Qualitative research in psychogeriatrics.

Over the past twenty years, qualitative research has gained recognition as a useful approach to scientific inquiry on issues related to health and health care, including those of particular interest to psychogeriatrics. This is evidenced not only by the inclusion of health-related qualitative reports in exclusively qualitative publications but also by their acceptance in venues that have traditionally favored quantitative methods of investigation (Sandelowski, 2004). The increased number of these reports has also led in recent years to systematic reviews of qualitative studies and qualitative metasyntheses, metaethnography or meta-analyses (Nygard, 2004; Smith et al., 2005; Steeman et al., 2006). Qualitative research is an inquiry process based on a number of methodological traditions that explore a social or human problem by building a complex, holistic picture based on data derived in a natural setting (Creswell, 1998). These traditions, which come from diverse disciplinary perspectives (e.g. anthropology, history and sociology), include phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, case studies, biography and others (Creswell, 1998; Patton, 2002). The focus of each tradition influences how problems are conceptualized, how studies are designed and what techniques are used for data collection, data analysis and presentation of findings. Common to all forms of qualitative research is the emphasis on the subjective view of reality. This approach focuses on meanings and understanding of experience, and it acknowledges that the observer is a participant whose views and values affect outcomes (Gibson et al., 2004). The methods used in qualitative research are typically open-ended (e.g. in-depth interviewing, focus group discussions), and the data usually consist of narrative text (e.g. transcripts, documents) or observations documented in field notes. The analytic approach is inductive; that is, it allows important dimensions to emerge from patterns in the data without making prior assumptions about relationships or causes (Patton, 2002). Qualitative inquiry can be applied to a wide range of health-related areas of interest, such as health services research (Pope and Mays, 1995), clinical research or health policy (Steiner, 2005) and clinical trials (Gibson et al., 2004). It is also applicable to intervention research (Needleman and Needleman, 1996),