We will go on to introduce how certain methods can be used to explore the patient perspective. This could, for example, be in order to enhance the quality of your services from a patient point of view. For this, you can use a variety of methods. In Module 3, we heard how questionnaires are often used to evaluate what patients think about or have experienced. But if you want to be proactive and involve the patient perspective before you take action, questionnaires are not very useful as they restrain the respondents to the questions you ask. This means the patients only have the chance to answer questions that you think are important or that you anticipate are important for the patients. In order to find out what really is important for patients, you should use what in research is called a qualitative method. Qualitative methods go deeper into the perspective of the person, than questionnaires and scales can. Qualitative methods give room for a respondent to add his or her own perspectives on, for example, medicines, and encourages them to elaborate on what they say. They are used to unfold the perspective including experience, behavior and meaning of the person or groups in focus. With qualitative methods, you can attempt to reveal the patient perspective without framing it in a professional rationality. We have seen in Module 3 that it is difficult to make questionnaires without expert perspective taking over. For example, non-adherence studies often pay little attention to the patient's ideas, values, or attitudes, and take on the expert view of what is rational medicine use. With qualitative methods on the other hand, you can uncover the patient's view of rational medicine youth, what it means for him or her and how the expert view and the patient view can be better aligned. The best known qualitative method is probably one-to-one in depth interviews. But there are also other options like group interviews, also known as focus groups. You can also use observations where you, for example, can observe how the daily life or aspects of daily life looks like for a medicine user and hence get their perspective. Another way to find out what is important for patients is through Document Analysis. That is to analyze different kinds of texts or media, for example, chat forums on the Internet or offline patient magazines. You will read more in the mandatory reading called 'Qualitative Research Methods: a data collectors field guide. But, before you read that, let us have a look at some of the differences between qualitative and quantitative methods, and what these differences imply. The general purpose and the analytical objectives differ in the way that qualitative studies want to examine the what, why, how, whereas quantitative methods will examine how many. Qualitative studies have more flexibility in their design, as you can change the questions, as you learn more in the process. It is also seen in the type of questions. In questionnaires, which typically is a quantitative method to participants, is usually limited to fixed answers to closed ended questions, whereas an in-depth interview, we'll let the participant form their own answers to open-ended questions. Here you also have the chance to ask follow-up questions for deeper understanding or clarification. As a consequence, the type of data that a study produces differs. Typically, quantitative studies produce numerical data, and qualitative studies produce textural data. We're looking at pros and cons for qualitative methods. The pros include that they provide useful content for practical application. For example, if you want to develop your services in a way that is relevant for patients, you will get concrete input on what is important to them. Qualitative methods usually require smaller sample size. If you choose your sample in a strategic way, you don't have to reach out to as many patients as with the qualitative method. When conducting a study using qualitative methods, you are in an open-ended process. It is possible to adapt the study wherever the first results lead you. This could be, for example, follow-up questions, prompts, clarifications, and extra interviews or observations. But qualitative methods also have downsides. These include: a limitation as to how many patients are involved, which can result in that there will be views which are not represented. You can however, counteract this by choosing your sample in a strategic way. Also, it takes time to collect the data and to analyze it. You will read more about the pros and cons of qualitative methods in the mandatory reading material. Within qualitative methods there are, as mentioned earlier, in-depth interviews, focus groups, interviews, observations, and document analysis. This methods can be used to obtain different kind of data. In-depth interviews are used to explore the individual's experience, attitudes, and opinions. They're also useful for sensitive topics. The focus group interviews are good for collecting data of the cultural norms of the group and give a broad overview of a concept or a problem. The participants can bounce ideas off each other. This will help them reflect further. Observations are used for collecting data on naturally occurring events and people in their natural environment, without interfering. In this way, you get to know what people actually do and not what they say they do. Document analysis, also, gives you insights without the influence of the researcher. However, only the views of those engaged in producing documents will be heard. That's it for now about methods you can use to explore the patient perspective. In the next lecture, we will look at how to apply these methods in an ethical way. Thank you for your attention!
