Data was collected through negotiated interactive observation, and interviews were conducted with 10 participants, 5 physicians and 5 patients.
Data were collected through negotiated interactive observation, in-depth interviews with healthcare professionals, from patients' medical records, and by making notes in a logbook.
Therefore 'negotiated interactive observation' was chosen, meaning that the researchers' observations went hand in hand with an implicit or explicit negotiation of them with the research participants [ 25, 26].
Consequently, negotiated interactive observation gave the researcher the opportunity to have 432 informal conversations with healthcare professionals and family members, attend 144 staff meetings and witness 288 interactions between healthcare professionals and relatives during visiting hours.
Therefore an ethnographic research design was used, consisting of negotiated interactive observation [ 25, 26], in-depth interviews [ 27], the reading of patients' medical records, and making notes in a logbook [ 27, 28].
During data collection, GK conducted what Wind [ 14] terms "negotiated interactive observation", where she sought to retain her role as researcher rather than seeking to take on the role of physician, patient or visitor.
Data were collected through triangulation of several data collection strategies, namely negotiated interactive observation on the ward [ 25, 26], in-depth interviews [ 27], the reading of patients' medical records, and the writing up of the researcher's reflections on her behaviour and feelings in the field in an ethnographic logbook [ 27].
These numbers are used in CIAO (Chandra Interactive Analysis of Observations) and ObsVis (The Chandra Observation Visualizer).
We also conducted participant observation – or rather 'negotiated interactive observations', to use Wind's terminology– at the health facilities by following the children and their mothers through the facility from registration to admission or discharge [ 16].
Many of these topics are automatically addressed by the target visibility interface webtool (ProVis) or the observation visualizer software (ObsVis) available as part of the Chandra Interactive Analysis of Observations (CIAO) software.
