... there are shared advantages and disadvantages of qualitative ... A key learning from many years of interview research by the chapter authors is the importance of getting to concrete examples or experiences by asking the participant to ...
Qualitative research is an approach that focuses on people and their experiences, behaviours and opinions. 10,11 The qualitative researcher seeks to answer questions of 'how' and 'why', providing ...
The main theoretical disadvantage is the lack of reliability - unstructured Interviews lack reliability because each interview is unique - a variety of different questions are asked and phrased in a variety of different ways to different respondents. They are also difficult to repeat, because the s uccess of the interview depends on the ...
According to our data, 97% of market research is outsourced. This allows brands and businesses to gain access to relevant information for truly original research. Though a more modern form (and approach) to primary research, research services enable brands and businesses to collect data and analyse it very quickly.
Primary research may have a narrow focus and limited generalizability compared to secondary research. Advantages and Disadvantages of Secondary Research. On the other hand, secondary research offers its own set of advantages: It is typically more cost-effective than primary research, as data is readily available from existing sources.
The most common primary market research methods are interviews, surveys, focus groups and observations. ... Advantages and disadvantages of primary research. Primary research has many advantages, although it is not the most appropriate type of research for every situation. It is important to consider the individual requirements before deciding ...
List of the Advantages of Survey Research. 1. It is an inexpensive method of conducting research. Surveys are one of the most inexpensive methods of gathering quantitative data that is currently available. Some questionnaires can be self-administered, making it a possibility to avoid in-person interviews.
Secondary research is a very common research approach, but has distinct advantages and disadvantages. Advantages of secondary research. Advantages include: Secondary data is very easy to source and readily available. It is also often free or accessible through your educational institution's library or network, making it much cheaper to ...
The interview guide was piloted with one patient and one informal caregiver to optimize its understandability prior to the start of data collection. The interviews were conducted by MB and AS. MB is experienced in qualitative research and moderating focus group interviews, whereas AS had limited experience with qualitative research.
Secondary research comes in several formats, such as published datasets, reports, and survey responses, and can also be sourced from websites, libraries, and museums. The information is usually free — or available at a limited access cost — and gathered using surveys, telephone interviews, observation, face-to-face interviews, and more.
1. The biggest problems and greatest strengths of the U.S. political system. The public sees a number of specific problems with American politics. Partisan fighting, the high cost of political campaigns, and the outsize influence of special interests and lobbyists are each seen as characteristic of the U.S. political system by at least 84% of ...