Institute of Health Service Research, Peninsula Medical School, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.
Patient Educ Couns. 2011 Mar;82(3):384-8. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2010.12.021. Epub 2011 Jan 15.
To contribute to the debate about the value of qualitative research in health care by discussing three key issues in relation to qualitative research on health communication.
As this paper does not report the results of a primary research study or a secondary analysis, no formal search strategy was employed to identify the cited papers; many other published papers would have made the same points just as well.
The key issues are illustrated using a range of published studies drawn from the health care communication literature. The paper describes the range of outputs generated by qualitative research; illustrates different ways in which qualitative and quantitative methods can be combined; and shows the contribution of qualitative syntheses.
Greater conceptual development and explanatory power may be achieved both by more ambitious primary studies and the conduct of more qualitative syntheses. The synthesis of qualitative research also offers the opportunity to build up a cumulative evidence base.
The further development of methods of qualitative synthesis will be enhanced if qualitative researchers place greater emphasis on explanation rather than description; cite each other's work more often and conduct more syntheses; and continue to contribute to mixed methods studies.
通过讨论与健康传播定性研究相关的三个关键问题，为医疗保健中定性研究的价值的争论做出贡献。
由于本文未报告初步研究或二次分析的结果，因此未采用正式的搜索策略来确定引用的文献；许多其他已发表的论文也可以提出同样的观点。
本文使用来自医疗保健传播文献中的一系列已发表的研究来说明关键问题。本文描述了定性研究产生的各种结果；说明了定性和定量方法可以结合的不同方式；并展示了定性综合的贡献。
通过更具野心的初步研究和更多的定性综合，可以实现更大的概念发展和解释能力。定性研究的综合也为建立累积证据基础提供了机会。
如果定性研究人员更加注重解释而不是描述，更频繁地相互引用，进行更多的综合，并继续为混合方法研究做出贡献，那么定性综合方法的进一步发展将会得到加强。
