Situational analysis

Situational analysis is a qualitative method that allows the analyst to examine highly complex and locally specific situations. As primary care evolves to include increasingly specialized and varied interprofessional collaborative and person-centered care teams, this method may prove valuable to understanding how such teams operate. Situational analysis, an offshoot of grounded theory, provides an accessible but robust methodology for analyzing the situations researchers are interested in and the kind of differences that exist within them, such as situations where groups intersect while working together to deliver healthcare, while holding different views. Situational analysis involves three analytic steps, specifically, mapping data in three different ways. The outcomes of a situational analysis can, i.e. highlight the groups that are included in the given situation, those that are only spoken about, and those that are neglected entirely, as well as the values, preferences, and evidence that may be emphasized differently across given healthcare or policy contexts. In this methods brief, we describes situational analysis, its strengths, and assumptions and illustrated how it has been used successfully in health and social care research settings.