Classifying the Findings in Qualitative Studies

Abstract

A key task in conducting research integration studies is determining what features to account for in the research reports eligible for inclusion. In the course of a methodological project, the authors found a remarkable uniformity in the way findings were produced and presented, no matter what the stated or implied frame of reference or method. They describe a typology of findings, which they developed to bypass the discrepancy between method claims and the actual use of methods, and efforts to ascertain its utility and reliability. The authors propose that the findings in journal reports of qualitative studies in the health domain can be classified on a continuum of data transformation as no finding, topical survey, thematic survey, conceptual/thematic description, or interpretive explanation.

Withdrawal (Coitus Interruptus) as a Sexual Risk Reduction Strategy: Perspectives from African-American Adolescents

“…Using the constant comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), discussions of withdrawal were read and sorted along dimensions of similarity, or themes, defined as theoretically relevant concepts that convey an underlying pattern in the content of the participants' discussion (Sandelowski & Barroso, 2003). The results of our inquiry were organized into the following sections: (1) circumstances in which withdrawal might be used; (2) perceived prevalence of the practice; (3) withdrawal and trusting relationships; (4) withdrawal and sexual prowess; (5) withdrawal and perceived pregnancy risk; (6) social and interpersonal pressures to use withdrawal; and (7) withdrawal and perceived STI/HIV risk.…”

Community Health Workers' Experiences and Perspectives on Mass Drug Administration for Schistosomiasis Control in Western Kenya: The SCORE Project

“…11,12 The goal of IPA is to explore insiders' opinions and beliefs related to their experience of a particular phenomenon. 13 Using this strategy, themes are considered to be direct representations of the phenomenon under study.…”

Using qualitative metasummary to synthesize qualitative and quantitative descriptive findings

“…In contrast to topical surveys are thematic surveys that convey a latent pattern or repetition researchers discerned in their data with a stronger emphasis on qualifying findings, as opposed to simply cataloging or enumerating them. Thematic survey findings reveal a discernible effort on the part of analysts to move away from merely listing topics participants brought up in interviews and toward describing themes, or the patterned responses analysts discerned in the topics raised (Sandelowski & Barroso, 2003a, 2007. Three of the qualitative reports we reviewed presented findings in the form of thematic surveys.…”

“…Qualitative metasummary is a quantitatively oriented aggregation approach to research synthesis we developed to accommodate the distinctive features of the topical and thematic survey findings typically produced from qualitative descriptive studies (Sandelowski, 2000;Sandelowski & Barroso, 2003a, 2007. Largely derived from manifest content analyses of individual interview or focus group data, topical surveys emphasize inventories and the numbers of research participants stating a topic or of the topics themselves.…”