Mixed methods research in general practice: Key points of design and implementation and case analysis

Abstract

General practice research focuses on a range of topics, such as patients' physical health and mental health, physicians' competencies and career motivation, quality of healthcare and physician-patient relationships and cooperation. However, these are not resolved well only using quantitative research which is still dominated in the field of general practice of China. In this case, qualitative method is often required, although it is considered to be subjective, and is mainly used to describe a phenomenon that is little known in a small sample. Mixed methods research, which incorporates qualitative and quantitative research and combines the advantages of both, can analyze specific problems more extensively and intensively, is suitable for studying complex problems, and for general practice research as an approach integrating clinical medicine and sociology. However, mixed methods research in general practice is still in its early phase in China, and the standardization of its design and implementation needs to be improved. For better elaborating the key points in the design and implementation of mixed methods research, we detailed a study using mixed methods, providing a reference for general practitioners to carry out mixed methods research.

Keywords

General practice / Mixed methods research / Research design / Research implementation / Case analysis

Declarations

Not applicable.

Authors' contributions

Conceptualization, not applicable; Methodology, not applicable; Data curation, not applicable; Formal analysis, not applicable; Funding acquisition, not applicable; Project administration, not applicable; Resources, not applicable; Supervision, C.Y. and Z.S.; Validation, C.Y. and Z.S.; Writing—original draft, C.H., L.Y., W.Y., T.M.; Writing—review and editing, Y.Z., Z.L., L.N., W.Y., Z.Y. and C.C. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Ethical approval and consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Availability of data and materials

Not applicable.

Competing interests

W.Y. T.M. and C.C. is the editorial member of Chinese General Practice Journal, he is not involved in the editorial review or the decision to publish this article. All authors declare that there are no competing interests.

Funding

Not applicable.

Acknowledgements

Not applicable.

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