Setting the context for research: exploring the philosophy and environment of a cancer clinical trials unit

This paper describes a process of context setting that was undertaken prior to designing a study to assess the psychosocial impact of participation in phase I and II anticancer drug trials from the patient's perspective. The paper outlines how and why this context setting was undertaken and highlights important aspects of the culture and organization of cancer clinical trials that may influence patients' experiences in trial recruitment and participation. In this way, the context setting proved to be an invaluable tool for providing an orientation to the environment where patients received their care and treatment as well as identifying issues that would need to be taken into consideration later in the research study design.