3 Keys to Impactful Qualitative Health Research

Hello Qualitative Mind,

We have an invitation for you. Curious? Jump to the last paragraph (but then come back and read it all)!

As you may already know, our signature course QRB (Qualitative Research Blueprint) follows a pathway where we focus on the researcher, the research design and the research participants. Inside QRB we will discuss this “pathway” and how it can help you foster rigor in your qualitative research and ultimately design, conduct and write useful, publishable, impactful qualitative research.

Almost a year ago (and then AGAIN last week), I shared Dr. Megan Lefebvre’s PhD research on the blog and called it mic-drop worthy qualitative health research. That led me to thinking about what, in my opinion, made Megan’s research as successful and impactful as it was, which led to a blog post where I unpacked the three (maybe hidden or not so obvious) keys to get to impactful qualitative research. The thee keys are equally important and their order follows the usual progression of a qualitative health research project.

Key #1 – The Researcher(s)

I think most of the successful, and impactful, qualitative projects I know started with an investigator or a team of investigators who saw something, i.e., a phenomenon, happening that they could not fully understand or explain with the tools and data they already had. They were curious, intrigued and open to the possibilities of conducting qualitative health research (no matter their initial level of comfort with qualitative methods). Moreover, they sought the expertise of qualitative researchers, and did what they could to build rigor into their research.

Key #2 – The Research Design

The research methodology and methods outlined in your research design matter. Your methodology should be determined by research questions, data collection methods and data analysis techniques. If you are conducting qualitative health research for the first time, I can tell you that it’s unlikely you’ll be diving into phenomenology, for example. Yet, you might conduct a qualitative description with phenomenological “hues” (a term Sandelowski uses in her two papers about qualitative description) as you try to describe, and better understand, your participants’ lived experiences. Key #2 is one that requires reflexivity and responsiveness from health researchers, and failing to engage in those practices can be costly. When health researchers do not make changes to their qualitative research as they are listening to and learning from their data, they may negatively impact the validity, and potential for publication, of their results. In my opinion, each decision qualitative health researchers make along the implementation of their projects represents an effort to balance rigor, ethics and feasibility. Megan gave a great example in her video when she talked about data collection during pizza parties she organized with participants to showcase their stories.

Key #3 – The Research Participants

There is a solid reason why we always acknowledge our research participants; without them our research and writing would not be. They often act as persistent teachers who help us understand, over the course of a project, a bit more about their experiences, living conditions, beliefs, feelings, dreams and aspirations. As researchers, we enter their lives for short periods of time; however, those brief moments may transform and enrich us forever. Does this sound romanticized to you? Possibly yes, possibly no. Even though this might not be the experience of all qualitative health researchers, it’s undeniable that individuals who are purposefully sampled to participate in qualitative research can make a world of difference in the richness and depth of results. If you go back to Megan’s research and reflect on what she aimed to investigate, and how her participants were selected, you’ll have a practical example of the importance of sampling appropriately in qualitative health research. 

The topic of impactful qualitative research is one that I’m very passionate about and that I work to support my clients in when conducting their own research. It will also be the focus of our upcoming free webinar, “Impactful Qualitative Research: What Makes IT Possible?” We will talk about the research question, methodological congruence, reflexivity and writing. I hope to see you there! 

Talk soon,

Maira

*This blog post was originally published on October 20, 2020 and was updated on August 31, 2021.