The Critical Incident Technique: A Useful Tool for Conducting Qualitative Research

Abstract

The critical incident technique (CIT) is a well-established qualitative research tool used in many areas of the health sciences, including nursing, medicine, and dentistry, and their respective education systems. It is a flexible set of principles that can be modified and adapted to meet the specific situation at hand. By gathering factual reports made by observers, researchers can build a picture of the situation under study. The CIT maximizes the positive and minimizes the negative attributes of anecdotes, effectively turning anecdotes into data. In this, the first of two companion articles, the origins and current state of the CIT and its potential applications in dentistry and dental education are described.

Codesigning health and other public services with vulnerable and disadvantaged populations: Insights from an international collaboration

“…Concerns were also expressed that more attention needs to be given to how to support implementation and evaluation of the changes resulting from codesign processes through using approaches such as the critical incident technique, so that vulnerable populations who participated in codesign with the hope of making tangible improvements to services are not disappointed. Continuing to involve the people who codesigned the improvements is another challenge during implementation (see Box 2).…”

Using critical incident interviews to identify the mental health knowledge, skills and attitudes of entry‐level dietitians

“…The ‘Critical Incident Interview’ 10 provided a framework to explore new graduates' experiences related to mental health. This approach has been used throughout the health sciences to distinguish the features of competent practice 10,13,17 . In nursing, Benner 10 has used this technique to distinguish the attributes of expert versus novice practitioners.…”

“…This is the first study to report on new graduate dietitians working with clients and colleagues with mental health and wellbeing issues. Other health professions (such as nursing, occupational therapy, dentistry and medical radiation sciences) have used critical incident interviews to validate or explore entry‐level competency 10–13 . However, in many cases; the results of these studies have not been disseminated.…”

La Técnica De Incidentes Críticos: Una Herramienta Clásica Y Vigente en Enfermería

“…Para ello desarrolló una metodología que le permitía describir con precisión los eventos o situaciones de éxito y fracaso en el trabajo de los pilotos (5,6). Por ello, se puede considerar a Flanagan como el primero en realizar un esfuerzo sistemático por recolectar y analizar información a partir de incidentes específicos (7). A pesar que se empezó a utilizar esta técnica desde la década del 40, no fue sino hasta 1954 cuando Flanagan formalizó el proceso de recolección de datos y publicó un artículo en que la detalló 2 .…”

“…De acuerdo a lo anterior, se podría plantear que para los profesionales de enfermería esta técnica les permitiría especialmente buscar evidencias más allá del uso de sus impresiones clínicas o basar sus decisiones en hechos anecdóticos. El aporte de la técnica es que las(os) enfermeras(os) puedan realizar un análisis sistemático de los hechos anecdóticos, volviéndose estos últimos en información factible de análisis y relevante en la toma de decisiones (7).…”