Dorene F Balmer1, Lara Varpio2, Deirdre Bennett3, Pim W Teunissen4. 1. Department of Pediatrics, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. 2. Department of Medicine, and Associate Director of Research, Center for Health Professions Education, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. 3. Medical Education Unit, School of Medicine, University College Cork, Cork, County Cork, Ireland. 4. Workplace Learning in Healthcare, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, and a gynecologist, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Abstract
CONTEXT: Longitudinal qualitative research is an approach to research that entails generating qualitative data with the same participants over extended periods of time to understand their lived experiences as those experiences unfold. Knowing about dynamic lived experiences in medical education, i.e., learning journeys with stops and starts, detours, transitions, and reversals, enriches understanding of events and accomplishments along the way. The purpose of this paper is to create access points to longitudinal qualitative research in support of increasing its use in medical education. METHODS: The authors explore and argue for different conceptualizations of time: analyzing lived experiences through time versus analyzing lived experiences cross-sectional or via 2-point follow-up studies and considering time as subjective and fluid as well as objective and fixed. They introduce applications of longitudinal qualitative research from several academic domains: investigating development and formal education; building longitudinal research relationship; and exploring interconnections between individual journeys and social structures. They provide an illustrative overview of longitudinal qualitative research in medical education, and end with practical advice, or pearls, for medical education investigators interested in using this research approach: collecting data recursively; analyzing longitudinal data in three strands; addressing mutual reflexivity; using theory to illuminate time; and making a long-term commitment to longitudinal qualitative research. CONCLUSIONS: Longitudinal qualitative research stretches investigators to think differently about time and undertake more complex analyses to understand dynamic lived experiences. Research in medical education will likely be impoverished if the focus remains on time as fixed. Seeing things qualitatively though time, where time is fluid and the past, present, and future interpenetrate, produces a rich understanding that can move the field forward. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
CONTEXT: Longitudinal qualitative research is an approach to research that entails generating qualitative data with the same participants over extended periods of time to understand their lived experiences as those experiences unfold. Knowing about dynamic lived experiences in medical education, i.e., learning journeys with stops and starts, detours, transitions, and reversals, enriches understanding of events and accomplishments along the way. The purpose of this paper is to create access points to longitudinal qualitative research in support of increasing its use in medical education. METHODS: The authors explore and argue for different conceptualizations of time: analyzing lived experiences through time versus analyzing lived experiences cross-sectional or via 2-point follow-up studies and considering time as subjective and fluid as well as objective and fixed. They introduce applications of longitudinal qualitative research from several academic domains: investigating development and formal education; building longitudinal research relationship; and exploring interconnections between individual journeys and social structures. They provide an illustrative overview of longitudinal qualitative research in medical education, and end with practical advice, or pearls, for medical education investigators interested in using this research approach: collecting data recursively; analyzing longitudinal data in three strands; addressing mutual reflexivity; using theory to illuminate time; and making a long-term commitment to longitudinal qualitative research. CONCLUSIONS: Longitudinal qualitative research stretches investigators to think differently about time and undertake more complex analyses to understand dynamic lived experiences. Research in medical education will likely be impoverished if the focus remains on time as fixed. Seeing things qualitatively though time, where time is fluid and the past, present, and future interpenetrate, produces a rich understanding that can move the field forward. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Authors: Åsa Audulv; Elisabeth O C Hall; Åsa Kneck; Thomas Westergren; Liv Fegran; Mona Kyndi Pedersen; Hanne Aagaard; Kristianna Lund Dam; Mette Spliid Ludvigsen Journal: BMC Med Res Methodol Date: 2022-10-01 Impact factor: 4.612