Clinician researchers make a valuable contribution to qualitative health research, and this research can add important patient and clinician perspectives, such as meaning and interpretation of the clinical encounter in mixed method clinical trials.
This article presents the rationale and design of two mixed methods clinical trials, each consisting of an RCT, with cost-effectiveness and qualitative studies conducted alongside the central trial.
More widespread use of mixed methods in trials of complex interventions is likely to enhance the overall quality of the evidence base.
The authors of this article are currently undertaking a mixed methods research trial into the effects of acupuncture on women presenting with threatened miscarriage, funded as PhD research though the university of Western Sydney.
Due to the complexity and varied nature of community responses, the evaluation attempted to determine the results that investments have produced at the community level by applying a mixed method approach: Randomized Controlled Trials, quasi-experimental studies, qualitative studies and analytical studies including financial data.
While there are various examples of the use of mixed methods in clinical trials, the Microbicides Development Programme has, as far as we are aware, developed and implemented the most comprehensive combination of mixed methods and triangulation in a clinical trial to date.
Design Cluster randomised controlled trial with prospective mixed method embedded case studies to evaluate implementation processes.
The study used a randomised trial design and mixed method analysis to examine changes in psychological wellbeing, quality of life, relationship satisfaction and communication, and sexual functioning, following written information provision about cancer related sexual changes, or written information accompanied by a single session of counseling.
We will also discuss the increasing use of mixed methods and novel trial designs.
This ethnographic study was designed and executed within the general framework of a larger, mixed methods comparative effectiveness trial, Enhancing Practice, Improving Care (EPIC).
