The interview summaries were extensively discussed by the field moderators and authors; during this process clarification and alternative interpretations of each interview were discussed.
Four scenarios, forming the main component of the interview, were discussed and participants were asked about their consent preferences for each scenario.
Their experiences of the interview were discussed in the groups, which led to a clarification of questions and removal or substitution of outcome measurements.
To enhance the trustworthiness of the research, initial impressions from the first interview were discussed with the interview participants at the end of the second interview as a form of member check [ 34, 35].
Issues and themes identified in the first interview were discussed in subsequent interviews to see if key events, or the passage of time, had affected how older people thought and talked about living and dying in a care home.
Content from the interviews was discussed in team meetings and phone calls with consultants and designers.
The possibility of telephone interviews was discussed as another method for recruitment especially as this would have enabled purposive sampling.
The coding of the first interviews was discussed in detail, which resulted in sharpening of the interview questions and the key words.
The last author also reviewed a large number of the transcripts, and the content of the interviews was discussed in some detail between the two authors to ensure that the subsequent data analysis was in line with the research objective.
To avoid over-subjective interpretations of the data, the content of interviews was discussed at all stages with a senior member of the research team (DR), who has particular expertise in conducting research on service user perspectives, and with members of the UPBEAT-UK research team.
