Why and how to use mixed methods in primary health care research

摘要

Mixed methods (MM) are increasingly popular in primary care research ( ). It consists of using both qualitative (QUAL) and quantitative (QUAN) methods and integrating them to study complex phenomena. In MM, integration of QUAL and QUAN is done at some levels and stages of the research process (research questions, methodological approaches, designs, procedures, results and interpretation) ( , ). However, planning, and conducting MM studies, as well as training graduate students in family medicine is challenging for clinicians and academics. Several MM designs and integration strategies have been proposed. However, there is a need for practical guidance on MM in primary health care (MM-PHC) research in two areas: (i) why and how to design MM-PHC research? (ii) How to integrate QUAL and QUAN methods? Addressing this need will contribute to upskill primary care clinicians and researchers to conduct MM research.