Journal of Health Services Research & Policy > Volume 13, Number 2 > Pp. 92-98

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Original research

The quality of mixed methods studies in health services research

Alicia O'Cathain , Elizabeth Murphy ¹, Jon Nicholl

Medical Care Research Unit, School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield, Sheffield; ¹ School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

Correspondence to: a.ocathain{at}sheffield.ac.uk

Objectives: To assess the quality of mixed methods studies in health services research (HSR).

Methods: We identified 118 mixed methods studies funded by the Department of Health in England between 1994 and 2004, and obtained proposals and/or final reports for 75. We applied a set of quality questions to both the proposal and report of each study, addressing the success of the study, the mixed methods design, the individual qualitative and quantitative components, the integration between methods and the inferences drawn from completed studies.

Results: Most studies were completed successfully. Researchers mainly ignored the mixed methods design and described only the separate components of a study. There was a lack of justification for, and transparency of, the mixed methods design in both proposals and reports, and this had implications for making judgements about the quality of individual components in the context of the design used. There was also a lack of transparency of the individual methods in terms of clear exposition of data collection and analysis, and this was more a problem for the qualitative than the quantitative component: 42% (19/45) versus 18% (8/45) of proposals (p = 0.011). Judgements about integration could rarely be made due to the absence of an attempt at integration of data and findings from different components within a study.

Conclusions: The HSR community could improve mixed methods studies by giving more consideration to describing and justifying the design, being transparent about the qualitative component, and attempting to integrate data and findings from the individual components.

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