Using qualitative mixed methods to study small health care organizations while maximising trustworthiness and...

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Qualitative Research Methodology

Background:

• Primary health care organizations are vital but under-researched due to time constraints and staff concerns.
• Existing research methods are often incompatible with the operational demands of small, community-based practices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and evaluate the Qualitative Rapid Appraisal, Rigorous Analysis (Q-RARA) method.
• To provide an efficient, acceptable, and rigorous approach for studying small primary health care organizations.

Main Methods:

• Q-RARA involves a single-day site visit including semi-structured interviews, observations, and data collection via photographs and floor plans.
• Integrated and iterative qualitative analysis of collected data.
• Utilizes social scanning data alongside traditional qualitative methods.

Main Results:

• Q-RARA proved acceptable to participants in primary health care settings.
• The method effectively collected data on organizational function across multiple sites.
• It balanced research speed and trustworthiness without disrupting clinical practice.

Conclusions:

• Q-RARA offers a rigorous and richly textured understanding of primary care practice processes.
• The approach enables researchers to gain a valuable organizational perspective.
• Q-RARA is recommended for small-scale organizations in primary health care and beyond.