Are we ready to accept the challenge? Addressing the shortcomings of contemporary qualitative health research

“Being in Control of My Asthma Myself” Patient Experience of Asthma Management: A Qualitative Interpretive Description

“…We used an inductive approach without the influence of a priori theories though we were open to theory to inform the analysis and discussion. We favoured the use of theory as an analytical tool rather than as a theoretical framework made explicit from the beginning to allow for the generation and interpretation of new themes that fit into broader contexts [31,32]. This study was driven by the need to better understand the experiences and perspectives of patients on managing their asthma and the role of community pharmacists in order to generate knowledge that could improve care practices for asthma patients.…”

“…We also used theory to create themes which contributed to making sense of the data and contextualizing study findings within the body of knowledge. Without the use of theory and thematic analysis, the results of the research will have little meaning and application in real world practice [31,35,36]. We involved one patient participant in the data analysis to draw on her patient experiences in the interpretation of a subset of interview transcripts.…”

The future of pharmacy practice research – Perspectives of academics and practitioners from Australia, NZ, United Kingdom, Canada and USA

“…It would therefore be the responsibility of the research team to choose the most appropriate method to conduct their study effectively. (41)Many agreed that advancement of technology, particularly the use and access to large electronic datasets, could be a new method to utilise when conducting research, which has been reported elsewhere (42). With the introduction of the electronic prescription service in the UK for example, there could be the opportunity to utilise this data and evaluate its effectiveness for users (43).…”

Moving the needle—what does RSAP look for and what does it aim to do?

“…RSAP published a paper asking if "we" (pharmacy practice researchers) are up to the challenge of conducting qualitative research with rigorous methods. 3 This paper alerted us that, to a large extent, we are still not sufficiently incorporating theoretical frameworks in qualitative research addressing pharmaceutical health services. Another concern expressed by Lau and Traulsen which we share is the use of qualitative approaches to investigate phenomena about which we already have considerable insight and thus do not need additional rich data.…”