Workshops as a qualitative research method in health research

Area of Science:

• Health Research Methodology
• Qualitative Research
• Stakeholder Engagement

Background:

• Workshops are increasingly used in health research, especially for complex intervention development.
• The methodological status of workshops (research method vs. stakeholder involvement) remains unclear.
• Uncertainty exists regarding ethics approval, data handling, and publication of workshop findings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To clarify the methodological status of workshops in health research.
• To provide guidance on framing workshops as either a research method or a stakeholder involvement activity.
• To inform decisions on ethics, data collection, analysis, and dissemination.

Main Methods:

• Reflection on existing methodological literature.
• Analysis of literature from various research fields concerning workshop utilization.
• Synthesis of findings to offer practical guidance.

Main Results:

• Workshops can be framed as a qualitative research method if aiming to generate publishable, external knowledge.
• When used as a research method, workshops require ethics approval, informed consent, and formal data analysis (e.g., thematic analysis).
• Alternatively, workshops can be considered stakeholder involvement for internal project knowledge, requiring less formal analysis and reporting.

Conclusions:

• The framing of workshops as a research method or stakeholder involvement depends on the knowledge generation goals.
• Clear documentation of the decision-making process for framing workshops is recommended.
• Guidance is provided on ethical considerations, data management, and publication for both framings.