qualitative research interview introduction example

Introduction to Research Methods

6 qualitative research and interviews.

So we’ve described doing a survey and collecting quantitative data. But not all questions can best be answered by a survey. A survey is great for understanding what people think (for example), but not why they think what they do. If your research is intending to understand the underlying motivations or reasons behind peoples actions, or to build a deeper understanding on the background of a subject, an interview may be the more appropriate data collection method.

Interviews are a method of data collection that consist of two or more people exchanging information through a structured process of questions and answers. Questions are designed by the researcher to thoughtfully collect in-depth information on a topic or set of topics as related to the central research question. Interviews typically occur in-person, although good interviews can also be conducted remotely via the phone or video conferencing. Unlike surveys, interviews give the opportunity to ask follow-up questions and thoughtfully engage with participants on the spot (rather than the anonymous and impartial format of survey research).

And surveys can be used in qualitative or quantitative research – though they’re more typically a qualitative technique. In-depth interviews , containing open-ended questions and structured by an interview guide . One can also do a standardized interview with closed-ended questions (i.e. answer options) that are structured by an interview schedule as part of quantitative research. While these are called interviews they’re far closer to surveys, so we wont cover them again in this chapter. The terms used for in-depth interviews we’ll cover in the next section.

6.1 Interviews

In-depth interviews allow participants to describe experiences in their own words (a primary strength of the interview format). Strong in-depth interviews will include many open-ended questions that allow participants to respond in their own words, share new ideas, and lead the conversation in different directions. The purpose of open-ended questions and in-depth interviews is to hear as much as possible in the person’s own voice, to collect new information and ideas, and to achieve a level of depth not possible in surveys or most other forms of data collection.

Typically, an interview guide is used to create a soft structure for the conversation and is an important preparation tool for the researcher. You can not go into an interview unprepared and just “wing it”; what the interview guide allows you to do is map out a framework, order of topics, and may include specific questions to use during the interview. Generally, the interview guide is thought of as just that — a guide to use in order to keep the interview focused. It is not set in stone and a skilled researcher can change the order of questions or topics in an interviews based on the organic conversation flow.

Depending on the experience and skill level of the researcher, an interview guide can be as simple as a list of topics to cover. However, for consistency and quality of research, the interviewer may want to take the time to at least practice writing out questions in advance to ensure that phrasing and word choices are as clear, objective, and focused as possible. It’s worth remembering that working out the wording of questions in advance allows researchers to ensure more consistency across interview. The interview guide below, taken from the wonderful and free textbook Principles of Sociological Inquiry , shows an interview guide that just has topics.

qualitative research interview introduction example

Alternatively, you can use a more detailed guide that lists out possible questions, as shown below. A more detailed guide is probably better for an interviewer that has less experience, or is just beginning to work on a given topic.

The purpose of an interview guide is to help ask effective questions and to support the process of acquiring the best possible data for your research. Topics and questions should be organized thematically, and in a natural progression that will allow the conversation to flow and deepen throughout the course of the interview. Often, researchers will attempt to memorize or partially memorize the interview guide, in order to be more fully present with the participant during the conversation.

6.2 Asking good Questions

Remember, the purposes of interviews is to go more in-depth with an individual than is possible with a generalized survey. For this reason, it is important to use the guide as a starting point but not to be overly tethered to it during the actual interview process. You may get stuck when respondents give you shorter answers than you expect, or don’t provide the type of depth that you need for your research. Often, you may want to probe for more specifics. Think about using follow up questions like “How does/did that affect you?” or “How does X make you feel?” and “Tell me about a time where X…”

For example, if I was researching the relationship between pets and mental health, some strong open-ended questions might be: * How does your pet typically make you feel when you wake up in the morning? * How does your pet generally affect your mood when you arrive home in the evening? * Tell me about a time when your pet had a significant impact on your emotional state.

Questions framed in this manner leave plenty of room for the respondent to answer in their own words, as opposed to leading and/or truncated questions, such as: * Does being with your pet make you happy? * After a bad day, how much does seeing your pet improve your mood? * Tell me about how important your pet is to your mental health.

These questions assume outcomes and will not result in high quality research. Researchers should always avoid asking leading questions that give away an expected answer or suggest particular responses. For instance, if I ask “we need to spend more on public schools, don’t you think?” the respondent is more likely to agree regardless of their own thoughts. Some wont, but humans generally have a strong natural desire to be agreeable. That’s why leaving your questions neutral and open so that respondents can speak to their experiences and views is critical.

6.3 Analyzing Interview Data

Writing good questions and interviewing respondents are just the first steps of the interview process. After these stages, the researcher still has a lot of work to do to collect usable data from the interview. The researcher must spend time coding and analyzing the interview to retrieve this data. Just doing an interview wont produce data. Think about how many conversations you have everyday, and none of those are leaving you swimming in data.

Hopefully you can record your interviews. Recording your interviews will allow you the opportunity to transcribe them word for word later. If you can’t record the interview you’ll need to take detailed notes so that you can reconstruct what you heard later. Do not trust yourself to “just remember” the conversation. You’re collecting data, precious data that you’re spending time and energy to collect. Treat it as important and valuable. Remember our description of the methodology section from Chapter 2, you need to maintain a chain of custody on your data. If you just remembered the interview, you could be accused of making up the results. Your interview notes and the recording become part of that chain of custody to prove to others that your interviews were real and that your results are accurate.

Assuming you recorded your interview, the first step in the analysis process is transcribing the interview. A transcription is a written record of every word in an interview. Transcriptions can either be completed by the researcher or by a hired worker, though it is good practice for the researcher to transcribe the interview him or herself. Researchers should keep the following points in mind regarding transcriptions: * The interview should take place in a quiet location with minimal background noise to produce a clear recording; * Transcribing interviews is a time-consuming process and may take two to three times longer than the actual interview; * Transcriptions provide a more precise record of the interview than hand written notes and allow the interviewer to focus during the interview.

After transcribing the interview, the next step is to analyze the responses. Coding is the main form of analysis used for interviews and involves studying a transcription to identify important themes. These themes are categorized into codes, which are words or phrases that denote an idea.

You’ll typically being with several codes in mind that are generated by key ideas you week seeking in the questions, but you can also being by using open coding to understand the results. An open coding process involves reading through the transcript multiple times and paying close attention to each line of the text to discover noteworthy concepts. During the open coding process, the researcher keeps an open mind to find any codes that may be relevant to the research topic.

After the open coding process is complete, focused coding can begin. Focused coding takes a closer look at the notes compiled during the open coding stage to merge common codes and define what the codes mean in the context of the research project.

Imagine a researcher is conducting interviews to learn about various people’s experiences of childhood in New Orleans. The following example shows several codes that this researcher extrapolated from an interview with one of their subjects.

6.4 Using interview data

The next chapter will address ways to identify people to interview, but most of the remainder of the book will address how to analyze quantitative data. That shouldn’t be taken as a sign that quantitative data is better, or that it’s easier to use interview data. Because in an interview the researcher must interpret the words of others it is often more challenging to identify your findings and clearly answer your research question. However, quantitative data is more common, and there are more different things you can do with it, so we spend a lot of the textbook focusing on it.

I’ll work through one more example of using interview data though. It takes a lot of practice to be a good and skilled interviewer. What I show below is a brief excerpt of an interview I did, and how that data was used in a resulting paper I wrote. These aren’t the only way you can use interview data, but it’s an example of what the intermediary and final product might look like.

The overall project these are drawn from was concerned with minor league baseball stadiums, but the specific part I’m pulling from here was studying the decline and rejuvenation of downtown around those stadiums in several cities. You’ll see that I’m using the words of the respondent fairly directly, because that’s my data. But I’m not just relying on one respondent and trusting them, I did a few dozen interviews in order to understand the commonalities in people’s perspectives to build a narrative around my research question.

Excerpt from Notes

Excerpt from Resulting Paper

How many interviews are necessary? It actually doesn’t take many. What you want to observe in your interviews is theoretical saturation , where the codes you use in the transcript begin to appear across conversations and groups. If different people disagree that’s fine, but what you want to understand is the commonalities across peoples perspectives. Most research on the subject says that with 8 interviews you’ll typically start to see a decline in new information gathered. That doesn’t mean you won’t get new words , but you’ll stop hearing completely unique perspectives or gain novel insights. At that point, where you’ve ‘heard it all before’ you can stop, because you’ve probably identified the answer to the questions you were trying to research.

6.5 Ensuring Anonymity

One significant ethical concern with interviews, that also applies to surveys, is making sure that respondents maintain anonymity. In either form of data collection you may be asking respondents deeply personal questions, that if exposed may cause legal, personal, or professional harm. Notice that in the excerpt of the paper above the respondents are only identified by an id I assigned (Louisville D) and their career, rather than their name. I can only include the excerpt of the interview notes above because there are no details that might lead to them being identified.

You may want to report details about a person to contextualize the data you gathered, but you should always ensure that no one can be identified from your research. For instance, if you were doing research on racism at large companies, you may want to preface people’s comments by their race, as there is a good chance that white and minority employees would feel differently about the issues. However, if you preface someones comments by saying they’re a minority manager, that may violate their anonymity. Even if you don’t state what company you did interviews with, that may be enough detail for their co-workers to identify them if there are few minority managers at the company. As such, always think long and hard about whether there is any way that the participation of respondents may be exposed.

6.6 Why not both?

We’ve discussed surveys and interviews as different methods the last two chapters, but they can also complement each other.

For instance, let’s say you’re curious to study people who change opinions on abortion, either going from support to opposition or vice versa. You could use a survey to understand the prevalence of changing opinions, i.e. what percentage of people in your city have changed their views. That would help to establish whether this is a prominent issue, or whether it’s a rare phenomenon. But it would be difficult to understand from the survey what makes people change their views. You could add an open ended question for anyone that said they changed their opinion, but many people won’t respond and few will provide the level of detail necessary to understand their motivations. Interviews with people that have changed their opinions would give you an opportunity to explore how their experiences and beliefs have changed in combination with their views towards abortion.

6.7 Summary

In the last two chapters we’ve discussed the two most prominent methods of data collection in the social sciences: surveys and interviews. What we haven’t discussed though is how to identify the people you’ll collect data from; that’s called a sampling strategy. In the next chapter

The Classroom | Empowering Students in Their College Journey

How to Write an Introduction for a Qualitative Research Study

How to Write a Lab Report Conclusion

There are two different accepted methods of conducting research in social sciences. These are quantitative and qualitative research studies. Both methods can be used to test hypotheses by carrying out investigations with groups of participants, but they achieve that in different ways. Quantitative research relies solely on numbers. For instance, the researcher may give out surveys to a large number of participants and then analyze the data from their answers by looking for patterns and correlations among different variables. In these studies, numerical data are analyzed using various statistical methods, and the researcher may not have to ever talk to any participants face-to-face.

When conducting qualitative research, the researcher often relies on a smaller group of participants, often conducts individual interviews with them and is interested in hearing their perspectives. The goal of a qualitative study isn't to find wide generalizations but to identify and analyze specific examples of a certain phenomenon and consider its possible implications. Qualitative methods often include in-depth interviews, group discussions and general participant observations by the researcher.

Why an Introduction is Important

An introduction is a crucial part of your study because it gives your readers a road map of what they can expect in reading your paper. It doesn't need to be long or elaborate, but it has to include the following elements.

State the Problem

Introduce the reader to the issue that your study addresses. Provide a concise overview of the problem and mention briefly how previous studies (if any) attempted to solve it. Don't go into details here. You'll have a chance to write a more in-depth literature review later.

Describe the Methods

Give the reader a brief overview (a couple of sentences will suffice) of the methodology you employed in your study. This is where you make it clear that your study relies on qualitative research methods. Again, don't go into as much detail as you will later in the methodology section.

State the Conclusion

That’s right. State the conclusion right in the introduction. It can be tempting to keep this part a secret until the reader gets to the end (why give everything away, you may be thinking?), but remember, you’re not writing a work of fiction. Your reader doesn't want to be surprised. They want an overview of what to expect in the conclusion and how you got there.

Address the Bigger Picture

Explain why this study is important in the bigger scheme of things. Think beyond the particular problem that your study addresses. What bigger questions will it help solve?

How to Write a Study Report

How to Write the Objectives for Study Proposals

How to Write a Microbiology Research Proposal

How to Write a Close Reading Essay

How to Write a Research Plan for a Science Project

How to Write a Technical Essay

How to Write an Investigation Essay

How to Create a Literature Review Outline

University of Southern California Libraries: Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper: 4. The Introduction
Though quantitative methods are often employed as an effort of supporting the results and interpretations in a qualitative research study, they are not and should not be the focus of the report. Consequently, in your explanation and justification sections of your introduction, indicate the ways in which quantitative research played a complementary role to your qualitative analysis.

Tanya Mozias Slavin is a former academic and language teacher. She writes about education and linguistic technology, and has published articles in the Washington Post, Fast Company, CBC and other places. Find her at www.tanyamoziasslavin.com

Chapter 1. Introduction

“Science is in danger, and for that reason it is becoming dangerous” -Pierre Bourdieu, Science of Science and Reflexivity

Why an Open Access Textbook on Qualitative Research Methods?

I have been teaching qualitative research methods to both undergraduates and graduate students for many years. Although there are some excellent textbooks out there, they are often costly, and none of them, to my mind, properly introduces qualitative research methods to the beginning student (whether undergraduate or graduate student). In contrast, this open-access textbook is designed as a (free) true introduction to the subject, with helpful, practical pointers on how to conduct research and how to access more advanced instruction.

Textbooks are typically arranged in one of two ways: (1) by technique (each chapter covers one method used in qualitative research); or (2) by process (chapters advance from research design through publication). But both of these approaches are necessary for the beginner student. This textbook will have sections dedicated to the process as well as the techniques of qualitative research. This is a true “comprehensive” book for the beginning student. In addition to covering techniques of data collection and data analysis, it provides a road map of how to get started and how to keep going and where to go for advanced instruction. It covers aspects of research design and research communication as well as methods employed. Along the way, it includes examples from many different disciplines in the social sciences.

The primary goal has been to create a useful, accessible, engaging textbook for use across many disciplines. And, let’s face it. Textbooks can be boring. I hope readers find this to be a little different. I have tried to write in a practical and forthright manner, with many lively examples and references to good and intellectually creative qualitative research. Woven throughout the text are short textual asides (in colored textboxes) by professional (academic) qualitative researchers in various disciplines. These short accounts by practitioners should help inspire students. So, let’s begin!

What is Research?

When we use the word research , what exactly do we mean by that? This is one of those words that everyone thinks they understand, but it is worth beginning this textbook with a short explanation. We use the term to refer to “empirical research,” which is actually a historically specific approach to understanding the world around us. Think about how you know things about the world. [1] You might know your mother loves you because she’s told you she does. Or because that is what “mothers” do by tradition. Or you might know because you’ve looked for evidence that she does, like taking care of you when you are sick or reading to you in bed or working two jobs so you can have the things you need to do OK in life. Maybe it seems churlish to look for evidence; you just take it “on faith” that you are loved.

Only one of the above comes close to what we mean by research. Empirical research is research (investigation) based on evidence. Conclusions can then be drawn from observable data. This observable data can also be “tested” or checked. If the data cannot be tested, that is a good indication that we are not doing research. Note that we can never “prove” conclusively, through observable data, that our mothers love us. We might have some “disconfirming evidence” (that time she didn’t show up to your graduation, for example) that could push you to question an original hypothesis , but no amount of “confirming evidence” will ever allow us to say with 100% certainty, “my mother loves me.” Faith and tradition and authority work differently. Our knowledge can be 100% certain using each of those alternative methods of knowledge, but our certainty in those cases will not be based on facts or evidence.

For many periods of history, those in power have been nervous about “science” because it uses evidence and facts as the primary source of understanding the world, and facts can be at odds with what power or authority or tradition want you to believe. That is why I say that scientific empirical research is a historically specific approach to understand the world. You are in college or university now partly to learn how to engage in this historically specific approach.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Europe, there was a newfound respect for empirical research, some of which was seriously challenging to the established church. Using observations and testing them, scientists found that the earth was not at the center of the universe, for example, but rather that it was but one planet of many which circled the sun. [2] For the next two centuries, the science of astronomy, physics, biology, and chemistry emerged and became disciplines taught in universities. All used the scientific method of observation and testing to advance knowledge. Knowledge about people , however, and social institutions, however, was still left to faith, tradition, and authority. Historians and philosophers and poets wrote about the human condition, but none of them used research to do so. [3]

It was not until the nineteenth century that “social science” really emerged, using the scientific method (empirical observation) to understand people and social institutions. New fields of sociology, economics, political science, and anthropology emerged. The first sociologists, people like Auguste Comte and Karl Marx, sought specifically to apply the scientific method of research to understand society, Engels famously claiming that Marx had done for the social world what Darwin did for the natural world, tracings its laws of development. Today we tend to take for granted the naturalness of science here, but it is actually a pretty recent and radical development.

To return to the question, “does your mother love you?” Well, this is actually not really how a researcher would frame the question, as it is too specific to your case. It doesn’t tell us much about the world at large, even if it does tell us something about you and your relationship with your mother. A social science researcher might ask, “do mothers love their children?” Or maybe they would be more interested in how this loving relationship might change over time (e.g., “do mothers love their children more now than they did in the 18th century when so many children died before reaching adulthood?”) or perhaps they might be interested in measuring quality of love across cultures or time periods, or even establishing “what love looks like” using the mother/child relationship as a site of exploration. All of these make good research questions because we can use observable data to answer them.

What is Qualitative Research?

“All we know is how to learn. How to study, how to listen, how to talk, how to tell. If we don’t tell the world, we don’t know the world. We’re lost in it, we die.” -Ursula LeGuin, The Telling

At its simplest, qualitative research is research about the social world that does not use numbers in its analyses. All those who fear statistics can breathe a sigh of relief – there are no mathematical formulae or regression models in this book! But this definition is less about what qualitative research can be and more about what it is not. To be honest, any simple statement will fail to capture the power and depth of qualitative research. One way of contrasting qualitative research to quantitative research is to note that the focus of qualitative research is less about explaining and predicting relationships between variables and more about understanding the social world. To use our mother love example, the question about “what love looks like” is a good question for the qualitative researcher while all questions measuring love or comparing incidences of love (both of which require measurement) are good questions for quantitative researchers. Patton writes,

Qualitative data describe. They take us, as readers, into the time and place of the observation so that we know what it was like to have been there. They capture and communicate someone else’s experience of the world in his or her own words. Qualitative data tell a story. ( Patton 2002:47 )

Qualitative researchers are asking different questions about the world than their quantitative colleagues. Even when researchers are employed in “mixed methods” research ( both quantitative and qualitative), they are using different methods to address different questions of the study. I do a lot of research about first-generation and working-college college students. Where a quantitative researcher might ask, how many first-generation college students graduate from college within four years? Or does first-generation college status predict high student debt loads? A qualitative researcher might ask, how does the college experience differ for first-generation college students? What is it like to carry a lot of debt, and how does this impact the ability to complete college on time? Both sets of questions are important, but they can only be answered using specific tools tailored to those questions. For the former, you need large numbers to make adequate comparisons. For the latter, you need to talk to people, find out what they are thinking and feeling, and try to inhabit their shoes for a little while so you can make sense of their experiences and beliefs.

Examples of Qualitative Research

You have probably seen examples of qualitative research before, but you might not have paid particular attention to how they were produced or realized that the accounts you were reading were the result of hours, months, even years of research “in the field.” A good qualitative researcher will present the product of their hours of work in such a way that it seems natural, even obvious, to the reader. Because we are trying to convey what it is like answers, qualitative research is often presented as stories – stories about how people live their lives, go to work, raise their children, interact with one another. In some ways, this can seem like reading particularly insightful novels. But, unlike novels, there are very specific rules and guidelines that qualitative researchers follow to ensure that the “story” they are telling is accurate , a truthful rendition of what life is like for the people being studied. Most of this textbook will be spent conveying those rules and guidelines. Let’s take a look, first, however, at three examples of what the end product looks like. I have chosen these three examples to showcase very different approaches to qualitative research, and I will return to these five examples throughout the book. They were all published as whole books (not chapters or articles), and they are worth the long read, if you have the time. I will also provide some information on how these books came to be and the length of time it takes to get them into book version. It is important you know about this process, and the rest of this textbook will help explain why it takes so long to conduct good qualitative research!

Example 1 : The End Game (ethnography + interviews)

Corey Abramson is a sociologist who teaches at the University of Arizona. In 2015 he published The End Game: How Inequality Shapes our Final Years ( 2015 ). This book was based on the research he did for his dissertation at the University of California-Berkeley in 2012. Actually, the dissertation was completed in 2012 but the work that was produced that took several years. The dissertation was entitled, “This is How We Live, This is How We Die: Social Stratification, Aging, and Health in Urban America” ( 2012 ). You can see how the book version, which was written for a more general audience, has a more engaging sound to it, but that the dissertation version, which is what academic faculty read and evaluate, has a more descriptive title. You can read the title and know that this is a study about aging and health and that the focus is going to be inequality and that the context (place) is going to be “urban America.” It’s a study about “how” people do something – in this case, how they deal with aging and death. This is the very first sentence of the dissertation, “From our first breath in the hospital to the day we die, we live in a society characterized by unequal opportunities for maintaining health and taking care of ourselves when ill. These disparities reflect persistent racial, socio-economic, and gender-based inequalities and contribute to their persistence over time” ( 1 ). What follows is a truthful account of how that is so.

Cory Abramson spent three years conducting his research in four different urban neighborhoods. We call the type of research he conducted “comparative ethnographic” because he designed his study to compare groups of seniors as they went about their everyday business. It’s comparative because he is comparing different groups (based on race, class, gender) and ethnographic because he is studying the culture/way of life of a group. [4] He had an educated guess, rooted in what previous research had shown and what social theory would suggest, that people’s experiences of aging differ by race, class, and gender. So, he set up a research design that would allow him to observe differences. He chose two primarily middle-class (one was racially diverse and the other was predominantly White) and two primarily poor neighborhoods (one was racially diverse and the other was predominantly African American). He hung out in senior centers and other places seniors congregated, watched them as they took the bus to get prescriptions filled, sat in doctor’s offices with them, and listened to their conversations with each other. He also conducted more formal conversations, what we call in-depth interviews, with sixty seniors from each of the four neighborhoods. As with a lot of fieldwork , as he got closer to the people involved, he both expanded and deepened his reach –

By the end of the project, I expanded my pool of general observations to include various settings frequented by seniors: apartment building common rooms, doctors’ offices, emergency rooms, pharmacies, senior centers, bars, parks, corner stores, shopping centers, pool halls, hair salons, coffee shops, and discount stores. Over the course of the three years of fieldwork, I observed hundreds of elders, and developed close relationships with a number of them. ( 2012:10 )

When Abramson rewrote the dissertation for a general audience and published his book in 2015, it got a lot of attention. It is a beautifully written book and it provided insight into a common human experience that we surprisingly know very little about. It won the Outstanding Publication Award by the American Sociological Association Section on Aging and the Life Course and was featured in the New York Times . The book was about aging, and specifically how inequality shapes the aging process, but it was also about much more than that. It helped show how inequality affects people’s everyday lives. For example, by observing the difficulties the poor had in setting up appointments and getting to them using public transportation and then being made to wait to see a doctor, sometimes in standing-room-only situations, when they are unwell, and then being treated dismissively by hospital staff, Abramson allowed readers to feel the material reality of being poor in the US. Comparing these examples with seniors with adequate supplemental insurance who have the resources to hire car services or have others assist them in arranging care when they need it, jolts the reader to understand and appreciate the difference money makes in the lives and circumstances of us all, and in a way that is different than simply reading a statistic (“80% of the poor do not keep regular doctor’s appointments”) does. Qualitative research can reach into spaces and places that often go unexamined and then reports back to the rest of us what it is like in those spaces and places.

Example 2: Racing for Innocence (Interviews + Content Analysis + Fictional Stories)

Jennifer Pierce is a Professor of American Studies at the University of Minnesota. Trained as a sociologist, she has written a number of books about gender, race, and power. Her very first book, Gender Trials: Emotional Lives in Contemporary Law Firms, published in 1995, is a brilliant look at gender dynamics within two law firms. Pierce was a participant observer, working as a paralegal, and she observed how female lawyers and female paralegals struggled to obtain parity with their male colleagues.

Fifteen years later, she reexamined the context of the law firm to include an examination of racial dynamics, particularly how elite white men working in these spaces created and maintained a culture that made it difficult for both female attorneys and attorneys of color to thrive. Her book, Racing for Innocence: Whiteness, Gender, and the Backlash Against Affirmative Action , published in 2012, is an interesting and creative blending of interviews with attorneys, content analyses of popular films during this period, and fictional accounts of racial discrimination and sexual harassment. The law firm she chose to study had come under an affirmative action order and was in the process of implementing equitable policies and programs. She wanted to understand how recipients of white privilege (the elite white male attorneys) come to deny the role they play in reproducing inequality. Through interviews with attorneys who were present both before and during the affirmative action order, she creates a historical record of the “bad behavior” that necessitated new policies and procedures, but also, and more importantly , probed the participants ’ understanding of this behavior. It should come as no surprise that most (but not all) of the white male attorneys saw little need for change, and that almost everyone else had accounts that were different if not sometimes downright harrowing.

I’ve used Pierce’s book in my qualitative research methods courses as an example of an interesting blend of techniques and presentation styles. My students often have a very difficult time with the fictional accounts she includes. But they serve an important communicative purpose here. They are her attempts at presenting “both sides” to an objective reality – something happens (Pierce writes this something so it is very clear what it is), and the two participants to the thing that happened have very different understandings of what this means. By including these stories, Pierce presents one of her key findings – people remember things differently and these different memories tend to support their own ideological positions. I wonder what Pierce would have written had she studied the murder of George Floyd or the storming of the US Capitol on January 6 or any number of other historic events whose observers and participants record very different happenings.

This is not to say that qualitative researchers write fictional accounts. In fact, the use of fiction in our work remains controversial. When used, it must be clearly identified as a presentation device, as Pierce did. I include Racing for Innocence here as an example of the multiple uses of methods and techniques and the way that these work together to produce better understandings by us, the readers, of what Pierce studied. We readers come away with a better grasp of how and why advantaged people understate their own involvement in situations and structures that advantage them. This is normal human behavior , in other words. This case may have been about elite white men in law firms, but the general insights here can be transposed to other settings. Indeed, Pierce argues that more research needs to be done about the role elites play in the reproduction of inequality in the workplace in general.

Example 3: Amplified Advantage (Mixed Methods: Survey Interviews + Focus Groups + Archives)

The final example comes from my own work with college students, particularly the ways in which class background affects the experience of college and outcomes for graduates. I include it here as an example of mixed methods, and for the use of supplementary archival research. I’ve done a lot of research over the years on first-generation, low-income, and working-class college students. I am curious (and skeptical) about the possibility of social mobility today, particularly with the rising cost of college and growing inequality in general. As one of the few people in my family to go to college, I didn’t grow up with a lot of examples of what college was like or how to make the most of it. And when I entered graduate school, I realized with dismay that there were very few people like me there. I worried about becoming too different from my family and friends back home. And I wasn’t at all sure that I would ever be able to pay back the huge load of debt I was taking on. And so I wrote my dissertation and first two books about working-class college students. These books focused on experiences in college and the difficulties of navigating between family and school ( Hurst 2010a, 2012 ). But even after all that research, I kept coming back to wondering if working-class students who made it through college had an equal chance at finding good jobs and happy lives,

What happens to students after college? Do working-class students fare as well as their peers? I knew from my own experience that barriers continued through graduate school and beyond, and that my debtload was higher than that of my peers, constraining some of the choices I made when I graduated. To answer these questions, I designed a study of students attending small liberal arts colleges, the type of college that tried to equalize the experience of students by requiring all students to live on campus and offering small classes with lots of interaction with faculty. These private colleges tend to have more money and resources so they can provide financial aid to low-income students. They also attract some very wealthy students. Because they enroll students across the class spectrum, I would be able to draw comparisons. I ended up spending about four years collecting data, both a survey of more than 2000 students (which formed the basis for quantitative analyses) and qualitative data collection (interviews, focus groups, archival research, and participant observation). This is what we call a “mixed methods” approach because we use both quantitative and qualitative data. The survey gave me a large enough number of students that I could make comparisons of the how many kind, and to be able to say with some authority that there were in fact significant differences in experience and outcome by class (e.g., wealthier students earned more money and had little debt; working-class students often found jobs that were not in their chosen careers and were very affected by debt, upper-middle-class students were more likely to go to graduate school). But the survey analyses could not explain why these differences existed. For that, I needed to talk to people and ask them about their motivations and aspirations. I needed to understand their perceptions of the world, and it is very hard to do this through a survey.

By interviewing students and recent graduates, I was able to discern particular patterns and pathways through college and beyond. Specifically, I identified three versions of gameplay. Upper-middle-class students, whose parents were themselves professionals (academics, lawyers, managers of non-profits), saw college as the first stage of their education and took classes and declared majors that would prepare them for graduate school. They also spent a lot of time building their resumes, taking advantage of opportunities to help professors with their research, or study abroad. This helped them gain admission to highly-ranked graduate schools and interesting jobs in the public sector. In contrast, upper-class students, whose parents were wealthy and more likely to be engaged in business (as CEOs or other high-level directors), prioritized building social capital. They did this by joining fraternities and sororities and playing club sports. This helped them when they graduated as they called on friends and parents of friends to find them well-paying jobs. Finally, low-income, first-generation, and working-class students were often adrift. They took the classes that were recommended to them but without the knowledge of how to connect them to life beyond college. They spent time working and studying rather than partying or building their resumes. All three sets of students thought they were “doing college” the right way, the way that one was supposed to do college. But these three versions of gameplay led to distinct outcomes that advantaged some students over others. I titled my work “Amplified Advantage” to highlight this process.

These three examples, Cory Abramson’s The End Game , Jennifer Peirce’s Racing for Innocence, and my own Amplified Advantage, demonstrate the range of approaches and tools available to the qualitative researcher. They also help explain why qualitative research is so important. Numbers can tell us some things about the world, but they cannot get at the hearts and minds, motivations and beliefs of the people who make up the social worlds we inhabit. For that, we need tools that allow us to listen and make sense of what people tell us and show us. That is what good qualitative research offers us.

How Is This Book Organized?

This textbook is organized as a comprehensive introduction to the use of qualitative research methods. The first half covers general topics (e.g., approaches to qualitative research, ethics) and research design (necessary steps for building a successful qualitative research study). The second half reviews various data collection and data analysis techniques. Of course, building a successful qualitative research study requires some knowledge of data collection and data analysis so the chapters in the first half and the chapters in the second half should be read in conversation with each other. That said, each chapter can be read on its own for assistance with a particular narrow topic. In addition to the chapters, a helpful glossary can be found in the back of the book. Rummage around in the text as needed.

Chapter Descriptions

Chapter 2 provides an overview of the Research Design Process. How does one begin a study? What is an appropriate research question? How is the study to be done – with what methods ? Involving what people and sites? Although qualitative research studies can and often do change and develop over the course of data collection, it is important to have a good idea of what the aims and goals of your study are at the outset and a good plan of how to achieve those aims and goals. Chapter 2 provides a road map of the process.

Chapter 3 describes and explains various ways of knowing the (social) world. What is it possible for us to know about how other people think or why they behave the way they do? What does it mean to say something is a “fact” or that it is “well-known” and understood? Qualitative researchers are particularly interested in these questions because of the types of research questions we are interested in answering (the how questions rather than the how many questions of quantitative research). Qualitative researchers have adopted various epistemological approaches. Chapter 3 will explore these approaches, highlighting interpretivist approaches that acknowledge the subjective aspect of reality – in other words, reality and knowledge are not objective but rather influenced by (interpreted through) people.

Chapter 4 focuses on the practical matter of developing a research question and finding the right approach to data collection. In any given study (think of Cory Abramson’s study of aging, for example), there may be years of collected data, thousands of observations , hundreds of pages of notes to read and review and make sense of. If all you had was a general interest area (“aging”), it would be very difficult, nearly impossible, to make sense of all of that data. The research question provides a helpful lens to refine and clarify (and simplify) everything you find and collect. For that reason, it is important to pull out that lens (articulate the research question) before you get started. In the case of the aging study, Cory Abramson was interested in how inequalities affected understandings and responses to aging. It is for this reason he designed a study that would allow him to compare different groups of seniors (some middle-class, some poor). Inevitably, he saw much more in the three years in the field than what made it into his book (or dissertation), but he was able to narrow down the complexity of the social world to provide us with this rich account linked to the original research question. Developing a good research question is thus crucial to effective design and a successful outcome. Chapter 4 will provide pointers on how to do this. Chapter 4 also provides an overview of general approaches taken to doing qualitative research and various “traditions of inquiry.”

Chapter 5 explores sampling . After you have developed a research question and have a general idea of how you will collect data (Observations? Interviews?), how do you go about actually finding people and sites to study? Although there is no “correct number” of people to interview , the sample should follow the research question and research design. Unlike quantitative research, qualitative research involves nonprobability sampling. Chapter 5 explains why this is so and what qualities instead make a good sample for qualitative research.

Chapter 6 addresses the importance of reflexivity in qualitative research. Related to epistemological issues of how we know anything about the social world, qualitative researchers understand that we the researchers can never be truly neutral or outside the study we are conducting. As observers, we see things that make sense to us and may entirely miss what is either too obvious to note or too different to comprehend. As interviewers, as much as we would like to ask questions neutrally and remain in the background, interviews are a form of conversation, and the persons we interview are responding to us . Therefore, it is important to reflect upon our social positions and the knowledges and expectations we bring to our work and to work through any blind spots that we may have. Chapter 6 provides some examples of reflexivity in practice and exercises for thinking through one’s own biases.

Chapter 7 is a very important chapter and should not be overlooked. As a practical matter, it should also be read closely with chapters 6 and 8. Because qualitative researchers deal with people and the social world, it is imperative they develop and adhere to a strong ethical code for conducting research in a way that does not harm. There are legal requirements and guidelines for doing so (see chapter 8), but these requirements should not be considered synonymous with the ethical code required of us. Each researcher must constantly interrogate every aspect of their research, from research question to design to sample through analysis and presentation, to ensure that a minimum of harm (ideally, zero harm) is caused. Because each research project is unique, the standards of care for each study are unique. Part of being a professional researcher is carrying this code in one’s heart, being constantly attentive to what is required under particular circumstances. Chapter 7 provides various research scenarios and asks readers to weigh in on the suitability and appropriateness of the research. If done in a class setting, it will become obvious fairly quickly that there are often no absolutely correct answers, as different people find different aspects of the scenarios of greatest importance. Minimizing the harm in one area may require possible harm in another. Being attentive to all the ethical aspects of one’s research and making the best judgments one can, clearly and consciously, is an integral part of being a good researcher.

Chapter 8 , best to be read in conjunction with chapter 7, explains the role and importance of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) . Under federal guidelines, an IRB is an appropriately constituted group that has been formally designated to review and monitor research involving human subjects . Every institution that receives funding from the federal government has an IRB. IRBs have the authority to approve, require modifications to (to secure approval), or disapprove research. This group review serves an important role in the protection of the rights and welfare of human research subjects. Chapter 8 reviews the history of IRBs and the work they do but also argues that IRBs’ review of qualitative research is often both over-inclusive and under-inclusive. Some aspects of qualitative research are not well understood by IRBs, given that they were developed to prevent abuses in biomedical research. Thus, it is important not to rely on IRBs to identify all the potential ethical issues that emerge in our research (see chapter 7).

Chapter 9 provides help for getting started on formulating a research question based on gaps in the pre-existing literature. Research is conducted as part of a community, even if particular studies are done by single individuals (or small teams). What any of us finds and reports back becomes part of a much larger body of knowledge. Thus, it is important that we look at the larger body of knowledge before we actually start our bit to see how we can best contribute. When I first began interviewing working-class college students, there was only one other similar study I could find, and it hadn’t been published (it was a dissertation of students from poor backgrounds). But there had been a lot published by professors who had grown up working class and made it through college despite the odds. These accounts by “working-class academics” became an important inspiration for my study and helped me frame the questions I asked the students I interviewed. Chapter 9 will provide some pointers on how to search for relevant literature and how to use this to refine your research question.

Chapter 10 serves as a bridge between the two parts of the textbook, by introducing techniques of data collection. Qualitative research is often characterized by the form of data collection – for example, an ethnographic study is one that employs primarily observational data collection for the purpose of documenting and presenting a particular culture or ethnos. Techniques can be effectively combined, depending on the research question and the aims and goals of the study. Chapter 10 provides a general overview of all the various techniques and how they can be combined.

The second part of the textbook moves into the doing part of qualitative research once the research question has been articulated and the study designed. Chapters 11 through 17 cover various data collection techniques and approaches. Chapters 18 and 19 provide a very simple overview of basic data analysis. Chapter 20 covers communication of the data to various audiences, and in various formats.

Chapter 11 begins our overview of data collection techniques with a focus on interviewing , the true heart of qualitative research. This technique can serve as the primary and exclusive form of data collection, or it can be used to supplement other forms (observation, archival). An interview is distinct from a survey, where questions are asked in a specific order and often with a range of predetermined responses available. Interviews can be conversational and unstructured or, more conventionally, semistructured , where a general set of interview questions “guides” the conversation. Chapter 11 covers the basics of interviews: how to create interview guides, how many people to interview, where to conduct the interview, what to watch out for (how to prepare against things going wrong), and how to get the most out of your interviews.

Chapter 12 covers an important variant of interviewing, the focus group. Focus groups are semistructured interviews with a group of people moderated by a facilitator (the researcher or researcher’s assistant). Focus groups explicitly use group interaction to assist in the data collection. They are best used to collect data on a specific topic that is non-personal and shared among the group. For example, asking a group of college students about a common experience such as taking classes by remote delivery during the pandemic year of 2020. Chapter 12 covers the basics of focus groups: when to use them, how to create interview guides for them, and how to run them effectively.

Chapter 13 moves away from interviewing to the second major form of data collection unique to qualitative researchers – observation . Qualitative research that employs observation can best be understood as falling on a continuum of “fly on the wall” observation (e.g., observing how strangers interact in a doctor’s waiting room) to “participant” observation, where the researcher is also an active participant of the activity being observed. For example, an activist in the Black Lives Matter movement might want to study the movement, using her inside position to gain access to observe key meetings and interactions. Chapter 13 covers the basics of participant observation studies: advantages and disadvantages, gaining access, ethical concerns related to insider/outsider status and entanglement, and recording techniques.

Chapter 14 takes a closer look at “deep ethnography” – immersion in the field of a particularly long duration for the purpose of gaining a deeper understanding and appreciation of a particular culture or social world. Clifford Geertz called this “deep hanging out.” Whereas participant observation is often combined with semistructured interview techniques, deep ethnography’s commitment to “living the life” or experiencing the situation as it really is demands more conversational and natural interactions with people. These interactions and conversations may take place over months or even years. As can be expected, there are some costs to this technique, as well as some very large rewards when done competently. Chapter 14 provides some examples of deep ethnographies that will inspire some beginning researchers and intimidate others.

Chapter 15 moves in the opposite direction of deep ethnography, a technique that is the least positivist of all those discussed here, to mixed methods , a set of techniques that is arguably the most positivist . A mixed methods approach combines both qualitative data collection and quantitative data collection, commonly by combining a survey that is analyzed statistically (e.g., cross-tabs or regression analyses of large number probability samples) with semi-structured interviews. Although it is somewhat unconventional to discuss mixed methods in textbooks on qualitative research, I think it is important to recognize this often-employed approach here. There are several advantages and some disadvantages to taking this route. Chapter 16 will describe those advantages and disadvantages and provide some particular guidance on how to design a mixed methods study for maximum effectiveness.

Chapter 16 covers data collection that does not involve live human subjects at all – archival and historical research (chapter 17 will also cover data that does not involve interacting with human subjects). Sometimes people are unavailable to us, either because they do not wish to be interviewed or observed (as is the case with many “elites”) or because they are too far away, in both place and time. Fortunately, humans leave many traces and we can often answer questions we have by examining those traces. Special collections and archives can be goldmines for social science research. This chapter will explain how to access these places, for what purposes, and how to begin to make sense of what you find.

Chapter 17 covers another data collection area that does not involve face-to-face interaction with humans: content analysis . Although content analysis may be understood more properly as a data analysis technique, the term is often used for the entire approach, which will be the case here. Content analysis involves interpreting meaning from a body of text. This body of text might be something found in historical records (see chapter 16) or something collected by the researcher, as in the case of comment posts on a popular blog post. I once used the stories told by student loan debtors on the website studentloanjustice.org as the content I analyzed. Content analysis is particularly useful when attempting to define and understand prevalent stories or communication about a topic of interest. In other words, when we are less interested in what particular people (our defined sample) are doing or believing and more interested in what general narratives exist about a particular topic or issue. This chapter will explore different approaches to content analysis and provide helpful tips on how to collect data, how to turn that data into codes for analysis, and how to go about presenting what is found through analysis.

Where chapter 17 has pushed us towards data analysis, chapters 18 and 19 are all about what to do with the data collected, whether that data be in the form of interview transcripts or fieldnotes from observations. Chapter 18 introduces the basics of coding , the iterative process of assigning meaning to the data in order to both simplify and identify patterns. What is a code and how does it work? What are the different ways of coding data, and when should you use them? What is a codebook, and why do you need one? What does the process of data analysis look like?

Chapter 19 goes further into detail on codes and how to use them, particularly the later stages of coding in which our codes are refined, simplified, combined, and organized. These later rounds of coding are essential to getting the most out of the data we’ve collected. As students are often overwhelmed with the amount of data (a corpus of interview transcripts typically runs into the hundreds of pages; fieldnotes can easily top that), this chapter will also address time management and provide suggestions for dealing with chaos and reminders that feeling overwhelmed at the analysis stage is part of the process. By the end of the chapter, you should understand how “findings” are actually found.

The book concludes with a chapter dedicated to the effective presentation of data results. Chapter 20 covers the many ways that researchers communicate their studies to various audiences (academic, personal, political), what elements must be included in these various publications, and the hallmarks of excellent qualitative research that various audiences will be expecting. Because qualitative researchers are motivated by understanding and conveying meaning , effective communication is not only an essential skill but a fundamental facet of the entire research project. Ethnographers must be able to convey a certain sense of verisimilitude , the appearance of true reality. Those employing interviews must faithfully depict the key meanings of the people they interviewed in a way that rings true to those people, even if the end result surprises them. And all researchers must strive for clarity in their publications so that various audiences can understand what was found and why it is important.

The book concludes with a short chapter ( chapter 21 ) discussing the value of qualitative research. At the very end of this book, you will find a glossary of terms. I recommend you make frequent use of the glossary and add to each entry as you find examples. Although the entries are meant to be simple and clear, you may also want to paraphrase the definition—make it “make sense” to you, in other words. In addition to the standard reference list (all works cited here), you will find various recommendations for further reading at the end of many chapters. Some of these recommendations will be examples of excellent qualitative research, indicated with an asterisk (*) at the end of the entry. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. A good example of qualitative research can teach you more about conducting research than any textbook can (this one included). I highly recommend you select one to three examples from these lists and read them along with the textbook.

A final note on the choice of examples – you will note that many of the examples used in the text come from research on college students. This is for two reasons. First, as most of my research falls in this area, I am most familiar with this literature and have contacts with those who do research here and can call upon them to share their stories with you. Second, and more importantly, my hope is that this textbook reaches a wide audience of beginning researchers who study widely and deeply across the range of what can be known about the social world (from marine resources management to public policy to nursing to political science to sexuality studies and beyond). It is sometimes difficult to find examples that speak to all those research interests, however. A focus on college students is something that all readers can understand and, hopefully, appreciate, as we are all now or have been at some point a college student.

Patton’s Ten Suggestions for Doing Qualitative Research

The following ten suggestions were made by Michael Quinn Patton in his massive textbooks Qualitative Research and Evaluations Methods . This book is highly recommended for those of you who want more than an introduction to qualitative methods. It is the book I relied on heavily when I was a graduate student, although it is much easier to “dip into” when necessary than to read through as a whole. Patton is asked for “just one bit of advice” for a graduate student considering using qualitative research methods for their dissertation. Here are his top ten responses, in short form, heavily paraphrased, and with additional comments and emphases from me:

Make sure that a qualitative approach fits the research question. The following are the kinds of questions that call out for qualitative methods or where qualitative methods are particularly appropriate: questions about people’s experiences or how they make sense of those experiences; studying a person in their natural environment; researching a phenomenon so unknown that it would be impossible to study it with standardized instruments or other forms of quantitative data collection.
Study qualitative research by going to the original sources for the design and analysis appropriate to the particular approach you want to take (e.g., read Glaser and Straus if you are using grounded theory )
Find a dissertation adviser who understands or at least who will support your use of qualitative research methods. You are asking for trouble if your entire committee is populated by quantitative researchers, even if they are all very knowledgeable about the subject or focus of your study (maybe even more so if they are!)
Really work on design. Doing qualitative research effectively takes a lot of planning. Even if things are more flexible than in quantitative research, a good design is absolutely essential when starting out.
Practice data collection techniques, particularly interviewing and observing. There is definitely a set of learned skills here! Do not expect your first interview to be perfect. You will continue to grow as a researcher the more interviews you conduct, and you will probably come to understand yourself a bit more in the process, too. This is not easy, despite what others who don’t work with qualitative methods may assume (and tell you!)
Have a plan for analysis before you begin data collection. This is often a requirement in IRB protocols , although you can get away with writing something fairly simple. And even if you are taking an approach, such as grounded theory, that pushes you to remain fairly open-minded during the data collection process, you still want to know what you will be doing with all the data collected – creating a codebook? Writing analytical memos? Comparing cases? Having a plan in hand will also help prevent you from collecting too much extraneous data.
Be prepared to confront controversies both within the qualitative research community and between qualitative research and quantitative research. Don’t be naïve about this – qualitative research, particularly some approaches, will be derided by many more “positivist” researchers and audiences. For example, is an “n” of 1 really sufficient? Yes! But not everyone will agree.
Do not make the mistake of using qualitative research methods because someone told you it was easier, or because you are intimidated by the math required of statistical analyses. Qualitative research is difficult in its own way (and many would claim much more time-consuming than quantitative research). Do it because you are convinced it is right for your goals, aims, and research questions.
Find a good support network. This could be a research mentor, or it could be a group of friends or colleagues who are also using qualitative research, or it could be just someone who will listen to you work through all of the issues you will confront out in the field and during the writing process. Even though qualitative research often involves human subjects, it can be pretty lonely. A lot of times you will feel like you are working without a net. You have to create one for yourself. Take care of yourself.
And, finally, in the words of Patton, “Prepare to be changed. Looking deeply at other people’s lives will force you to look deeply at yourself.”
We will actually spend an entire chapter ( chapter 3 ) looking at this question in much more detail! ↵
Note that this might have been news to Europeans at the time, but many other societies around the world had also come to this conclusion through observation. There is often a tendency to equate “the scientific revolution” with the European world in which it took place, but this is somewhat misleading. ↵
Historians are a special case here. Historians have scrupulously and rigorously investigated the social world, but not for the purpose of understanding general laws about how things work, which is the point of scientific empirical research. History is often referred to as an idiographic field of study, meaning that it studies things that happened or are happening in themselves and not for general observations or conclusions. ↵
Don’t worry, we’ll spend more time later in this book unpacking the meaning of ethnography and other terms that are important here. Note the available glossary ↵

An approach to research that is “multimethod in focus, involving an interpretative, naturalistic approach to its subject matter. This means that qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them. Qualitative research involves the studied use and collection of a variety of empirical materials – case study, personal experience, introspective, life story, interview, observational, historical, interactional, and visual texts – that describe routine and problematic moments and meanings in individuals’ lives." ( Denzin and Lincoln 2005:2 ). Contrast with quantitative research .

In contrast to methodology, methods are more simply the practices and tools used to collect and analyze data. Examples of common methods in qualitative research are interviews , observations , and documentary analysis . One’s methodology should connect to one’s choice of methods, of course, but they are distinguishable terms. See also methodology .

A proposed explanation for an observation, phenomenon, or scientific problem that can be tested by further investigation. The positing of a hypothesis is often the first step in quantitative research but not in qualitative research. Even when qualitative researchers offer possible explanations in advance of conducting research, they will tend to not use the word “hypothesis” as it conjures up the kind of positivist research they are not conducting.

The foundational question to be addressed by the research study. This will form the anchor of the research design, collection, and analysis. Note that in qualitative research, the research question may, and probably will, alter or develop during the course of the research.

An approach to research that collects and analyzes numerical data for the purpose of finding patterns and averages, making predictions, testing causal relationships, and generalizing results to wider populations. Contrast with qualitative research .

Data collection that takes place in real-world settings, referred to as “the field;” a key component of much Grounded Theory and ethnographic research. Patton ( 2002 ) calls fieldwork “the central activity of qualitative inquiry” where “‘going into the field’ means having direct and personal contact with people under study in their own environments – getting close to people and situations being studied to personally understand the realities of minutiae of daily life” (48).

The people who are the subjects of a qualitative study. In interview-based studies, they may be the respondents to the interviewer; for purposes of IRBs, they are often referred to as the human subjects of the research.

The branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. For researchers, it is important to recognize and adopt one of the many distinguishing epistemological perspectives as part of our understanding of what questions research can address or fully answer. See, e.g., constructivism , subjectivism, and objectivism .

An approach that refutes the possibility of neutrality in social science research. All research is “guided by a set of beliefs and feelings about the world and how it should be understood and studied” (Denzin and Lincoln 2005: 13). In contrast to positivism , interpretivism recognizes the social constructedness of reality, and researchers adopting this approach focus on capturing interpretations and understandings people have about the world rather than “the world” as it is (which is a chimera).

The cluster of data-collection tools and techniques that involve observing interactions between people, the behaviors, and practices of individuals (sometimes in contrast to what they say about how they act and behave), and cultures in context. Observational methods are the key tools employed by ethnographers and Grounded Theory .

Research based on data collected and analyzed by the research (in contrast to secondary “library” research).

The process of selecting people or other units of analysis to represent a larger population. In quantitative research, this representation is taken quite literally, as statistically representative. In qualitative research, in contrast, sample selection is often made based on potential to generate insight about a particular topic or phenomenon.

A method of data collection in which the researcher asks the participant questions; the answers to these questions are often recorded and transcribed verbatim. There are many different kinds of interviews - see also semistructured interview , structured interview , and unstructured interview .

The specific group of individuals that you will collect data from. Contrast population.

The practice of being conscious of and reflective upon one’s own social location and presence when conducting research. Because qualitative research often requires interaction with live humans, failing to take into account how one’s presence and prior expectations and social location affect the data collected and how analyzed may limit the reliability of the findings. This remains true even when dealing with historical archives and other content. Who we are matters when asking questions about how people experience the world because we, too, are a part of that world.

The science and practice of right conduct; in research, it is also the delineation of moral obligations towards research participants, communities to which we belong, and communities in which we conduct our research.

An administrative body established to protect the rights and welfare of human research subjects recruited to participate in research activities conducted under the auspices of the institution with which it is affiliated. The IRB is charged with the responsibility of reviewing all research involving human participants. The IRB is concerned with protecting the welfare, rights, and privacy of human subjects. The IRB has the authority to approve, disapprove, monitor, and require modifications in all research activities that fall within its jurisdiction as specified by both the federal regulations and institutional policy.

Research, according to US federal guidelines, that involves “a living individual about whom an investigator (whether professional or student) conducting research: (1) Obtains information or biospecimens through intervention or interaction with the individual, and uses, studies, or analyzes the information or biospecimens; or (2) Obtains, uses, studies, analyzes, or generates identifiable private information or identifiable biospecimens.”

One of the primary methodological traditions of inquiry in qualitative research, ethnography is the study of a group or group culture, largely through observational fieldwork supplemented by interviews. It is a form of fieldwork that may include participant-observation data collection. See chapter 14 for a discussion of deep ethnography.

A form of interview that follows a standard guide of questions asked, although the order of the questions may change to match the particular needs of each individual interview subject, and probing “follow-up” questions are often added during the course of the interview. The semi-structured interview is the primary form of interviewing used by qualitative researchers in the social sciences. It is sometimes referred to as an “in-depth” interview. See also interview and interview guide .

A method of observational data collection taking place in a natural setting; a form of fieldwork . The term encompasses a continuum of relative participation by the researcher (from full participant to “fly-on-the-wall” observer). This is also sometimes referred to as ethnography , although the latter is characterized by a greater focus on the culture under observation.

A research design that employs both quantitative and qualitative methods, as in the case of a survey supplemented by interviews.

An epistemological perspective that posits the existence of reality through sensory experience similar to empiricism but goes further in denying any non-sensory basis of thought or consciousness. In the social sciences, the term has roots in the proto-sociologist August Comte, who believed he could discern “laws” of society similar to the laws of natural science (e.g., gravity). The term has come to mean the kinds of measurable and verifiable science conducted by quantitative researchers and is thus used pejoratively by some qualitative researchers interested in interpretation, consciousness, and human understanding. Calling someone a “positivist” is often intended as an insult. See also empiricism and objectivism.

A place or collection containing records, documents, or other materials of historical interest; most universities have an archive of material related to the university’s history, as well as other “special collections” that may be of interest to members of the community.

A method of both data collection and data analysis in which a given content (textual, visual, graphic) is examined systematically and rigorously to identify meanings, themes, patterns and assumptions. Qualitative content analysis (QCA) is concerned with gathering and interpreting an existing body of material.

A word or short phrase that symbolically assigns a summative, salient, essence-capturing, and/or evocative attribute for a portion of language-based or visual data (Saldaña 2021:5).

Usually a verbatim written record of an interview or focus group discussion.

The primary form of data for fieldwork , participant observation , and ethnography . These notes, taken by the researcher either during the course of fieldwork or at day’s end, should include as many details as possible on what was observed and what was said. They should include clear identifiers of date, time, setting, and names (or identifying characteristics) of participants.

The process of labeling and organizing qualitative data to identify different themes and the relationships between them; a way of simplifying data to allow better management and retrieval of key themes and illustrative passages. See coding frame and codebook.

A methodological tradition of inquiry and approach to analyzing qualitative data in which theories emerge from a rigorous and systematic process of induction. This approach was pioneered by the sociologists Glaser and Strauss (1967). The elements of theory generated from comparative analysis of data are, first, conceptual categories and their properties and, second, hypotheses or generalized relations among the categories and their properties – “The constant comparing of many groups draws the [researcher’s] attention to their many similarities and differences. Considering these leads [the researcher] to generate abstract categories and their properties, which, since they emerge from the data, will clearly be important to a theory explaining the kind of behavior under observation.” (36).

A detailed description of any proposed research that involves human subjects for review by IRB. The protocol serves as the recipe for the conduct of the research activity. It includes the scientific rationale to justify the conduct of the study, the information necessary to conduct the study, the plan for managing and analyzing the data, and a discussion of the research ethical issues relevant to the research. Protocols for qualitative research often include interview guides, all documents related to recruitment, informed consent forms, very clear guidelines on the safekeeping of materials collected, and plans for de-identifying transcripts or other data that include personal identifying information.

Qualitative Research 101: Interviewing

5 Common Mistakes To Avoid When Undertaking Interviews

By: David Phair (PhD) and Kerryn Warren (PhD) | March 2022

Undertaking interviews is potentially the most important step in the qualitative research process. If you don’t collect useful, useable data in your interviews, you’ll struggle through the rest of your dissertation or thesis. Having helped numerous students with their research over the years, we’ve noticed some common interviewing mistakes that first-time researchers make. In this post, we’ll discuss five costly interview-related mistakes and outline useful strategies to avoid making these.

Overview: 5 Interviewing Mistakes

Not having a clear interview strategy /plan
Not having good interview techniques /skills
Not securing a suitable location and equipment
Not having a basic risk management plan
Not keeping your “ golden thread ” front of mind

1. Not having a clear interview strategy

The first common mistake that we’ll look at is that of starting the interviewing process without having first come up with a clear interview strategy or plan of action. While it’s natural to be keen to get started engaging with your interviewees, a lack of planning can result in a mess of data and inconsistency between interviews.

There are several design choices to decide on and plan for before you start interviewing anyone. Some of the most important questions you need to ask yourself before conducting interviews include:

What are the guiding research aims and research questions of my study?
Will I use a structured, semi-structured or unstructured interview approach?
How will I record the interviews (audio or video)?
Who will be interviewed and by whom ?
What ethics and data law considerations do I need to adhere to?
How will I analyze my data?

Let’s take a quick look at some of these.

The core objective of the interviewing process is to generate useful data that will help you address your overall research aims. Therefore, your interviews need to be conducted in a way that directly links to your research aims, objectives and research questions (i.e. your “golden thread”). This means that you need to carefully consider the questions you’ll ask to ensure that they align with and feed into your golden thread. If any question doesn’t align with this, you may want to consider scrapping it.

Another important design choice is whether you’ll use an unstructured, semi-structured or structured interview approach . For semi-structured interviews, you will have a list of questions that you plan to ask and these questions will be open-ended in nature. You’ll also allow the discussion to digress from the core question set if something interesting comes up. This means that the type of information generated might differ a fair amount between interviews.

Contrasted to this, a structured approach to interviews is more rigid, where a specific set of closed questions is developed and asked for each interviewee in exactly the same order. Closed questions have a limited set of answers, that are often single-word answers. Therefore, you need to think about what you’re trying to achieve with your research project (i.e. your research aims) and decided on which approach would be best suited in your case.

It is also important to plan ahead with regards to who will be interviewed and how. You need to think about how you will approach the possible interviewees to get their cooperation, who will conduct the interviews, when to conduct the interviews and how to record the interviews. For each of these decisions, it’s also essential to make sure that all ethical considerations and data protection laws are taken into account.

Finally, you should think through how you plan to analyze the data (i.e., your qualitative analysis method) generated by the interviews. Different types of analysis rely on different types of data, so you need to ensure you’re asking the right types of questions and correctly guiding your respondents.

Simply put, you need to have a plan of action regarding the specifics of your interview approach before you start collecting data. If not, you’ll end up drifting in your approach from interview to interview, which will result in inconsistent, unusable data.

Your interview questions need to directly link to your research aims, objectives and research questions - your "golden thread”.

2. Not having good interview technique

While you’re generally not expected to become you to be an expert interviewer for a dissertation or thesis, it is important to practice good interview technique and develop basic interviewing skills .

Let’s go through some basics that will help the process along.

Firstly, before the interview , make sure you know your interview questions well and have a clear idea of what you want from the interview. Naturally, the specificity of your questions will depend on whether you’re taking a structured, semi-structured or unstructured approach, but you still need a consistent starting point . Ideally, you should develop an interview guide beforehand (more on this later) that details your core question and links these to the research aims, objectives and research questions.

Before you undertake any interviews, it’s a good idea to do a few mock interviews with friends or family members. This will help you get comfortable with the interviewer role, prepare for potentially unexpected answers and give you a good idea of how long the interview will take to conduct. In the interviewing process, you’re likely to encounter two kinds of challenging interviewees ; the two-word respondent and the respondent who meanders and babbles. Therefore, you should prepare yourself for both and come up with a plan to respond to each in a way that will allow the interview to continue productively.

To begin the formal interview , provide the person you are interviewing with an overview of your research. This will help to calm their nerves (and yours) and contextualize the interaction. Ultimately, you want the interviewee to feel comfortable and be willing to be open and honest with you, so it’s useful to start in a more casual, relaxed fashion and allow them to ask any questions they may have. From there, you can ease them into the rest of the questions.

As the interview progresses , avoid asking leading questions (i.e., questions that assume something about the interviewee or their response). Make sure that you speak clearly and slowly , using plain language and being ready to paraphrase questions if the person you are interviewing misunderstands. Be particularly careful with interviewing English second language speakers to ensure that you’re both on the same page.

Engage with the interviewee by listening to them carefully and acknowledging that you are listening to them by smiling or nodding. Show them that you’re interested in what they’re saying and thank them for their openness as appropriate. This will also encourage your interviewee to respond openly.

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3. Not securing a suitable location and quality equipment

Where you conduct your interviews and the equipment you use to record them both play an important role in how the process unfolds. Therefore, you need to think carefully about each of these variables before you start interviewing.

Poor location: A bad location can result in the quality of your interviews being compromised, interrupted, or cancelled. If you are conducting physical interviews, you’ll need a location that is quiet, safe, and welcoming . It’s very important that your location of choice is not prone to interruptions (the workplace office is generally problematic, for example) and has suitable facilities (such as water, a bathroom, and snacks).

If you are conducting online interviews , you need to consider a few other factors. Importantly, you need to make sure that both you and your respondent have access to a good, stable internet connection and electricity. Always check before the time that both of you know how to use the relevant software and it’s accessible (sometimes meeting platforms are blocked by workplace policies or firewalls). It’s also good to have alternatives in place (such as WhatsApp, Zoom, or Teams) to cater for these types of issues.

Poor equipment: Using poor-quality recording equipment or using equipment incorrectly means that you will have trouble transcribing, coding, and analyzing your interviews. This can be a major issue , as some of your interview data may go completely to waste if not recorded well. So, make sure that you use good-quality recording equipment and that you know how to use it correctly.

To avoid issues, you should always conduct test recordings before every interview to ensure that you can use the relevant equipment properly. It’s also a good idea to spot check each recording afterwards, just to make sure it was recorded as planned. If your equipment uses batteries, be sure to always carry a spare set.

Where you conduct your interviews and the equipment you use to record them play an important role in how the process unfolds.

4. Not having a basic risk management plan

Many possible issues can arise during the interview process. Not planning for these issues can mean that you are left with compromised data that might not be useful to you. Therefore, it’s important to map out some sort of risk management plan ahead of time, considering the potential risks, how you’ll minimize their probability and how you’ll manage them if they materialize.

Common potential issues related to the actual interview include cancellations (people pulling out), delays (such as getting stuck in traffic), language and accent differences (especially in the case of poor internet connections), issues with internet connections and power supply. Other issues can also occur in the interview itself. For example, the interviewee could drift off-topic, or you might encounter an interviewee who does not say much at all.

You can prepare for these potential issues by considering possible worst-case scenarios and preparing a response for each scenario. For instance, it is important to plan a backup date just in case your interviewee cannot make it to the first meeting you scheduled with them. It’s also a good idea to factor in a 30-minute gap between your interviews for the instances where someone might be late, or an interview runs overtime for other reasons. Make sure that you also plan backup questions that could be used to bring a respondent back on topic if they start rambling, or questions to encourage those who are saying too little.

In general, it’s best practice to plan to conduct more interviews than you think you need (this is called oversampling ). Doing so will allow you some room for error if there are interviews that don’t go as planned, or if some interviewees withdraw. If you need 10 interviews, it is a good idea to plan for 15. Likely, a few will cancel , delay, or not produce useful data.

You should consider all the potential risks, how you’ll reduce their probability and how you'll respond if they do indeed materialize.

5. Not keeping your golden thread front of mind

We touched on this a little earlier, but it is a key point that should be central to your entire research process. You don’t want to end up with pages and pages of data after conducting your interviews and realize that it is not useful to your research aims . Your research aims, objectives and research questions – i.e., your golden thread – should influence every design decision and should guide the interview process at all times.

A useful way to avoid this mistake is by developing an interview guide before you begin interviewing your respondents. An interview guide is a document that contains all of your questions with notes on how each of the interview questions is linked to the research question(s) of your study. You can also include your research aims and objectives here for a more comprehensive linkage.

You can easily create an interview guide by drawing up a table with one column containing your core interview questions . Then add another column with your research questions , another with expectations that you may have in light of the relevant literature and another with backup or follow-up questions . As mentioned, you can also bring in your research aims and objectives to help you connect them all together. If you’d like, you can download a copy of our free interview guide here .

Recap: Qualitative Interview Mistakes

In this post, we’ve discussed 5 common costly mistakes that are easy to make in the process of planning and conducting qualitative interviews.

To recap, these include:

If you have any questions about these interviewing mistakes, drop a comment below. Alternatively, if you’re interested in getting 1-on-1 help with your thesis or dissertation , check out our dissertation coaching service or book a free initial consultation with one of our friendly Grad Coaches.

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> Doing Interview-based Qualitative Research
> Designing the interview guide

Book contents

Frontmatter
1 Introduction
2 Some examples of interpretative research
3 Planning and beginning an interpretative research project
4 Making decisions about participants
5 Designing the interview guide
6 Doing the interview
7 Preparing for analysis
8 Finding meanings in people's talk
9 Analyzing stories in interviews
10 Analyzing talk-as-action
11 Analyzing for implicit cultural meanings
12 Reporting your project

5 - Designing the interview guide

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2015

This chapter shows you how to prepare a comprehensive interview guide. You need to prepare such a guide before you start interviewing. The interview guide serves many purposes. Most important, it is a memory aid to ensure that the interviewer covers every topic and obtains the necessary detail about the topic. For this reason, the interview guide should contain all the interview items in the order that you have decided. The exact wording of the items should be given, although the interviewer may sometimes depart from this wording. Interviews often contain some questions that are sensitive or potentially offensive. For such questions, it is vital to work out the best wording of the question ahead of time and to have it available in the interview.

To study people's meaning-making, researchers must create a situation that enables people to tell about their experiences and that also foregrounds each person's particular way of making sense of those experiences. Put another way, the interview situation must encourage participants to tell about their experiences in their own words and in their own way without being constrained by categories or classifications imposed by the interviewer. The type of interview that you will learn about here has a conversational and relaxed tone. However, the interview is far from extemporaneous. The interviewer works from the interview guide that has been carefully prepared ahead of time. It contains a detailed and specific list of items that concern topics that will shed light on the researchable questions.

Often researchers are in a hurry to get into the field and gather their material. It may seem obvious to them what questions to ask participants. Seasoned interviewers may feel ready to approach interviewing with nothing but a laundry list of topics. But it is always wise to move slowly at this point. Time spent designing and refining interview items – polishing the wording of the items, weighing language choices, considering the best sequence of topics, and then pretesting and revising the interview guide – will always pay off in producing better interviews. Moreover, it will also provide you with a deep knowledge of the elements of the interview and a clear idea of the intent behind each of the items. This can help you to keep the interviews on track.

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Designing the interview guide
Eva Magnusson , Umeå Universitet, Sweden , Jeanne Marecek , Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania
Book: Doing Interview-based Qualitative Research
Online publication: 05 October 2015
Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107449893.005

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Methodology

What Is Qualitative Research? | Methods & Examples

What Is Qualitative Research? | Methods & Examples

Published on June 19, 2020 by Pritha Bhandari . Revised on September 5, 2024.

Qualitative research involves collecting and analyzing non-numerical data (e.g., text, video, or audio) to understand concepts, opinions, or experiences. It can be used to gather in-depth insights into a problem or generate new ideas for research.

Qualitative research is the opposite of quantitative research , which involves collecting and analyzing numerical data for statistical analysis.

Qualitative research is commonly used in the humanities and social sciences, in subjects such as anthropology, sociology, education, health sciences, history, etc.

How does social media shape body image in teenagers?
How do children and adults interpret healthy eating in the UK?
What factors influence employee retention in a large organization?
How is anxiety experienced around the world?
How can teachers integrate social issues into science curriculums?

Approaches to qualitative research, qualitative research methods, qualitative data analysis, advantages of qualitative research, disadvantages of qualitative research, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about qualitative research.

Qualitative research is used to understand how people experience the world. While there are many approaches to qualitative research, they tend to be flexible and focus on retaining rich meaning when interpreting data.

Common approaches include grounded theory, ethnography , action research , phenomenological research, and narrative research. They share some similarities, but emphasize different aims and perspectives.

Qualitative research approaches
Approach	What does it involve?
Grounded theory	Researchers collect rich data on a topic of interest and develop theories .
	Researchers immerse themselves in groups or organizations to understand their cultures.
Action research	Researchers and participants collaboratively link theory to practice to drive social change.
Phenomenological research	Researchers investigate a phenomenon or event by describing and interpreting participants’ lived experiences.
Narrative research	Researchers examine how stories are told to understand how participants perceive and make sense of their experiences.

Note that qualitative research is at risk for certain research biases including the Hawthorne effect , observer bias , recall bias , and social desirability bias . While not always totally avoidable, awareness of potential biases as you collect and analyze your data can prevent them from impacting your work too much.

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Each of the research approaches involve using one or more data collection methods . These are some of the most common qualitative methods:

Observations: recording what you have seen, heard, or encountered in detailed field notes.
Interviews: personally asking people questions in one-on-one conversations.
Focus groups: asking questions and generating discussion among a group of people.
Surveys : distributing questionnaires with open-ended questions.
Secondary research: collecting existing data in the form of texts, images, audio or video recordings, etc.
You take field notes with observations and reflect on your own experiences of the company culture.
You distribute open-ended surveys to employees across all the company’s offices by email to find out if the culture varies across locations.
You conduct in-depth interviews with employees in your office to learn about their experiences and perspectives in greater detail.

Qualitative researchers often consider themselves “instruments” in research because all observations, interpretations and analyses are filtered through their own personal lens.

For this reason, when writing up your methodology for qualitative research, it’s important to reflect on your approach and to thoroughly explain the choices you made in collecting and analyzing the data.

Qualitative data can take the form of texts, photos, videos and audio. For example, you might be working with interview transcripts, survey responses, fieldnotes, or recordings from natural settings.

Most types of qualitative data analysis share the same five steps:

Prepare and organize your data. This may mean transcribing interviews or typing up fieldnotes.
Review and explore your data. Examine the data for patterns or repeated ideas that emerge.
Develop a data coding system. Based on your initial ideas, establish a set of codes that you can apply to categorize your data.
Assign codes to the data. For example, in qualitative survey analysis, this may mean going through each participant’s responses and tagging them with codes in a spreadsheet. As you go through your data, you can create new codes to add to your system if necessary.
Identify recurring themes. Link codes together into cohesive, overarching themes.

There are several specific approaches to analyzing qualitative data. Although these methods share similar processes, they emphasize different concepts.

Qualitative data analysis
Approach	When to use	Example
	To describe and categorize common words, phrases, and ideas in qualitative data.	A market researcher could perform content analysis to find out what kind of language is used in descriptions of therapeutic apps.
	To identify and interpret patterns and themes in qualitative data.	A psychologist could apply thematic analysis to travel blogs to explore how tourism shapes self-identity.
	To examine the content, structure, and design of texts.	A media researcher could use textual analysis to understand how news coverage of celebrities has changed in the past decade.
	To study communication and how language is used to achieve effects in specific contexts.	A political scientist could use discourse analysis to study how politicians generate trust in election campaigns.

Qualitative research often tries to preserve the voice and perspective of participants and can be adjusted as new research questions arise. Qualitative research is good for:

Flexibility

The data collection and analysis process can be adapted as new ideas or patterns emerge. They are not rigidly decided beforehand.

Natural settings

Data collection occurs in real-world contexts or in naturalistic ways.

Meaningful insights

Detailed descriptions of people’s experiences, feelings and perceptions can be used in designing, testing or improving systems or products.

Generation of new ideas

Open-ended responses mean that researchers can uncover novel problems or opportunities that they wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.

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Researchers must consider practical and theoretical limitations in analyzing and interpreting their data. Qualitative research suffers from:

Unreliability

The real-world setting often makes qualitative research unreliable because of uncontrolled factors that affect the data.

Subjectivity

Due to the researcher’s primary role in analyzing and interpreting data, qualitative research cannot be replicated . The researcher decides what is important and what is irrelevant in data analysis, so interpretations of the same data can vary greatly.

Limited generalizability

Small samples are often used to gather detailed data about specific contexts. Despite rigorous analysis procedures, it is difficult to draw generalizable conclusions because the data may be biased and unrepresentative of the wider population .

Labor-intensive

Although software can be used to manage and record large amounts of text, data analysis often has to be checked or performed manually.

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Chi square goodness of fit test
Degrees of freedom
Null hypothesis
Discourse analysis
Control groups
Mixed methods research
Non-probability sampling
Quantitative research
Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Research bias

Rosenthal effect
Implicit bias
Cognitive bias
Selection bias
Negativity bias
Status quo bias

Quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics, while qualitative research deals with words and meanings.

Quantitative methods allow you to systematically measure variables and test hypotheses . Qualitative methods allow you to explore concepts and experiences in more detail.

There are five common approaches to qualitative research :

Grounded theory involves collecting data in order to develop new theories.
Ethnography involves immersing yourself in a group or organization to understand its culture.
Narrative research involves interpreting stories to understand how people make sense of their experiences and perceptions.
Phenomenological research involves investigating phenomena through people’s lived experiences.
Action research links theory and practice in several cycles to drive innovative changes.

Data collection is the systematic process by which observations or measurements are gathered in research. It is used in many different contexts by academics, governments, businesses, and other organizations.

There are various approaches to qualitative data analysis , but they all share five steps in common:

Prepare and organize your data.
Review and explore your data.
Develop a data coding system.
Assign codes to the data.
Identify recurring themes.

The specifics of each step depend on the focus of the analysis. Some common approaches include textual analysis , thematic analysis , and discourse analysis .

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J Basic Clin Pharm
v.5(4); September 2014-November 2014

Qualitative research method-interviewing and observation

Shazia jamshed.

Department of Pharmacy Practice, Kulliyyah of Pharmacy, International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuantan Campus, Pahang, Malaysia

Buckley and Chiang define research methodology as “a strategy or architectural design by which the researcher maps out an approach to problem-finding or problem-solving.”[ 1 ] According to Crotty, research methodology is a comprehensive strategy ‘that silhouettes our choice and use of specific methods relating them to the anticipated outcomes,[ 2 ] but the choice of research methodology is based upon the type and features of the research problem.[ 3 ] According to Johnson et al . mixed method research is “a class of research where the researcher mixes or combines quantitative and qualitative research techniques, methods, approaches, theories and or language into a single study.[ 4 ] In order to have diverse opinions and views, qualitative findings need to be supplemented with quantitative results.[ 5 ] Therefore, these research methodologies are considered to be complementary to each other rather than incompatible to each other.[ 6 ]

Qualitative research methodology is considered to be suitable when the researcher or the investigator either investigates new field of study or intends to ascertain and theorize prominent issues.[ 6 , 7 ] There are many qualitative methods which are developed to have an in depth and extensive understanding of the issues by means of their textual interpretation and the most common types are interviewing and observation.[ 7 ]

Interviewing

This is the most common format of data collection in qualitative research. According to Oakley, qualitative interview is a type of framework in which the practices and standards be not only recorded, but also achieved, challenged and as well as reinforced.[ 8 ] As no research interview lacks structure[ 9 ] most of the qualitative research interviews are either semi-structured, lightly structured or in-depth.[ 9 ] Unstructured interviews are generally suggested in conducting long-term field work and allow respondents to let them express in their own ways and pace, with minimal hold on respondents’ responses.[ 10 ]

Pioneers of ethnography developed the use of unstructured interviews with local key informants that is., by collecting the data through observation and record field notes as well as to involve themselves with study participants. To be precise, unstructured interview resembles a conversation more than an interview and is always thought to be a “controlled conversation,” which is skewed towards the interests of the interviewer.[ 11 ] Non-directive interviews, form of unstructured interviews are aimed to gather in-depth information and usually do not have pre-planned set of questions.[ 11 ] Another type of the unstructured interview is the focused interview in which the interviewer is well aware of the respondent and in times of deviating away from the main issue the interviewer generally refocuses the respondent towards key subject.[ 11 ] Another type of the unstructured interview is an informal, conversational interview, based on unplanned set of questions that are generated instantaneously during the interview.[ 11 ]

In contrast, semi-structured interviews are those in-depth interviews where the respondents have to answer preset open-ended questions and thus are widely employed by different healthcare professionals in their research. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews are utilized extensively as interviewing format possibly with an individual or sometimes even with a group.[ 6 ] These types of interviews are conducted once only, with an individual or with a group and generally cover the duration of 30 min to more than an hour.[ 12 ] Semi-structured interviews are based on semi-structured interview guide, which is a schematic presentation of questions or topics and need to be explored by the interviewer.[ 12 ] To achieve optimum use of interview time, interview guides serve the useful purpose of exploring many respondents more systematically and comprehensively as well as to keep the interview focused on the desired line of action.[ 12 ] The questions in the interview guide comprise of the core question and many associated questions related to the central question, which in turn, improve further through pilot testing of the interview guide.[ 7 ] In order to have the interview data captured more effectively, recording of the interviews is considered an appropriate choice but sometimes a matter of controversy among the researcher and the respondent. Hand written notes during the interview are relatively unreliable, and the researcher might miss some key points. The recording of the interview makes it easier for the researcher to focus on the interview content and the verbal prompts and thus enables the transcriptionist to generate “verbatim transcript” of the interview.

Similarly, in focus groups, invited groups of people are interviewed in a discussion setting in the presence of the session moderator and generally these discussions last for 90 min.[ 7 ] Like every research technique having its own merits and demerits, group discussions have some intrinsic worth of expressing the opinions openly by the participants. On the contrary in these types of discussion settings, limited issues can be focused, and this may lead to the generation of fewer initiatives and suggestions about research topic.

Observation

Observation is a type of qualitative research method which not only included participant's observation, but also covered ethnography and research work in the field. In the observational research design, multiple study sites are involved. Observational data can be integrated as auxiliary or confirmatory research.[ 11 ]

Research can be visualized and perceived as painstaking methodical efforts to examine, investigate as well as restructure the realities, theories and applications. Research methods reflect the approach to tackling the research problem. Depending upon the need, research method could be either an amalgam of both qualitative and quantitative or qualitative or quantitative independently. By adopting qualitative methodology, a prospective researcher is going to fine-tune the pre-conceived notions as well as extrapolate the thought process, analyzing and estimating the issues from an in-depth perspective. This could be carried out by one-to-one interviews or as issue-directed discussions. Observational methods are, sometimes, supplemental means for corroborating research findings.

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Interview Research

General Handbooks and Overviews

Qualitative research communities.

Types of Interviews
Recruiting & Engaging Participants
Interview Questions
Conducting Interviews
Recording & Transcription
Data Analysis
Managing Interview Data
Finding Extant Interviews
Past Workshops on Interview Research
Methodological Resources
Remote & Virtual Fieldwork
Data Management & Repositories
Campus Access
Interviews as a Method for Qualitative Research (video) This short video summarizes why interviews can serve as useful data in qualitative research.
InterViews by Steinar Kvale Interviewing is an essential tool in qualitative research and this introduction to interviewing outlines both the theoretical underpinnings and the practical aspects of the process. After examining the role of the interview in the research process, Steinar Kvale considers some of the key philosophical issues relating to interviewing: the interview as conversation, hermeneutics, phenomenology, concerns about ethics as well as validity, and postmodernism. Having established this framework, the author then analyzes the seven stages of the interview process - from designing a study to writing it up.
Practical Evaluation by Michael Quinn Patton Surveys different interviewing strategies, from, a) informal/conversational, to b) interview guide approach, to c) standardized and open-ended, to d) closed/quantitative. Also discusses strategies for wording questions that are open-ended, clear, sensitive, and neutral, while supporting the speaker. Provides suggestions for probing and maintaining control of the interview process, as well as suggestions for recording and transcription.
The SAGE Handbook of Interview Research by Amir B. Marvasti (Editor); James A. Holstein (Editor); Jaber F. Gubrium (Editor); Karyn D. McKinney (Editor) The new edition of this landmark volume emphasizes the dynamic, interactional, and reflexive dimensions of the research interview. Contributors highlight the myriad dimensions of complexity that are emerging as researchers increasingly frame the interview as a communicative opportunity as much as a data-gathering format. The book begins with the history and conceptual transformations of the interview, which is followed by chapters that discuss the main components of interview practice. Taken together, the contributions to The SAGE Handbook of Interview Research: The Complexity of the Craft encourage readers simultaneously to learn the frameworks and technologies of interviewing and to reflect on the epistemological foundations of the interview craft.
International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry They host an annual confrerence at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which aims to facilitate the development of qualitative research methods across a wide variety of academic disciplines, among other initiatives.
METHODSPACE An online home of the research methods community, where practicing researchers share how to make research easier.
Social Research Association, UK The SRA is the membership organisation for social researchers in the UK and beyond. It supports researchers via training, guidance, publications, research ethics, events, branches, and careers.
Social Science Research Council The SSRC administers fellowships and research grants that support the innovation and evaluation of new policy solutions. They convene researchers and stakeholders to share evidence-based policy solutions and incubate new research agendas, produce online knowledge platforms and technical reports that catalog research-based policy solutions, and support mentoring programs that broaden problem-solving research opportunities.
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What Is Qualitative Research? | Methods & Examples

What Is Qualitative Research? | Methods & Examples

Published on 4 April 2022 by Pritha Bhandari . Revised on 30 January 2023.

Qualitative research involves collecting and analysing non-numerical data (e.g., text, video, or audio) to understand concepts, opinions, or experiences. It can be used to gather in-depth insights into a problem or generate new ideas for research.

Qualitative research is the opposite of quantitative research , which involves collecting and analysing numerical data for statistical analysis.

Qualitative research is commonly used in the humanities and social sciences, in subjects such as anthropology, sociology, education, health sciences, and history.

How does social media shape body image in teenagers?
How do children and adults interpret healthy eating in the UK?
What factors influence employee retention in a large organisation?
How is anxiety experienced around the world?
How can teachers integrate social issues into science curriculums?

Approaches to qualitative research, qualitative research methods, qualitative data analysis, advantages of qualitative research, disadvantages of qualitative research, frequently asked questions about qualitative research.

Common approaches include grounded theory, ethnography, action research, phenomenological research, and narrative research. They share some similarities, but emphasise different aims and perspectives.

Qualitative research approaches
Approach	What does it involve?
Grounded theory	Researchers collect rich data on a topic of interest and develop theories .
	Researchers immerse themselves in groups or organisations to understand their cultures.
	Researchers and participants collaboratively link theory to practice to drive social change.
Phenomenological research	Researchers investigate a phenomenon or event by describing and interpreting participants’ lived experiences.
Narrative research	Researchers examine how stories are told to understand how participants perceive and make sense of their experiences.

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Each of the research approaches involve using one or more data collection methods . These are some of the most common qualitative methods:

Observations: recording what you have seen, heard, or encountered in detailed field notes.
Interviews: personally asking people questions in one-on-one conversations.
Focus groups: asking questions and generating discussion among a group of people.
Surveys : distributing questionnaires with open-ended questions.
Secondary research: collecting existing data in the form of texts, images, audio or video recordings, etc.
You take field notes with observations and reflect on your own experiences of the company culture.
You distribute open-ended surveys to employees across all the company’s offices by email to find out if the culture varies across locations.
You conduct in-depth interviews with employees in your office to learn about their experiences and perspectives in greater detail.

Qualitative researchers often consider themselves ‘instruments’ in research because all observations, interpretations and analyses are filtered through their own personal lens.

Qualitative data can take the form of texts, photos, videos and audio. For example, you might be working with interview transcripts, survey responses, fieldnotes, or recordings from natural settings.

Most types of qualitative data analysis share the same five steps:

Prepare and organise your data. This may mean transcribing interviews or typing up fieldnotes.
Review and explore your data. Examine the data for patterns or repeated ideas that emerge.
Develop a data coding system. Based on your initial ideas, establish a set of codes that you can apply to categorise your data.
Assign codes to the data. For example, in qualitative survey analysis, this may mean going through each participant’s responses and tagging them with codes in a spreadsheet. As you go through your data, you can create new codes to add to your system if necessary.
Identify recurring themes. Link codes together into cohesive, overarching themes.

There are several specific approaches to analysing qualitative data. Although these methods share similar processes, they emphasise different concepts.

Qualitative data analysis
Approach	When to use	Example
	To describe and categorise common words, phrases, and ideas in qualitative data.	A market researcher could perform content analysis to find out what kind of language is used in descriptions of therapeutic apps.
	To identify and interpret patterns and themes in qualitative data.	A psychologist could apply thematic analysis to travel blogs to explore how tourism shapes self-identity.
	To examine the content, structure, and design of texts.	A media researcher could use textual analysis to understand how news coverage of celebrities has changed in the past decade.
	To study communication and how language is used to achieve effects in specific contexts.	A political scientist could use discourse analysis to study how politicians generate trust in election campaigns.

Qualitative research often tries to preserve the voice and perspective of participants and can be adjusted as new research questions arise. Qualitative research is good for:

Flexibility

The data collection and analysis process can be adapted as new ideas or patterns emerge. They are not rigidly decided beforehand.

Natural settings

Data collection occurs in real-world contexts or in naturalistic ways.

Meaningful insights

Detailed descriptions of people’s experiences, feelings and perceptions can be used in designing, testing or improving systems or products.

Generation of new ideas

Open-ended responses mean that researchers can uncover novel problems or opportunities that they wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.

Researchers must consider practical and theoretical limitations in analysing and interpreting their data. Qualitative research suffers from:

Unreliability

The real-world setting often makes qualitative research unreliable because of uncontrolled factors that affect the data.

Subjectivity

Due to the researcher’s primary role in analysing and interpreting data, qualitative research cannot be replicated . The researcher decides what is important and what is irrelevant in data analysis, so interpretations of the same data can vary greatly.

Limited generalisability

Small samples are often used to gather detailed data about specific contexts. Despite rigorous analysis procedures, it is difficult to draw generalisable conclusions because the data may be biased and unrepresentative of the wider population .

Labour-intensive

Although software can be used to manage and record large amounts of text, data analysis often has to be checked or performed manually.

Quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics, while qualitative research deals with words and meanings.

Quantitative methods allow you to test a hypothesis by systematically collecting and analysing data, while qualitative methods allow you to explore ideas and experiences in depth.

There are five common approaches to qualitative research :

Grounded theory involves collecting data in order to develop new theories.
Ethnography involves immersing yourself in a group or organisation to understand its culture.
Narrative research involves interpreting stories to understand how people make sense of their experiences and perceptions.
Phenomenological research involves investigating phenomena through people’s lived experiences.
Action research links theory and practice in several cycles to drive innovative changes.

There are various approaches to qualitative data analysis , but they all share five steps in common:

Prepare and organise your data.
Review and explore your data.
Develop a data coding system.
Assign codes to the data.
Identify recurring themes.

The specifics of each step depend on the focus of the analysis. Some common approaches include textual analysis , thematic analysis , and discourse analysis .

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1 Introduction to Qualitative Interviewing

Published: May 2013
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This introductory chapter provides an overview of the landscape of qualitative interviewing. It begins by introducing the broader conversational world of human beings in which interviewing—as one specific kind of conversational practice—takes place. It then provides a brief history of qualitative interviewing and presents a number of conceptual and analytical distinctions relevant to the central epistemological and theoretical questions in the field of qualitative interviewing. Particular attention is given to the complementary positions of experience-focused interviewing (phenomenological positions) and language-focused interviewing (discourse-oriented positions).

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April 2024	92
May 2024	114
June 2024	46
July 2024	62
August 2024	62
September 2024	16

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Journal of Medical Internet Research (Jul 2024)

Determining an Appropriate Sample Size for Qualitative Interviews to Achieve True and Near Code Saturation: Secondary Analysis of Data

Claudia M Squire,
Kristen C Giombi,
Douglas J Rupert,
Jacqueline Amoozegar,
Peyton Williams

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BackgroundIn-depth interviews are a common method of qualitative data collection, providing rich data on individuals’ perceptions and behaviors that would be challenging to collect with quantitative methods. Researchers typically need to decide on sample size a priori. Although studies have assessed when saturation has been achieved, there is no agreement on the minimum number of interviews needed to achieve saturation. To date, most research on saturation has been based on in-person data collection. During the COVID-19 pandemic, web-based data collection became increasingly common, as traditional in-person data collection was possible. Researchers continue to use web-based data collection methods post the COVID-19 emergency, making it important to assess whether findings around saturation differ for in-person versus web-based interviews. ObjectiveWe aimed to identify the number of web-based interviews needed to achieve true code saturation or near code saturation. MethodsThe analyses for this study were based on data from 5 Food and Drug Administration–funded studies conducted through web-based platforms with patients with underlying medical conditions or with health care providers who provide primary or specialty care to patients. We extracted code- and interview-specific data and examined the data summaries to determine when true saturation or near saturation was reached. ResultsThe sample size used in the 5 studies ranged from 30 to 70 interviews. True saturation was reached after 91% to 100% (n=30-67) of planned interviews, whereas near saturation was reached after 33% to 60% (n=15-23) of planned interviews. Studies that relied heavily on deductive coding and studies that had a more structured interview guide reached both true saturation and near saturation sooner. We also examined the types of codes applied after near saturation had been reached. In 4 of the 5 studies, most of these codes represented previously established core concepts or themes. Codes representing newly identified concepts, other or miscellaneous responses (eg, “in general”), uncertainty or confusion (eg, “don’t know”), or categorization for analysis (eg, correct as compared with incorrect) were less commonly applied after near saturation had been reached. ConclusionsThis study provides support that near saturation may be a sufficient measure to target and that conducting additional interviews after that point may result in diminishing returns. Factors to consider in determining how many interviews to conduct include the structure and type of questions included in the interview guide, the coding structure, and the population under study. Studies with less structured interview guides, studies that rely heavily on inductive coding and analytic techniques, and studies that include populations that may be less knowledgeable about the topics discussed may require a larger sample size to reach an acceptable level of saturation. Our findings also build on previous studies looking at saturation for in-person data collection conducted at a small number of sites.

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Published: 17 September 2024

Exploring the impact of perceived early marriage on women’s education and employment in Bangladesh through a mixed-methods study

Md. Nuruzzaman Khan 1 , 2 ,
Shimlin Jahan Khanam 1 ,
Md. Mostaured Ali Khan 3 ,
Md Arif Billah 4 &
Shahinoor Akter 5

Scientific Reports volume 14 , Article number: 21683 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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Epidemiology
Medical research

Child marriage negatively affects women’s socio-economic empowerment, particularly in education and employment. This study aimed to explore women’ perspectives on the timing of their marriages, considering their educational and employment status at the time. It also sought to identify factors influencing early married women’s perception of their marriages as timely. We analyzed both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data included a sample of 5,596 women aged 15–24 from the 2017/18 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey. Additionally, we collected qualitative data through six in-depth interviews, two focus group discussions, and 13 key informant interviews. We used a multilevel mixed-effects Poisson regression model to examine the relationship between women’s formal employment, education, and child marriage. Thematic analysis was employed for the qualitative data. Around 62% of the total women analysed reported their married occurred early with the mean age at marriage was 15.2 years. Approximately 55% of the total early married women believed their marriages occurred at the right time, especially among those who were employed at the time of their marriage. Among this subset, we also noticed a higher likelihood of discontinuing work and education following marriage. Qualitative findings revealed reasons behind this perception, such as escaping poverty, safety concerns, limited job prospects, and the impact of non-marital relationship and societal norms. While many early-married women perceived their marriage as timely, particularly those initially employed, this decision often coincides with a subsequent withdrawal from work and education. This underscores the pressing need for policies and programs aimed at educating women about the legal age for marriage and the negative consequences associated with early marriage while also equipping them with knowledge and resources for informed decision-making.

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Exploring how unemployment and grandparental support influence reproductive decisions in sub-Saharan African countries: Nigeria in focus

Introduction.

Child marriage is a pervasive issue in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), especially in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa 1 . The 2022 UNICEF report on child marriage revealed that approximately 12 million girls in LMICs are married before the age of 18 each year, which translates to one in every five girls in those settings 2 . In Bangladesh, the situation is even more alarming, with recent estimates indicating that about 59% of women aged 20–24 years were married before turning 18 3 , and 22% were married before the age of 15 4 . The rate is further higher in rural areas, particularly those with widespread poverty, low education enrolment and significant concerns about family’s reputation 4 , 5 , 6 .

Child marriage can have devastating consequences for girls and their families, as it often leads to a cycle of poverty and disempowerment 7 . Girls who are forced into early marriage are often forced to drop out of school, which reduces and restricts their opportunities for education and limits their economic prospects 8 . Additionally, child marriage has been associated with higher rates of domestic violence and divorce, which can have significant negative impacts on girls’ physical and mental health, hampering the development and wellbeing of girls 9 , 10 . Moreover, child marriage has serious implications for maternal health. Child brides are more likely to experience complications during pregnancy and childbirth, such as obstetric fistula and maternal mortality 11 , 12 . Children born to child brides are also at a higher risk of mortality and malnutrition 13 . This leads to an intergenerational effect because malnourished children are often more likely to drop out of school and subsequently become child brides themselves 14 . These adverse consequences associated with child marriage, coupled with the high number of girls affected, highlight a significant burden in LMICs 1 . Therefore, it poses challenges to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to health and well-being (SDG 3), gender equality (SDG 5), education (SDG 4), and poverty reduction (SDG 1) 15 .

Socio-demographic factors associated with child marriage have been extensively studied in LMICs, including Bangladesh 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 . Although such observational studies played a crucial role in developing relevant policies and programs to reduce the occurrence of child marriage, they fall short comprehensively addressing the issue. Girls’ views over their marriage along with marriage age can carry a significant weight and override all socio-demographic factors by mediating their roles 20 . It is commonly assumed that every child marriage occurs on parental wishes and is not desired by the girls. However, this is not always the case in reality. The underlying reasons for girls choosing to marry at an early age instead of continuing education and work has remained understudied 21 . Therefore, it is crucial to explore the percentage of girls who perceive their marital age as appropriate or not, as this can inform the development of more effective policies and programs. However, undertaking this requires comprehensive research, integrating determinant factors of early marriage and perceptions of those who marry early. Unfortunately, such information is largely absent in existing literature due to the nature of available data in LMICs, including Bangladesh, where DHS surveys serve as primary data sources 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 22 . The survey provides important information on prevalence of early marriage and its socio-demographic predictors, however, lacking content related to girls’ views over early marriage as it typically requires qualitative study. This indicates a need for mixed-methods studies, which are mostly lacking in LMICs, with none conducted in Bangladesh 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 . To address these limitations, we aimed to investigate women’s perceptions of getting married at an earlier age, taking into account their education and employment status at the time of marriage. We also sought to identify the factors that influenced earlier-aged women to perceive their marriages as occurring at the right age.

Study design

The study applied a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design where analysis of secondary quantitative data were followed by the collection and analysis of qualitative data 27 . The qualitative findings, therefore, aimed to explain and interpret the findings of the quantitative study.

Quantitative study

Data source and sampling.

This study analysed data of most recent 2017/18 Bangladesh Demography and Health Survey (BDHS). The survey employed a two-stage stratified random sampling method to select the respondents. In the first stage, 672 Primary Sampling Units (PSUs) were selected from a list of 293,579 PSUs generated during the 2011 National Population Census of Bangladesh, excluding three PSUs due to extreme floods. In the second stage, 30 households were randomly selected from each of the PSUs, using probability proportional to PSU size. This generated a list of 20,160 households, and 19,457 of these households were interviewed. There were 20,376 respondents eligible in the selected households with the eligibility criteria: (i) being a married woman of reproductive age and (ii) spent the previous night of the survey day in the selected households. Of them data were collected from 20,127 women. Details of the BDHS survey procedure were published elsewhere 3 . A sub-sample, 5,596 women aged 15–24, of them was analysed in this study selected based on the following two inclusion criteria: (i) aged 15–24 years (to ensure inclusion of only recently married women following the recommendation of global literature 2 , 6 , 7 , 9 , 24 , 28 ) and (ii) married at the time of survey.

Outcome variable

The focus of our quantitative study was child marriage, which we defined as a binary outcome variable (yes or no). To collect this data, the BDHS asked women to report the age at which they first began living with their spouse or first spouse in case of more than one marriage. We categorized responses as either child marriage (1, if the marriage occurred before the woman turned 18) or normal-aged marriage (0, if the marriage occurred at age 18 or later) according to the universal recommendation which is also followed in Bangladesh 2 .

Exposure variables

Working status and educational status of respondents at the time of their marriage as well as following marriage were our primary exposure variables. The BDHS collected this data by asking whether the respondents were working or studying in school just before they got married. If the response was affirmative, the respondents were then asked two follow-up questions to determine their work or education continuity and the number of years of continuity. These follow-up questions were: (i) Did you continue working/studying after marriage? and (ii) If yes, for how long? Based on the responses, we created four variables: (i) study before marriage (yes, no), (ii) work before marriage (yes, no), (iii) after marriage study (no, continue less than a year, continue less than five years), and (iv) after marriage work (no, continue less than a year, less than five years). We also considered additional exposure variables by reviewing the available literature for Bangladesh and other LMICs 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 . These variables included respondents’ age, education level, partner’s education level, partner’s occupation, wealth quintile, place of residence, and region of residence.

Statistical analysis

Descriptive statistics, including frequency and percentage, were used to describe the characteristics of the respondents. Multilevel mixed-effect Poisson regression model was utilized to explore the association between early marriage and the working and studying status of the respondents, as well as the continuity of their working and studying status following child marriage. The reason for using a multilevel Poisson regression model was higher prevalence of child marriage (> 10%) and the clustering structure of the BDHS data. Previous studies have found that simple logistic regression analysis produces less precise findings when the prevalence of the outcome variable is high and the data come from a clustered structure 29 . Both adjusted and unadjusted models were run, where one particular exposure variable was considered with the child marriage variable in the unadjusted model, and other factors were adjusted in the adjusted model. Multicollinearity was checked before running each model. Results were reported as unadjusted or adjusted Prevalence Ratios (PRs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals. Stata version 18.0 was used for data analysis.

Qualitative exploration

In our quantitative study, we identified a higher prevalence of child marriage among working women. To explore why working women get married at an early age, we conducted a qualitative study during January 2023 and January 2024 as this information was not available in the BDHS survey data. The Gazipur district of Dhaka division was purposively selected as the study area. This area has a higher concentration of ready-made garments and small-scale industries where the majority of workers are women and married 30 . Two focus group discussions (FGDs) involving 16 participants (8 in each FGD), six in-depth interviews (IDIs), and 13 key informant interviews (KIIs) were conducted using two pre-developed interview topic guides. The topic guides covered several areas, including marriage experience, perceptions at the time of marriage, education and employment after marriage, respondents’ perspectives on marriage over time, and community and religious norms related to early marriage. The length of these interviews ranged from 75 to 90 min.

The participants included in the FGD and IDI were selected purposively selected based on the following criteria: (i) currently aged between 15 and 24 years, (ii) married before their 18th birthday, (iii) involved in either work or education just before marriage, and (iv) currently either continuing education or work or have left them to become housewives. These criteria aimed to ensure that the qualitative study participants were similar to those in the quantitative study. To recruit the participants, data collectors first approached them by sharing the details of the study plan and collected data on their preferred date. To protect privacy of the participants and ensure limited interruption during interview process, the participant and interviewer choose a private location. Prior to the qualitative data collection, participants were again briefed about its objectives and assured of the confidentiality of their responses. Informed consent was obtained from participants above 18 years old, while for participants under 18, informed consent was obtained from their legal guardians (father or husband).

Additionally, 13 key informant interviews (KIIs, male = 9; female = 4) were conducted with managers of ready-made garment factories ( n = 2), small-scale industries ( n = 1), local leaders (members of the Pourosova, n = 3 [male = 2, female = 1]), the Upazila Nirbahi officer ( n = 1, female), and parents of girls who married at an early age ( n = 6 [male = 4, female = 2]). Their perspectives on early marriage were sought due to their significant involvement in the issue, including shaping cultural norms and exerting social pressures that perpetuate early marriage practices.

Participation was completely voluntary, and no participants were provided with any gifts or incentives to participate in this study. Experienced social researchers were involved in the qualitative data collection. The FGDs and IDIs were conducted by a female interviewer (second author). The KIIs were conducted by two male interviewers (first and third author). All conversations during FDGs, IDIs and KIIs were audio recorded with consent. The recorded audio files were subsequently reviewed and translated into English by the respective research team members. Relevant sections on the reasons behind early marriage and its impact on work and educational pursuits were extracted and discussed among the team to ensure accurate interpretation and presentation of the data. Qualitative data were thematically analysed 31 , using Nvivo version 12.10 32 . Key themes identified in the analyses were synthesized and presented as study findings. Ethical approval for the qualitative study was obtained from the Institutional Review Board of the University of Rajshahi.

Background characteristics of the respondents

Table 1 presents the background characteristics of the respondents included in the quantitative exploration. The mean age at marriage was 15.2 years (SD, ± 1.41) and the mean years of education were 6.9 years (SD, ± 2.95). About 32.8% of the respondents reported being engaged in a formal job. Of the respondents analyzed, 61.7% reported their marriage occurred before reaching their age 18 years. Over half of the (55.1%) total 61.7% who reported being married before 18 years reported that their marriage occurred at the right time, while 44.9% of them felt that they should have delayed their marriage.

Respondents’ perception about their marriage timing

Table 2 illustrates the distribution of respondents’ perception about their marriage timing as per their socio-demographic characteristics. Among the respondents who believed that their marriage occurred earlier, and they should delay, 49.8% were aged between 15 and 19 years, and 41.2% were aged between 20 and 24 years. Earlier-aged married women who believe their marriage occurred earlier and should be delayed, 36.6% were illiterate. This number was half to 63.4% of illiterate women who thought their marriage occurred at right age.

How women’s education and employment status before marriage influences their perception of marriage age

The unadjusted associations suggest that earlier-married women who thought their marriage occurred at the right time were more likely to have worked before marriage (PR = 1.88, 95% CI = 1.34–2.64) and less likely to have studied before marriage (PR = 0.55, 95% CI = 0.47–0.66) compared to women who thought they should delay their marriage (Table 3 ). After adjusting for confounding variables, the associations remain significant, but the effect sizes are attenuated. Earlier aged women who thought their marriage occurred at the right time were still more likely to have worked before marriage (aPR = 1.47, 95% CI = 1.01–2.18), but the association was no longer significant. However, adjusted likelihood of early marriage was found lower among studying girls (aPR = 0.43, 95% CI = 0.35–0.53).

Impact of early marriage on the continuation of education and employment

Table 4 presents the results of the analysis of the association between the women’s perception of their marriage timing and their continuation of education and work after marriage. In the unadjusted analysis, earlier aged women who think that their marriage occurred at right time were more likely to report continuation of their education up to five years (PR = 1.73, 95% CI 1.31–2.28) as compared to the women who did not continue their education. However, this association was not significant for those who continued their education for less than one year. In the adjusted analysis, the association between continuing education and women’s perception of their marriage timing was attenuated, with women who continued their education for less than five years having a non-significant lower likelihood of perceiving their marriage as occurring at the right time (aPR = 0.92, 95% CI 0.65–1.28). The association between continuing work and women’s perception of their marriage timing remained non-significant in the adjusted analysis.

Through qualitative investigation, we conducted an extensive exploration into the reasons why working women who married at an earlier age believed that their marriage took place at the right time, and also examined why studying women who married at an earlier age perceived their marriage as occurring earlier, as revealed in our quantitative analysis. The characteristics of the participants participated in qualitative interviews are presented in supplementary Tables 1 , 2 and 3 . Our comprehensive findings have uncovered a multitude of factors that can be categorized into distinct thematic patterns (supplementary Table 4). These include: (i) getting married is a way to recover from poverty, (ii) marriage was perceived as a means to ensure the safety and security of young unmarried girls, (iii) less hope for job prospects, and (iv) intimate relationships and social norms.

Getting married way to recover from poverty

Participants reported that a common influencing factor behind early marriage among young girls was their perception that it would help them escape poverty.

“I had dreams of studying and becoming a government service holder, but poverty choked those dreams before they could bloom. Marriage was the only path open to me, even if it means leaving those dreams behind.” (IDI participant 3, age 20). “My parents couldn’t afford to keep me in school anymore, and marriage seemed like the only way to have a roof over my head and food on the table.” (IDI participant 2, age 19).

Most female participants reported that they entered the labour market before reaching their 18th birthday. Since their families were from lower socio-economic backgrounds, they started looking for a job to support their families. They often engaged in low-wage occupations, such as house cleaning or garment factories.

“I worked in house cleaning before my marriage and received a very low wage, which was not enough for my living. As a result, I could not send money to my parents, even though they expected me to do so.” (FGD 1 participant, age 19).

According to them, like many young girls, they also moved to the city from rural areas leaving their families behind in search of jobs and started living in rental accommodations. The income derived from these jobs proved insufficient to meet their daily expenses, including paying for food, rent and utilities while providing financial assistance to their families. This issue was also highlighted in the KIIs. One ready-made garment manager reported that young female ready-made garment factory workers’ wages are not enough to support themselves and their parents. Therefore, they usually decide or agree to get married at an early age to overcome their financial struggles.

“Girls who started working here usually work on a daily basis and earn only 150–200 BDT (1.5-2 USD) per day, which is not enough to maintain their daily expenses. What’s even worse is that many of these girls migrated from rural areas to work here, meaning they have to pay for their rent and other associated costs. It’s no surprise that many of them end up choosing to get married, as it seems like the only way out of this financial struggle”. (Ready-garment manager, male, age 45).

Marriage was perceived as a means to ensure the safety and security of young unmarried girls

In the context of working girls who opt for early marriage, safety and security emerge as crucial factors. Participants reported that young girls working in different industries (such as ready-made garments factories) usually work alongside male workers. Due to the demands of their jobs, they usually spend prolonged hours working together at workplace. The nature of their joint work and spending prolonged hours at workplace often create tensions and a sense of insecurity among themselves and within their families. They fear being exposed to physical and sexual abuse and/or violence at workplace, thereby reinforcing the inclination towards early marriage.

“My parents were concerned about the potential risks of sexual and physical abuse when working outside the home, especially during evening hours and interacting with male colleagues. I would hold the same belief and take similar precautions if I had a young daughter engaged in employment, as there are multiple reasons to support this perspective”. (FGD 1 participant, age 18). “Living alone as a young woman in this city felt dangerous. Marriage, even if it’s not ideal, meant having someone to protect me and a family to belong to.” (IDI participant 2, age 20).

This fear also reflected in the KIIs with fathers. Families of young girls working in ready-made garment factories tend to marry off their young girls to protect their daughters or girls from any future risks of abuse.

“Soon after starting working at age 15, I arranged her marriage. Although it was not my intention, we did not feel secure leaving my young daughter outside the house, as she could be at risk of rape or harassment from strangers. My neighbours also suggested that I do so”. (Father of a married and working young girl, age 55).

One key informant, a supervisor of a ready-made garments industry, also confirmed that young girls working in the industries often become victims of physical and sexual harassments. He also added that the prevalence of sexual violence and harassment had been underreported like in other sectors in Bangladesh and remained a concerning reality. However, the families of the young girls are aware of these risks, even if based on limited evidence, which significantly influenced marry off their girls at a young age against the law.

“A significant number of girls who start working at a young age face violence from their male counterparts, including sexual violence. We are aware of this, and our organization has very strict laws against it. However, these incidents often go unreported, similar to other sectors in Bangladesh”. (A supervisor of a garment factory, male, age 38).

Even parents of young school or college-going girls also voiced their concern regarding their daughters’ safety while traveling to school or college. Sometimes local boys or men harassed these young girls on the way to home or college, and parents of these young girls usually perceived that marrying the young girls off was the only solution.

“I wanted my daughter to continue her education. However, a mischievous boy started following her to school. I contacted his parents and asked them to discipline their son and prevent him from following my daughter, but it did not work. Eventually, I had to marry off my daughter when she was only 16 years old”. (Father of earlier aged girls who marry off while studying, age 38).

However, during the FGDs, female participants expressed their viewpoints that the claims regarding safety concerns and incidents of violence were not always accurate. They argued that this phenomenon might stem from parents’ genuine apprehensions regarding the safety and their desire to uphold societal prestige, their parents mostly forced them to get married at an early age against their will. This highlights the need to delve deeper into the complexities surrounding early marriage and the factors that shape this decision.

“I started working as a house cleaner when I was 15 and got married at age 16. I wasn’t intending to get married at that time, but my parents pressured me to do so. They had heard that young girls working as house cleaners often face sexual and physical violence from homeowners. Though my homeowners treated me like their daughter. Therefore, they were strict in their decision to marry me off”. (FGD 2 participant, age 20).

Less hope for job prospects

Several female participants highlighted the interconnectedness between school dropout, limited employment opportunities for people with lower educational attainment, early entry into workforce, and early marriage. According to them, education could not guarantee job prospects in Bangladesh. Securing a job could be more challenging for individuals with low academic achievements. Therefore, they perceived that entering the job market early would be more worthwhile for them and their families than continuing their education, as it required financial resources.

“Studying seemed pointless when I knew there were barely any jobs at the end. Marriage offered a chance at some stability, even if it wasn’t the kind I hoped for.” (IDI participant 5, age 21).

One FGD participant reported that she perceived that she did not have the necessary qualities to compete in the increasingly competitive job market. She felt early employment would give her practical work experience, opening opportunities for better job prospects. Hence, she decided to dropout from school. Other FGD participants agreed with her, indicating they shared similar perceptions.

“Obtaining a job after completing education is only possible for highly meritorious students. I did not fall into that category. Hence, I decided to start working with the hope that by the time I finished my education, I would have accumulated several years of work experience, which would undoubtedly enhance my chances of securing a comparatively better job”. (FGD 2 participant, age 19).

Some guardians of young school or college-going girls also perceived that education would not guarantee any employment for their daughters and married them off at an earlier age.

“Why would I continue my daughter’s education? What hope was there? Even many educated and meritorious students are now unemployed. Therefore, I married off my daughter when she was only 15, and she is now leading her own life. I have no concern now”. (Father of earlier aged girls who marry off while studying, age 40).

Intimate relationships and social norms

Several female participants revealed that working girls were found to be more susceptible to developing relationships with their colleagues. These close bonds often evolve into sexual relationships, contributing to early marriage among working girls.

“Shortly after I began working, I entered into a relationship with one of my colleagues, which later turned into a sexual relationship. We then decided to marry, although our parents were unhappy with our decision. However, we did it without their approval because we knew what we did was not right according to our religion”. (FGD 1 participant, age 18).

The issue of having a relationship at the workplace without parents’ permission was identified as a growing concern for early marriage, even in the absence of an intimate relationship.

“Parents of the earlier-aged working girls are mostly uneducated and strongly influenced by the social norms and misconceptions. They believe female and male could not be co-worker. Therefore, they prefer to marry off their daughters earlier”. (Upazila Nirbahi officer, age 38).

Importantly, this perception was found to be common among parents of both working and studying girls. However, it does not pose a significant concern for the parents of studying girls. This is because their awareness of the negative effects of child marriage motivates them to prioritize the education of their daughters and prioritize their daughters’ safety above all else.

“I had concerns about the possibility of my school-going daughters engaging in intimate relationships, which have become more common due to modernization. However, my intention was not to abruptly end her education and arrange her marriage solely based on this risk. I believed she was young and had a promising future ahead. Eventually, I did make the decision to marry her, but it was primarily motivated by the opportunity to find a comparatively better groom within my family lineage”. (Father of earlier aged girls who marry off while studying, age 38).

Social norms were highlighted as significant reasons for early marriage among the women who married at a younger age.

“Marriage is a way to uphold our traditions, to show respect to our families and ancestors. Even if I had doubts, I knew I had to follow the path laid out for me.” (IDI participant 4, age 22).

One participant mentioned that she felt she did not belong in her society and remained a minor in society’s eyes when she found many of peers were getting married at an earlier age than her.

“Everyone around me was getting married young, building families. It felt like I was the only one left behind, stuck in a childhood that was no longer fitting. Marriage was a way to belong, to be seen as a responsible adult.” (IDI participant 5, age 21).

Another participant explicitly mentioned why marriage was important for them to become important in the society.

“Marriage is a social currency here. It defines your status, your worth. Choosing a career over marriage felt like choosing shame over acceptance, a path less traveled and less understood.” (IDI participant 3, age 19).

The primary objective of this study was to explore the perspectives of girls regarding the timing of their own marriages, taking into consideration their educational and employment backgrounds at the time of marriage. Furthermore, we aimed to investigate the factors that influenced earlier-aged women to perceive their marriages as occurring at the appropriate time. Our findings indicate that among the total population of earlier-aged women, 55% believe that their marriages took place at the right time, with a higher percentage observed among women who were employed at the time of marriage. Among those who held this perception, there was a notable trend of discontinuing work and education after getting married. Through qualitative analysis, we gained insights into the underlying reasons why these women considered their marriages to be timely, including the desire to escape poverty, concerns regarding safety and security, and the influence of intimate relationships and societal norms.

The study findings convey three significant messages concerning early marriage in the country. Firstly, a substantial portion of early marriages are a result of girls’ choice. Secondly, the engagement of girls in formal employment contributes to an increase in early marriage rates, unless measures are implemented to ensure economic security and safety. Lastly, early-married girls who believe that their marriages occurred at the right time are more likely to discontinue their education and withdraw from the workforce.

The perception of working girls who marry early that their marriage occurred at the right time can be understood from two distinct directions. Firstly, these girls may lack awareness regarding the appropriate age for marriage and the potential negative consequences associated with marrying at a young age. Secondly, their working environment and the challenges they face may have influenced their decision to marry early, despite being aware of the adverse outcomes of early marriage. This may include parental pressure for marriage once girls start working, especially if they work alongside male colleagues or develop intimate relationships with them, which can conflict with societal norms 33 . Traditional patriarchal values in Bangladesh further reinforce these pressures 33 . Regardless of the direction, these perceptions indicate a failure of policies and programs, which can result in long-term burdens for the country.

If the first direction holds true, it suggests that a portion of women have not received the message regarding the correct age for marriage at early ages and consequences of early marriage. Factors such as early dropout from education to enter the workforce and limited exposure to mass media due to work obligations may contribute to this lower level of awareness 28 , 29 , 34 . These directions are influenced by various socio-demographic and socio-cultural factors. While leaving the parental home to enter the workforce can indicate a degree of freedom for girls, this is not always the case in many LMICs, including Nepal and India 8 , 18 . In these contexts, girls who start working early, often without continuing their education, typically come from low-income families where they are expected to support their families. Early marriage remains a long-standing norm in these communities, perpetuated by the fact that their mothers and grandmothers also married at a young age. Furthermore, these girls often move from their parental homes to their workplace, which is often seen as opposite of social norms in Bangladesh as well as other LMICs 35 .

On the other hand, if the second directions is true, it indicates a failure of long-standing governmental priorities to ensure continuing girls’ education and prevent child labour, as well as a failure to ensure the safety of working girls 18 . Though Bangladesh has made remarkable progress in reducing violence against women, incidents still occur frequently with one in three women faces it 36 . Importantly, any such incidents are usually spread widely with additional rumours, causing concern for the girls’ security and motivating their parents to marry them off early. However, the above explanations may not be true for the girls who continue education. They are usually better aware off about the right age of marriage and risk of early marriage as well as usually stay at home with less security issue. They are also from a comparatively better family status.

In this study, we have also found that there is a lower likelihood of continuing work after marriage. This change is mainly due to the presence of family pressure or intention to have a child, as well as the desire to give more time to the family 37 , 38 . Moreover, we found that while women are employed, their wages in the factories are very low. This financial constraint limits their opportunities, often pushing them towards early marriage or leading them to leave work altogether to assume traditional roles as wives, mothers, and homemakers 39 . However, this practice can have several adverse consequences on women’s economic flexibility, empowerment and decision making abilities in the family 40 , 41 . For instance, stopping work can lead to face earlier aged pregnancy, which is associated with various adverse maternal and child health outcomes, including lower utilization of maternal healthcare services, pregnancy complications, and maternal and child mortality 40 , 42 . Furthermore, this trend indicates a significant dropout rate of girls from continuing their education and working status, which negatively affects women’s empowerment and decision-making abilities 40 , 41 . These consequences can lead to higher household poverty, greater sensitivity to economic shocks, and less income diversification 41 . These factors, in turn, can have significant intergenerational impacts, resulting in poorer health among children and lower investment in education and other forms of human capital accumulation 43 , 44 . All of these factors increase the likelihood of early marriage in subsequent generations 43 .

Regardless of the explanation provided, these findings indicate challenges for the country to achieve relevant SDG’s targets related to the improvement of sexual and reproductive health rights as well as equity. This highlights the need for policies and programs to educate and raise awareness among studying and working girls about the correct age of marriage and the adverse effects of early marriage. Increasing the wages of working girls at the initial level is also important. Nevertheless, the existing initiatives remain ineffective unless appropriate engagement of multiple stakeholders including girl’s parents and local leaders for implementation of target-oriented policies and programs to reduce early marriage. Reducing gender-based violence and improving their safety in the workplace are also crucial to reducing early marriage.

This study exhibits several notable strengths as well as a few limitations. It stands as the first investigation in Bangladesh and other LMICs that delves into women’s perceptions of their marriage age, accounting for their educational and employment statuses, and utilizing nationally representative quantitative survey data. Additionally, the qualitative survey findings offer insight into the motivating factors behind the marriage decisions of working and educated girls. The qualitative interviews were conducted by the authors of this study, who have extensive experience in academia and public health research. They hold postgraduate degrees in population science, public health, and anthropology, and possess substantial expertise in conducting research in LMICs, including Bangladesh. All authors agreed on and approved the interpretation presented in the manuscript. The study employed appropriate statistical modelling techniques to analyze the data, incorporating a diverse range of confounding variables. As a result, the reported findings possess sufficient robustness to inform national-level policies and programs. However, one key limitation of this study is that the quantitative data analyzed in this study were derived from a cross-sectional survey, which restricts the ability to establish causal relationships. While the study explored cultural factors associated with early marriage through qualitative analysis, these factors were not adjusted for in the quantitative analysis due to their unavailability within the survey. We were also unable to account for other important factors, such as spousal age differences and the extent of early marriage within the women’s families, due to a lack of data, despite their relevance to the occurrence of early marriage. Furthermore, the women’s age of marriage was self-reported, introducing the potential for recall bias. Nevertheless, any such bias is expected to be random in nature and should not significantly skew the reported results in any particular direction. Conducting qualitative study was another strength of this study, where representation of women (in IDIs and FGDs) and men (in the KIIs) allowed us to capture diverse perspectives on this complex issue. We conducted the qualitative study in a purposively selected district and utilized data to explain and interpret findings from the nationally representative quantitative data. However, this comparison may introduce errors due to different social norms and cultural issues regarding early marriage in various parts of the country. Moreover, the perception of early marriage among this group of women might differ slightly from that of women in other regions and rural areas due to factors such as their relocation, economic stability, community engagement, and relatively higher decision-making autonomy. This indicates a need for qualitative interviews to be conducted in different regions of the country. However, we were unable to do so due to a lack of funding. It is worth noting that although participants included in our qualitative survey were from only one district, a significant portion of them reported their origins as being from different parts of the country, including rural areas, rather than their present location. They had moved to this district for employment, given that ready-made garment and small-scale industries are predominantly located in this area. Moreover, we conducted qualitative interviews in 2023–2024, while the quantitative data we analysed was collected in 2017–2018. Comparing data from different time points may introduce some distortion in the reported associations and conclusions. However, we could not address this issue further as the quantitative survey data we analysed is the most recent available in Bangladesh.

Our findings revealed that approximately 55% of women who married at an early age believed that their marriage took place at the right time. Among early-married women, those who were employed at the time of their marriage were more likely to perceive their marriage as timely, whereas those who were pursuing studies at the time of their marriage were more inclined to view their marriage as occurring too early and should have been delayed. Multiple factors emerged as influential in shaping the perception of earlier-aged married women regarding the timing of their marriage, including the desire to escape poverty, concerns related to safety and security, and the influence of intimate relationships and societal norms. These findings highlight that a significant proportion of early-married women believe their marriage occurred at the right time, indicating a gap in policies and programs designed to raise awareness about the risks of early marriage and early childbearing. It is crucial for policies and programs to prioritize comprehensive education for all girls and those around them, including parents, to ensure they are informed about the appropriate age for marriage and the potential consequences of early marriage. Additionally, those involved in decision-making and upholding social norms around early marriage should receive extensive counselling on its adverse effects. This focus should particularly target working girls, who may be more vulnerable to early marriage.

Data availability

“The data that support the findings of this study are available from The DHS Program, but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study, and so are not publicly available. Data are, however, available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request and with permission of The DHS Program. To proceed, researchers are required to submit a research proposal via the website (https://dhsprogram.com/data/available-datasets.cfm). Subsequently, the designated individual will review the proposal and approve access for data download. We are unable to share the qualitative interview data due to restrictions imposed by the ethical review committee”.

Abbreviations

Low- and middle-income countries

Demographic Health Survey

Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey

adjusted odds ratio

Confidence interval

Sustainable development goal

National Institute of Population Research and Training

Primary sampling unit

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Acknowledgements

We are thankful to MEASURE DHS for the data support and also grateful to icddr, b where the data for this study was analysed. We are also acknowledged the Governments of Bangladesh, Canada, Sweden and the UK for providing core/unrestricted support for to run icddr, b. The authors also acknowledge the support of Health System and Population Studies Division of icddr, b and Department of Population Science of Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University, where this study was designed and conducted.

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Nossal Institute for Global Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 3010, Australia

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Maternal and Child Health Division, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), 68 Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Sarani, Mohakhali, Dhaka, 1212, Bangladesh

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Health System and Population Studies Division, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), 68 Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmed Sarani, Mohakhali, Dhaka, 1212, Bangladesh

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“Khan MN designed the study. Khan MN, Khanam SJ and Khan MMA collected qualitative data. Khan MN and Billah MA analysed quantitative data while all authors analysed qualitative data. Khan MN, Khan MMA, Billah MA and Khanam SJ wrote the first draft of this manuscript. Akter S critically reviewed and edited the previous versions of this manuscript. All authors approved this final version of the manuscript”.

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Correspondence to Md. Nuruzzaman Khan .

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Ethical approval

The quantitative data analysed in this study was extracted from the survey which was approved by the institutional review board of ICF macro (Inner City Fund) and the National Research Ethics Committee of the Bangladesh Medical Research Council. Informed consent was obtained from all participants. All necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived. No separate ethical approval was required to conduct this study. We obtained permission to access this survey and conduct this research. All methods were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations. Ethical approval for conducting the qualitative survey was obtained from the Institutional Review Board of the University of Rajshahi (123/430/IAMEBBC/IBSc), ensuring compliance with ethical guidelines and protocols. Informed consent was obtained from all participants who were 18 years of age or older. For participants who were under 18 years of age, their legal guardian, such as their husband or father, provided informed consent on their behalf. This process ensured that all participants had a clear understanding of the survey’s purpose, procedures, and potential risks, and voluntarily agreed to participate. So that this applies to illiterate respondents as well.

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Khan, M.N., Khanam, S.J., Khan, M.M.A. et al. Exploring the impact of perceived early marriage on women’s education and employment in Bangladesh through a mixed-methods study. Sci Rep 14 , 21683 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-73137-w

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Published: 15 September 2024

Exploring academic and clinical nurses’ perspectives on evidence-based nursing course for undergraduates from perspectives of academic-practice partnerships: a qualitative study

Guiyun Wang 1 ,
Yuting Xia 2 ,
Qirong Chen 2 ,
Xirongguli Halili 2 &
Hui Huang 3

BMC Nursing volume 23 , Article number: 657 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

Metrics details

To explore nurses’ perceptions of evidence-based nursing courses for undergraduates through academic-practice partnerships.

A deductive thematic analysis based on the practice-academic logic model.

Fifteen academic and clinical nurses were interviewed between November and December 2023, either online or through face-to-face meetings. Each interview lasted 20–30 min. The interview outline was constructed based on the practice-academic partnership logic model, which was followed during the process of recorded, analyzed, and checked.

Themes identified include inputs (e.g., stakeholder commitment), activities (e.g., communication), outputs (e.g., nursing projects), and outcomes (e.g., improved competence). These themes highlight the various aspects and outcomes of academic-practice partnerships in evidence-based nursing courses.

Effective academic-practice partnerships are crucial for developing evidence-based nursing courses, leading to positive educational and professional outcomes.

Nurses’ perceptions provide valuable guidelines for developing effective evidence-based nursing courses.

Patient or public contribution

No patient or public users participated in this study.

Peer Review reports

Introduction

Evidence-based nursing (EBN) is a systematic approach to addressing clinical questions that combines research findings, clinicians’ expertise, and patients’ values [ 1 ]. Conducting evidence-based nursing practices (EBNP) has a significant effect on improving the quality of nursing care and reducing healthcare expenses [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]. Over the past decade, researchers have emphasized the importance of EBNP [ 5 ]. However, limited EBNP projects has been conducted in clinical nursing [ 6 ]. The main reason for the insufficient implementation of EBNP is the lack of EBN knowledge, competence, resources, and adherence to complete processes and pathways by nurses [ 7 ]. Conducting high-quality EBN education is a key measure to improve the EBN competence of nurses [ 8 ]. Undergraduate nursing students are the future of the nursing workforce [ 9 , 10 ]. Undergraduate nursing students will have the competence to conduct EBNP projects to promote the development of nursing care towards a more professional and scientific direction [ 11 ]. American Medical Association has pointed out that conducting EBP education for undergraduate nursing students is the key to equipping them with EBN competence and enabling them to conduct EBNP [ 12 ].

Nevertheless, there is limited studies focused on developing of EBN education for undergraduate nursing students [ 11 ]. Existing studies have shown that EBN education for undergraduate nursing students mainly focuses on lectures, interactive, and blended online and offline teaching and the EBNP education for undergraduate nursing students were conducted by clinical nurses [ 12 , 13 , 14 ]. However, most of the clinical nurses lacked of time to provide systematic EBN theory education for undergraduate, which caused the undergraduate nursing student with low level of EBN knowledge and ability [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]. The separation of theory and practice is the main drawback of existing EBN education for undergraduate nursing students [ 13 , 14 ]. However, theory and practice are two essential and complementary components of EBN [ 18 ].

Academic-practice partnerships (APPs) refers to the establishment of strategic relationships between academic and clinical institutions, fully utilizing the advantages of both sides, and promoting common vision in teaching, practice, and research [ 19 ]. Conducting APPs in EBN (APPs-EBN) education will overcome the key obstacle of the existing EBN education for undergraduate nursing students [ 12 , 20 ]. To understand the content of APPs-EBN education, the steps of existing research of APPs-EBN training program for nursing students was shown as following [ 21 , 22 ]: (1) clinical nurses to identify their needs; (2) academic nurses assigned nursing students specific topics, provide reading materials and videos; (3) nursing students formulated EBNP questions (PICOs, including participants, interventions, comparison, outcomes, and study design [ 23 ]. PICOs were the important content of EBNP questions [ 23 ].); (4) academic nurses, clinical nurses and nursing students discussed the accuracy of EBNP questions (PICOs); (5) nursing students submitted their homework and received their grades with feedback; (6) academic and clinical nurses chose a final EBNP question (PICOs) that was befitting for each student group.

Academic nurses and clinical nurses should be the core of APPs-EBN education for undergraduate nursing students, actively participating in all stages of EBN education process [ 22 ]. Moreover, conducting APPs-EBN education must be achieved through individual-level partnerships of academic nurses and clinical nurses [ 20 , 24 ]. However, existing studies focused on discussing APPs-EBN practice at institutional level, with limited studies focused on the individual perspectives of APPs-EBN education, especially for the undergraduate nursing student’s EBN education [ 19 , 20 , 25 ]. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the perceptions of academic and clinical nurses on APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students to provide information for improving the quality of APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students. However, there is a lack of individual-level evidence on specific perceptions of APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students.

Practice-academic partnership logic model was designed for APPs program. Given the efficacy of this model has been approved in the aspect of APPs and its appropriateness for this qualitative study to deductive specific and essential content during the process of APPs, further to provide basis for researchers conduct APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students [ 22 ]. This model emphasizes that having specific inputs and conducting specific activities in the process of APPs may result in corresponding outputs and outcomes (inputs and activities → outputs and outcomes). Inputs encompass the necessary investments in the APPs-EBN education program, including partnership champions, compatible philosophies, common vision, key stakeholder commitment, formalized partnership agreement, shared goals and accountabilities and dedicated time and resources [ 22 , 26 ]. Activities involve specific actions or processes that must be undertaken to yield desired outcomes from the APPs, including open, ongoing communications, shared decision-making and professional development [ 22 , 26 ]. Outputs are the tangible and immediate deliverables stemming from the inputs and activities, including action plans and strategic plans [ 22 , 26 ]. Outcomes, both short-term and long-term, denote the changes or impacts that arise from the APPs, including successful completion of short-term (action plan) goals and successful completion of long-term (strategic) goals [ 22 , 26 ]. Therefore, this study aimed to explore and interpret the perceptions on APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students among the academic nurses and clinical nurses based on the partnership-academic partnership logic model. This study will provide a valuable information for further constructing APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students.

This qualitative study used deductive thematic analysis by using the practice-academic logic model [ 27 ]. The qualitative study was reported following the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research checklist [ 28 ].

Participants

Considering that academic and clinical nurses were the main stakeholders in APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students, this study conducted qualitative interviews with these two groups of people. Inclusion criteria for academic nurses was that academic nurses had experience in teaching EBN course for undergraduate and/or graduate nursing students. Inclusion criteria for clinical nurses were as follows: (1) clinical nurses were responsible for providing direct care to patients in a hospital unit. (2) clinical nurses have the experience in EBNP.

Data collection

The data were collected between November and December 2023. The interviews were conducted through online videoconferencing meetings or face-to-face meetings in participants’ offices. Each participant underwent a single interview session, with each interview lasting approximately 20–30 min. The interviews were conducted by the corresponding author (Y.X.) who was a female master’s nursing student and has completed qualitative research training.

The sampling method employed was purposive sampling, which can consciously select some participants who understand the research questions and provide rich information in the interviews [ 29 ]. The interview outline was constructed based on the practice-academic partnership logic model, which mainly includes what support did we need from both the organizational and individual levels to conduct APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students? What activities could be conducted in APPs-EBN course to improve teaching effectiveness? What were the outputs of conducting APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students? What were the outcomes for conducting APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students?

Before conducting the formal interview, the researchers contacted the interviewees through WeChat (the social media most commonly used in China) to introduce the purpose, significance, and methods of this part of the research. After obtaining consent from the participants, the interview schedule was arranged to accommodate their availability. Before commencing the formal interviews, the researchers reiterated the research’s purpose, significance, and methodologies to the interviewees, while also ensuring the protection of their privacy. Detailed explanations were provided concerning the recording procedures, and the interviewees were requested to sign an informed consent form before the interviews officially commenced, including the recording process. The semi-structured interview outline served as a comprehensive guide throughout the interview process, ensuring that the interview content remained closely aligned with the research objectives. All the interviews were recorded. Any questions that arose during the interview were promptly addressed to maintain clarity and depth of the responses.

Data analysis

Within 24 h after the interview, two researchers (Y.X. and H.H) converted 15 interview recordings into written materials and listened to the recordings multiple times to ensure the accuracy of the transcription results. The interview transcriptions were analyzed in NVivo 12.0. The corresponding author (Y.X.) followed the following steps to code the perspectives of participants: immersing in the data, developing an initial thematic template, organizing the data based on the template, condensing data and reflecting, comparing and contrasting data within similar participant categories, and comparing and contrasting data with different participant categories [ 20 ]. After completing the initial encoding of all data, the corresponding author (Y.X.) shared and validated the encoding results with other members of the research team to form the final encoding result [ 30 ].

Ethic considerations

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of a nursing school in Hunan Province in March 2023 (review number: E202313). All the recorded data are only used for this study and were backed up in an encrypted computer without Internet connection.

Nine academic nurses participated in this study, two males and seven females, with an average age of (38.00 ± 8.00) years. Among them, eight academic nurses have a doctoral degree, and one academic nurse has a master’s degree. The nine academic nurses were from five different school of nursing in China and both of them have the experience in participating the APP-EBN courses for nurses or graduate nursing students. Six clinical nurses participated in this study, all of them were females and have a master’s degree, with an average age of (37.17 ± 4.26) years. And six clinical nurses were from four different comprehensive hospital in China and three clinical nurses have the experience in participating the APP-EBN projects.

Four themes with 16 subthemes were generated based on practice-academic partnership logic model (Table 1 ), including inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes.

All participants considered the multilevel contents of inputs were the necessary investment of APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students.

Key stakeholder commitment

A few participants noted that academic and clinical institutions needed to form formal partnership before developed APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students, which was beneficial for promoting APPs-EBN course. As the opinion by one participant, “The first step of developing APPs-EBN course is to reach a consensus and sign a partnership agreement between academic and clinical leadership , and vigorously promote developing APPs-EBN course.” (Participant 14 , Clinical nurse) Developing a teaching team was one of the important aspects of achieving key stakeholder commitment of APPs. “How to attract clinical nurses to participate in the teaching team requires the academic and clinical institutions to sign some partnership agreements.” (Participant 2 , Academic nurse).

Key stakeholder commitment was an important input for developing APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students and further promoting common interests in EBN education, practice, and research [ 31 ].

Shared mission

Some participants believed that shared mission was an important input for developing of APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students. As a participant mentioned, “It is necessary to consider shared mission. For example , if the goal is to implement EBNP projects in clinical settings after the course , plans must be made to enhance these projects while developing the course.” (Participant 2 , Academic nurse) Academic and clinical institution had shared mission was conducive to making the partnerships process smoother [ 26 ]. For example, “The leadership is very important during the process of APPs. Leaderships of the academic and the nursing department of the clinical focus on a shared mission to develop this course , which may have a significant impact (on the development of APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students).” (Participant 3 , Academic nurse) .

EBN training

Participants mentioned that EBN training was necessary for academic and clinical nurses to improve their EBN competence and acquire the newest knowledge about EBN.

“From organizational level , it is necessary to regularly provide EBNP training opportunities for clinical nurses or provide more updates and lectures on this EBN to academic nurses.” (Participant 3 , Academic nurse) . “If there is such specialized EBN training , it would be best for academic and clinical nurses to participate in systematic learning.” (Participant 5 , Academic nurse) . “Regular training for academic and clinical nurses is necessary. Academic nurses primarily participate in training programs related to EBNP and teaching ability , while clinical nurses primarily participate in training programs related to teaching ability.” (Participant 8 , Academic nurse) .

Developing and conducting APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students required academic and clinical nurses to input a significant amount of time in communication and preparing for teaching APPs-EBN course.

“For some (academic and clinical) nurses , time may be the biggest problem , as building the APPs-EBN course requires partnerships between academic and clinical nurses , including spending time on partnership and individual lesson preparation.” (Participant 10 , Clinical nurse) . “It is difficult for clinical nurses to participant in teaching APPs-EBN course for undergraduate student during their own rest.” (Participant 7 , Academic nurse) . “Developing the APPs-EBN course demands a substantial investment of time from both academic and clinical nurses. From a clinical perspective , the success of this endeavor largely hinges on the level of support from nursing leaders. If nursing leaders truly value this course , they will ensure that clinical nurses have sufficient time to contribute to its teaching.” (Participant 14 , Clinical nurse) .

Instructional design

According to the characteristics of the target population (undergraduate nursing students), the development of APPs-EBN course instructional design (including learning objectives, learning contents, learning methods, and learning resources) was the cornerstone of developing and implementing EBN education [ 32 ]. “The learning objectives is actually your initial origin of instructional design. Firstly , it is necessary to analyze what abilities undergraduate nursing students need to possess in the future clinical nursing , what kind of foundation they need nurses (academic and clinical nurses) to lay for them during their learning period , and what kind of (EBN) knowledge and skills they need to be taught.” (Participant 9 , Academic nurse) .

Comprehensive and systematic educational resources form the foundation for promoting the acquisition of EBN knowledge among undergraduate nursing students [ 33 , 34 ]. Evidence retrieval is a crucial prerequisite for evidence implementation, and ample database resources can significantly enhance the teaching of evidence retrieval in APPs-EBN courses for these students [ 35 ]. Several participants highlighted that database resources are essential for developing APPs-EBN courses for undergraduate nursing students.

“Provide them (undergraduate nursing students) with database resources to access relevant databases for retrieval.” (Participant 8 , Academic nurse) . “Sometimes , we use databases from other universities , because our university actually doesn’t have any databases about evidence-based nursing. It is necessary for university to support more database resources.” (Participant 5 , Academic nurse) .

The participants stated that universities and hospitals provide incentives for academic and clinical nurses, which could enhance the teaching engagement of these professionals.

“The clinical nurses who participated in this course (APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students) have some corresponding incentives , including establishing some educational reform projects and funding.” (Participant 5 , Academic nurse) . “Perhaps there should be time support and performance rewards for nurses (academic and clinical nurses) to participate in this course (APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students). Especially for clinical nurses , they should be provided more time support and performance rewards and honors for the engagement in EBNP education.” (Participant 8 , Academic nurse) . “It is necessary that both the academic and clinical institutions provide clear incentives. If you participate in APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students , it will be beneficial for evaluating professional titles. In addition , it is basic to provide academic and clinical teachers more salary.” (Participant 10 , Clinical nurse) .

Mutual trust

Mutual respect was a key condition for developing of APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students [ 26 ]. As participants said that, “It is important to establish a good relationship between academic and clinical nurses , as well as to have some communication during the teaching process.” (Participant 1 , Academic nurse) “Academic and clinical nurses definitely need to fully respect each other’s suggestions and skills , which is actually a very important prerequisite for partnerships.” (Participant 9 , Academic nurse) .

Leadership support

Leadership support was an important input in developing of APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students. Academic and clinical nurses participating in teaching were more familiar with the characteristics of nursing undergraduate students. The leadership of academic and clinical institutions should provide these professionals with greater rights in developing of APPs-EBN course. “Because this (APPs-EBN course) is intended for students (undergraduate nursing students). It is necessary for leaderships of academic and clinical institutions to provide them (academic and clinical nurses) full freedom to design or optimize this course on their own. ” (Participant 9 , Academic nurse) .

In addition, the time for participating in the teaching of APPs-EBN course the requires the leadership-level support. Leaders should provide academic and clinical nurses with more opportunities to conduct EBNP.

“The support of leaders is essential. For example , if undergraduate nursing students come to a hospital for internships , nursing leaders need to provide them with sufficient support to conduct EBNP projects or participate in the application of clinical guidelines.” (Participant 8 , Academic nurse) . “It is necessary to have the support of the nursing teaching and research department , as this department could identity clinical nurses (with EBNP experience). In addition , the support of nursing leaders is also very important , they could arrange the scheduling and teaching tasks for clinical nurses.” (Participant 15 , Clinical nurse) .

Participants considered activities were essential part during the process of developing of APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing student. The effective activities included ongoing communication and share decision-making.

Ongoing communication

Ongoing communications between academic and clinical teachers were beneficial for them to jointly develop and optimize the course, and clarified the teaching tasks of both sides.

“Academic and clinical nurses need to engage in lesson preparation collaboratively. While academic nurses may primarily teach theoretical courses , clinical nurses should work with them to monitor the course’s progress and integrate clinical questions into practical sessions. Both groups should discuss and coordinate to define the teaching tasks effectively.” (Participant 1 , Academic nurse) . “Academic and clinical nurses may need to discuss with both sides about how to better integrate the theory knowledge into the practical course. Firstly , partnership lesson preparation is a part of the teaching process in which both sides are aware of each other’s teaching tasks…… Some partnership discussions and feedback are also important.” (Participant 9 , Academic nurse) .

Share decision-making

Academic and clinical nurses shared decision-making to each other during the teaching process of APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students, which was beneficial to APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students [ 26 ]. For example, “Clinical nurses need to provide timely feedback to academic nurses on any suggestions they may have during the implementation of the course. Academic nurses should also observe if there are some problems that effect teaching quality that require optimization. In other words , adjustments need to be made through regular discussions and feedback between both sides , in order to optimize the course in a timely manner” (Participant 9 , Academic nurse) .

Participants described that APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students may could form outputs.

EBNP projects

More EBNP projects could be conducted in the future. “In the future , academic and clinical nurses could establish partnerships channels , and more EBNP projects may generated.” (Participant 1 , Academic nurse) .

EBN manuals

EBN manuals may be the important output of APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students. “If academic and clinical nurses collaborate to develop EBN course , they could create some manuals including case reports , teaching manuals or reference books to ensure teaching quality and homogeneity.” (Participant 5 , Academic nurse) .

Almost all the participants considered that six positive outcomes were short-term and long-term goals of APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students.

Improved EBN awareness

Improving EBN awareness among undergraduate nursing students was a crucial learning objective of APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students. As a participant mentioned, “Improving EBN awareness among undergraduate nursing students and ensuring they recognize its significance and value is crucial.” (Participant 9 , Academic nurse) .

Improving EBN awareness among undergraduate nursing students would be beneficial for them to conduct EBNP in future clinical nursing work. “They (undergraduate nursing students) should understand the process of EBN. For example , they know what the meaning of evidence transformation. When they work in clinical nursing , they may encounter some clinical problems. At that time , they could conduct evidence retrieval instead of judging just based on experience.” (Participant 7 , Academic nurse) .

Improved EBN competence

Undergraduate nursing students could master the basic knowledge and skills of EBP through participating in APPs-EBN course.

“Undergraduate nursing students are able to develop PICO questions for clinical questions and conduct evidence implementation projects.” (Participant 8 , Academic nurse) . “Through this course , students (undergraduate nursing students) will master some EBN basic knowledge and technical skills , and then be able to apply these methods and competences in practice.” (Participant 2 , Academic nurse) .

Increased EBN projects

The EBN knowledge and skills would be improved for undergraduate nursing students after participating in APPs-EBN course. Undergraduate nursing students may conduct more EBNP projects in clinical nursing in the future.

“They (nursing undergraduate students) will have the skills to conduct EBNP projects in the future , especially the project of evidence implementation. This is the EBNP skill they need to possess after working in clinical nursing in the future.” (Participant 9 , Academic nurse) . “The long-term goal is that undergraduate nursing students can conduct EBNP projects in clinical nursing in the future , and to improve their existing clinical nursing practices.” (Participant 5 , Academic nurse) .

Improved quality of nursing care

Participants considered that undergraduate nursing students would conduct EBNP projects in clinical nursing, which was beneficial for improving patient satisfaction and quality of nursing care.

“Maybe these (EBNP) projects will bring some benefits to patients and improve the quality of nursing care.” (Participant 9 , Academic nurse) . “In the long-term goal , it may be that undergraduate nursing students could apply the methods of EBN into clinical nursing in clinical nursing in the future. These results of EBNP projects may improve the quality of nursing care and patients’ satisfaction.” (Participant 6 , Academic nurse) .

Improved professional identity

Participants mentioned that undergraduate nursing students would have professional identity improvement after conducting EBNP projects. “After conducting EBNP projects , many of undergraduate nursing students actually have a sense of feedback and value. Therefore , it may also enhance their professional identity and their own sense of value” (Participant 9 , Academic nurse) .

This study aimed to explore the academic and clinical nurses’ perceptions on APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students based on practice-academic partnership logic model. In this study, the specific contents of inputs, activities, outputs, and outcomes could further enriching the theoretical framework for developing APPs-EBN education and provide the details for developing of APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students [ 22 ].

The specific content of inputs in this study validates and supplements the results of this scoping review (including key stakeholder commitment, shared mission, time, instructional design, mutual trust, leadership support) [ 22 ]. The results of this study indicated the significance of EBN training and incentives in facilitating the implementation of APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students, which was similar with existing study conducted by Dr. Chen [ 20 ]. Notably, most academic nurses a lack of nursing care experience, leading to a limited understanding of specific process and challenges associated with EBNP projects [ 36 ]. Some clinical nurses a lack of theoretical knowledge of EBN, others were inadequately prepared to engage in teaching EBN courses [ 5 , 31 , 37 , 38 , 39 ], potentially impacting the learning outcomes of undergraduate nursing students participated in EBN courses [ 40 , 41 ]. Therefore, strengthening the training of academic nurses in EBNP and clinical nurses in EBN theoretical knowledge was crucial for improving their basic knowledge, competences, and teaching quality of EBN course.

Developing and conducting of an APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students requires active participation from both academic and clinical nurses in the teaching of APPs-EBN course [ 31 , 42 ]. Sufficient incentives have promoting effect on the participation of academic and clinical nurses in the teaching of APPs-EBN course, which similar with the results of existing research [ 20 , 43 ]. Academic and clinical institutions should develop incentives such as professional title promotion and performance rewards for academic and clinical nurses to promote partnerships in developing and implementing APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students. Effective incentives may help academic and clinical nurses overcome obstacles related to develop APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students, such as lack of time [ 20 ].

The results of this study indicated that developing and conducting APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students needed academic and clinical nurses conduct activities of ongoing communication and share decision making, which was consistent with the results of a scoping review [ 22 ]. Academic and clinical nurses participate in developing APPs-EBN course and conduct ongoing communication and shared decision making through meetings or group discussions during the stages of course planning, course commencement, and evaluation are crucial for refining APPs-EBN course [ 44 ]. Continuous activities between both sides can also promote partnerships between academic and clinical nurses, which may strengthen the connection between academic and clinical sides [ 20 ].

EBNP projects and EBN manuals were the outputs in this study, which was similar with the results of the EBNP quality improvement initiative from the perspective of APPs-EBN [ 45 ]. After conducting APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students, academic and clinical nurses would establish stable cooperative relationships and more nursing undergraduate students have the awareness and ability to conduct EBNP projects. This may lead to more EBNP projects conducted by academic nurses, clinical nurses, and nursing undergraduate students in the future [ 20 ]. In addition, academic and clinical nurses could create EBN manuals related to APPs-EBN courses for undergraduate nursing students based on teaching experiences and insights gained from conducting this course. EBN manuals may provide a theoretical foundation, enabling more nursing schools domestically and internationally to conduct APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students.

Conducting APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students could yield various positive outcomes, aligning with the results of the scoping review [ 22 ]. Short-term goals of APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students may include improved EBN awareness and improved EBN, as high-quality EBN education stands as a crucial measure to attain these goals [ 8 ]. Undergraduate nursing students who possess awareness of and competence in EBN are better prepared to incorporate EBN methodologies into nursing practice. This preparation is crucial for advancing long-term goals such as increasing EBN projects, enhancing the quality of nursing care, and strengthening professional identity [ 46 , 47 ]. Therefore, it is recommended that nursing educators to provide comprehensive inputs and actively participate in activities when conducting APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students. This approach could lead to the generation of outputs and realization of desired outcomes.

Strength and limitation

The participants involved in this study came from four distinct regions in China, all of them with different educational features. This diversity contributes to the universality of the results of this study.

The limitation of this study was that not all participants have experience in APPs-EBN. This is primarily from the scarcity of nursing colleges in China providing EBN courses for undergraduate students. Consequently, it becomes challenging to recruit academic and clinical nurses with sufficient experience in APPs-EBN to participate in this study. In addition, all of the clinical nurses in this study have master’s degree, primarily because the study was conducted in China. Most nursing schools at various universities in China have developed EBN courses only for graduate students, while undergraduate nursing students typically do not receive systematic EBN course [ 48 ]. In the future, it would be beneficial to target recruitment towards both academic and clinical nurses with adequate experience in APPs-EBN and varying education levels for further interviews. This approach aims to garner additional insights and refine the theoretical framework and specific APPs-EBN course.

In addition, the interviews were conducted through online videoconferencing meetings or face-to-face meetings due to the limitations of time and space. For the online videoconferencing meeting, we turned on the camera during the online interview and recorded it with the informed consent of the participants. However, the continuity and fluency of the interview were affected to some certain extent due to network interruption.

Conclusions

Developing and conducting of APPs-EBN course for undergraduate nursing students involves investing inputs (Key stakeholder commitment, Shared mission, EBN training, Time, Instructional design, Incentive, Mutual trust, Leadership support) and conducting activities (Ongoing communication and Share decision-making) may lead to outputs (Educational resource) and outcomes (Improved EBN awareness, Improved EBN competence, Increased EBN projects, Improved quality of nursing care, Improved professional identity).

Data availability

All the original data were shown in the results section of the maunscript.

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Acknowledgements

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This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (No.2022JJ40642) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 72104250).

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Study design: YX, HH, QC; Literature searching: YX, XH; Quality Appraisal: YX, HH, QC; Data extraction: YX, GW, QC; Study supervision: QC, GW, HH; Manuscript drafting: YX; Critical revisions for important intellectual content: YX, QC, HH, GW.

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Wang, G., Xia, Y., Chen, Q. et al. Exploring academic and clinical nurses’ perspectives on evidence-based nursing course for undergraduates from perspectives of academic-practice partnerships: a qualitative study. BMC Nurs 23 , 657 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-024-02223-1

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http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5504-7189 Seyran Naghdi 1 ,
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2992-048X David R Ellard 1 , 2 ,
Rebecca Kearney 3
on behalf of the ARTISAN team
1 Warwick Clinical Trials Unit , University of Warwick , Coventry , UK
2 University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire , Coventry , UK
3 Bristol Trials Centre , University of Bristol , Bristol , UK
Correspondence to Seyran Naghdi; Seyran.Naghdi{at}warwick.ac.uk

Background Acute Rehabilitation following Traumatic anterior shoulder dISlocAtioN (ARTISAN) was a large trial comparing the clinical and cost-effectiveness of two rehabilitation interventions in adults with a first-time traumatic shoulder dislocation. Participants were allocated to receive either a single session of advice (ARTISAN) or a single session of advice and a programme of physiotherapy (ARTISAN plus). Trial results illustrated that additional physiotherapy after an initial session was not superior in improving functional outcomes for participants.

Objectives In this study, we aim to explore the experiences of a purposive sample of participants from both the ARTISAN and ARTISAN plus groups regarding their rehabilitation journey.

Design This is a semistructured interview-based study.

Setting The study was conducted in the United Kingdom.

Participants Thirty-one participants of ARTISAN trial: 16 participants from ARTISAN group and 15 from ARTISAN plus group.

Outcome measures and analysis The study follows the consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research. The framework analysis was used to synthesise the participants’ experiences. The interviews were coded through NVivo 12.6.1.

Results Three dominant and interrelated topics emerged from the interview data: (1) feelings about their shoulder rehabilitation outcome, (2) judgement of ARTISAN rehabilitation materials, (3) assessment of shoulder rehabilitation service provision.

Conclusion Both forms of intervention have some merit for some individuals. Thus, it may be appropriate to look at the patients’ preference for offering treatment to them. Recognising and facilitating this will be of benefit to both the patients and healthcare as a whole.

qualitative research
physical therapy modalities

Data availability statement

Data are available upon reasonable request. All codes and quotations can be found in the supplementary file.

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ .

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2024-083975

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STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS OF THIS STUDY

The study used semistructured interviews, allowing in-depth exploration of participants’ experiences.

Interviewers used prompts and rephrased questions to mitigate recall issues among older participants.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the methodology was adapted from face-to-face interviews to telephone interviews and the planned return of transcripts to participants for checking was not done (due to remote working).

The shift to telephone interviews could have affected the depth of understanding of participants’ feelings and reactions.

The sample size and specific context may limit the transferability of the findings.

Introduction

The UK, National Institute for Health and Care Research, Health Technology Assessment-funded Acute Rehabilitation following Traumatic anterior shoulder dISlocAtioN (ARTISAN) trial took place between November 2018 and March 2022. The trial aimed to compare the clinical and cost-effectiveness of two rehabilitation interventions in adults with a first-time traumatic shoulder dislocation. 1 Participants, presenting with first-time traumatic shoulder dislocation, meeting the inclusion criteria, were randomly allocated to receive either a single session of advice or a single session of advice and a programme of physiotherapy, delivered by trained physiotherapists; 482 participants were randomised and screened from 41 NHS Trusts. 2

The trial reports that there was no evidence of a difference in the primary outcome (Oxford Shoulder Instability Score) at the primary endpoint (6 months) between the two groups. 2 Additionally, there were no statistically significant differences observed in the QuickDASH (a self-completed shortened version of the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) questionnaire) scores, nor were there consistent differences in the EQ-5D-5L secondary outcomes. 2 Noting that the offer of additional physiotherapy after an initial session was not superior in improving functional outcomes for participants. 2

Embedded within the ARTISAN trial were a cost-effectiveness study and a qualitative interview study. 1 Understanding patient perspectives is essential for achieving successful treatment of anterior shoulder instability. 3 Patient adherence to rehabilitation protocols, their personal experiences and perceived barriers and facilitators play a significant role in influencing treatment outcomes. 4 Here, in this paper, we present the results of the ARTISAN interviews exploring their findings alongside the findings from the clinical effectiveness trial. 2 The results from the interview study, which were analysed before the effectiveness results were revealed, are presented here and provide insight into possible reasons for the outcome.

This is a qualitative study, exploring the experiences and reality of participants, via individual semistructured interviews. This study is in accordance with the consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research 5 (see online supplemental appendix 1, table 1 ).

Supplemental material

Participants.

All participants, on consenting to participate in the trial, were informed about the interview substudy, and asked if they would be willing to be potentially contacted. A purposive sample was used, to ensure a diverse range of characteristics including location, treatment allocation, gender, age, of those who expressed an interest in participating. 6 7 Up to 50 interviews were planned to capture a comprehensive range of experiences related to shoulder dislocation rehabilitation. The decision to set the sample at around 50 was based on researchers’ experience and represented over 10% of the randomised population. Potential participants were contacted by the researcher (ZL), who confirmed their interest, provided information and arranged interviews at the 12-month postrandomisation timepoint. This was for two reasons, first it allowed participants sufficient time to undergo their rehabilitation journey and reflect on their experiences comprehensively, but second, and more importantly for the trial, we set it at this point in time, so that interviews were carried out outside of trial data collection and thus did not bias the main results. The interviewer was not known to the participants prior to the study and was centrally based.

Data collection

Semistructured interviews of participants from both arms were undertaken by a researcher (ZL) experienced in qualitative research methods. The interview schedule is presented in online supplemental appendix 2 . The interview topics were generated through a combination of literature review, expert input and patient feedback with pilot testing conducted to ensure reliability and validity. 8 Interviews were planned to be face-to-face, but the COVID-19 pandemic required the team to conduct most of these interviews by telephone. This shift to remote working away from the office meant that we had to adapt and while our protocol stated we would return transcripts to participants for checking this was not done. Three interviews were conducted in the participants’ homes, one at the participant’s workplace and the rest through telephone. All interviews were done between 11 February 2020 and 1 February 2021. The approximate time for each interview was 45 min. Field notes were written up as soon as possible after the interviews to record the interviewers’ immediate impressions. Interviews were digitally recorded, subjected to permission of each participant, and they transcribed verbatim by an independent university-approved transcription company and anonymised. All transcription interviews from audios were checked by another researcher (SN).

Data analysis

Data were analysed thematically using the Framework method, as follows: data familiarisation, identifying a thematic framework, indexing, charting, mapping and interpretation. 6 7 The analysis was conducted by researchers with extensive expertise in qualitative research methods. SN, who joined the trial team after the interviews were recorded, listened to the audio recordings to check the accuracy. She became familiar with the data. The transcripts were imported to the NVivo release V.12.6.1 9 to facilitate coding data and mapping them. SN generated initial relevant codes/topic; these were generally based around the specific questions asked of participants. The next analysis stage involved DRE collating the codes to note meaningful patterns in the data that were relevant to the research question. DRE and SN created themes and subthemes that captured the essence of the participants’ voices. Themes and subthemes are presented using quotes to illustrate the participant view.

Rigour was enhanced during the process by coding the first five transcriptions by two independent, experienced researchers (ZHL and SN). Discrepancies were addressed by DRE, who has extensive experience in process evaluation and played a key role as a coapplicant for the ARTISAN trial, contributing to its design. SN independently coded all transcripts and discussed them in detail with DRE. The results were presented before releasing a statistical and health economics result. Reflexivity was maintained throughout the analysis process, with researchers reflecting on their own biases and preconceptions, thereby enhancing the credibility, transferability and dependability of the findings. 10

The qualitative analyses and results were prepared and presented to the Chief Investigator, RK, who is a leading expert in the physiotherapy with extensive experience in randomised controlled trials, before the main trial results were known.

Patient and public involvement

Patient representatives provided input on study design, intervention development and dissemination plans, ensuring a comprehensive approach. Detailed patient and public involvement activities are outlined in the ARTISAN trial report. 11

A total of 102 participants, who had expressed an interest in involvement in the qualitative study at the time of consenting to be in the ARTISAN trial, were contacted. Seventeen declined to participate, and 54 did not respond. A total of 31 participants consented and were interviewed from both arms of the trial, ARTISAN and ARTISAN plus (see table 1 ). The participants were from 17 different trial sites in the UK. Of them, 16 participants were allocated to the ARTISAN’s arm, and 15 participants were allocated to the ARTISAN plus arm.

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Demographic characteristics of ARTISAN interview study participants

Baseline characteristics

The majority of the participants in the ARTISAN plus arm were men (11 out of 15), while there was a balance between participants (eight men and eight women) in the ARTISAN’s arm. The participants’ means (SD) of age were 49 (21) and 59 (17) for the ARTISAN and ARTISAN plus arms, respectively. Five participants in the ARTISAN’s arm and four in the ARTISAN plus arm stated they were involved in sporting activities that needed high levels of physical activity. Most of them described no difficulties with their shoulder before the injury. Only two and three participants in the ARTISAN and ARTISAN plus had a previous problem that goes back many years ago. There was a wide variety of the injury caused; however, seven participants (four in the ARTISAN plus arm and three in the ARTISAN’s arm) got an injury while doing sports activities such as football, rugby, weightlifting and riding a bike. The injury in the three participants in the ARTISAN group resulted in a fractured shoulder in addition to dislocation. The practitioner team decided to perform shoulder surgery for one participant in the ARTISAN plus arm due to pre-existing arthritis. Most participants in both groups believed they were provided the Ambulance and Emergency (A&E) services straightforwardly and quickly, while one participant in the ARTISAN’s arm faced a delay because he needed to be transferred from a small unit to another hospital with an A&E department. A shoulder dislocation for all participants was diagnosed by X-rays. After putting the shoulder back, they received painkillers to relieve the pain and were recommended to wear a sling for at least a week.

Theme identification and common themes

Our findings (detailed below) illustrate participants’ experiences of receiving and interacting with rehabilitation services.

Three dominant and interrelated topics emerged from the interview data questions: (1) feelings about their shoulder rehabilitation outcome, (2) judgement of ARTISAN rehabilitation materials, (3) assessment of shoulder rehabilitation services provision

Themes and their subthemes, within each of these topics, are reported below comparing and contrasting responses from both arms of the trial ((ARTISAN) advise only and those from (ARTISAN plus) advise plus a programme of physiotherapy). Quotations are used as exemplars of themes with each quote linked to a particular participant denoted by the arm of the trial, they were involved in AP=ARTISAN plus arm or A=ARTISAN followed by their id number (see table 1 ), their gender (m or f) and age (eg, A11, m, 31). See Appendix 3 for additional quotations.

Feelings about their shoulder rehabilitation outcome

This topic breaks down into several themes/subthemes, providing an insight into the assessment of their feelings about their recovery including movement and use of their shoulder and being able to get back to their previous activities or not. Noting that within the ARTISAN arm, fewer participants expressed satisfaction with their shoulder movement levels.

Shoulder status (How they feel their shoulder is now postrehabilitation)

Participants who received ARTISAN plus report improvement in returning to their normal life and working activities. Almost all of them expressed the status of their shoulder as ‘better’.

I feel good now, and then I can…I’m back to doing all the jobs I could do before (AP13, m 59), I think I'm back at 100 now (AP25, m,72), Probably getting up to 100% I guess. (AP27, m,72).

A few did still feel that they still a little way to go.

I would say yeah, probably 70% now. Yeah, around about that. Yes, yeah (AP3, m, 65), Like maybe more 60 than 50 in terms of movements (AP28, m, 36).

Compared with the ARTISAN arm where there were fewer participants who believed their shoulder was at a good level of movement.

…had almost complete range of movement (A21, f, 65). It’s absolutely fine… (A26, f, 68).

Satisfaction

Interestingly, most participants who had received ARTISAN plus apparently liked to recommend it to the others with the same problem because they were very satisfied with the result from having multiphysiotherapy sessions.

Yeah, I would recommend, I would definitely recommend anybody to go do that what I did, yeah, definitely. Definitely, yeah (AP12, f, 62).

The other source of satisfaction from the result for most of them was receiving positive reinforcement from the physiotherapist about outcomes and being told that they were doing the exercise correctly.

Only the reassurance that everything was going fine (AP22, m, 67), So, I suppose I needed those sorts of reassurances before I got into heavier physiotherapy (AP12, f, 62).

On the other hand, most people in the ARTISAN arm have found the exercises as the most helpful part of rehabilitation to get back their abilities.

Yeah. I would…I would tell them, you need that physio exercise, yeah (A19, m, 48).

Setting short-term goals and identifying milestones were noted as helpful by some participants in both groups. Helping them have a realistic view of their shoulder progression.

the goals were…because I think it kind of helps you set a realistic view of you know, going on to next session that if you could do this” (A19, m, 48).“Yeah, the goals were…because I think it kind of helps you set a realistic view of, you know, going on to the next session that if you could do this, it was literally things like being able to reach something from one of the cupboards in the kitchen, kind of thing. So, I think it’s really good to just help set umm and be able to achieve, also to help set expectations (A19, m, 48). The main point was the face-to-face setting of goals between sessions (AP27, m, 72). I do find useful writing down, there was a sheet in one of the books where you wrote down what you achieve every day. And that really worked for me as well because you weren’t in this wilderness you were actually working step by step towards something… you know you can get a lot of resources but actually the biggest resource is your own determination (AP5, f, 71)

Participants’ judgement about ARTISAN rehabilitation materials

All of the trial participants had the opportunity to use the provided rehabilitation training materials in addition to the support given by the physiotherapist in the sessions they all had with them. These materials seem to be more important for the ARTISAN participants as they generally only had the one in-person session with the physiotherapist. However, it is also important to know to what extent the participants have used the materials and what their experience is in using them.

Material usefulness

Almost all participants in the ARTISAN arm report using the booklets while only half of the ARTISAN plus arm reported used them. In addition, none of the ARTISAN plus participants report having used the videos and website compared with around half of those in the ARTISAN arm. The ARTISAN plus participants who have not used the materials believed that they had gained enough from their in-person visits with the physiotherapist; therefore, they did not feel the need to refer to the training materials.

just after the first (physio) session, I had the chance to have a very quick look at the booklets, so, it was enough exercise and guidance from physiotherapist over the sessions, …, didn’t feel need them! (AP7, m, 37). I had time, was off from work, almost at home, and was keen on going through the booklets, but only booklets, no website, and videos, so I think it was quite helpful (AP15, m, 33). I got those stuff (training materials), …, but yea! I don’t remember using them! yea, didn’t look at them at all (A18, f, 72) (I) got the booklet and everything, I went on the website, saw the videos and, yeah (A32, F, 59).

Problems with study materials provided

The main reported source of difficulty in using the materials provided was in the ARTISAN arm where there were problems reported accessing the video and internet-based materials. A few of the participants from ARTISAN have reported some problems with the booklets provided. These problems are very low in the ARTISAN plus arm.

There was but I don't have the internet at my house… (A21, f, 65), I couldn't quite find…I couldn't follow the instructions on those. And I couldn't log into the website. So, I couldn't get any additional information”. I had a booklet. I didn't find them all easy to follow. There was a couple…I mean they did run through it with me, the fracture clinic, but they more demonstrated it I would say. But I didn't find everything in the booklet that easy to follow. I did with the hospital physiotherapist, I actually had to do it because my arm was in better shape (A32, f, 59). I think there was one [picture] that wasn't quite clear, but I checked it out with her the next time I went (AP22, m, 67). I suppose the booklet umm is in some ways misinterpreted because it is not in 3D you know so surely for a picture… a picture does not always give you the right angle or the right umm motion to use (AP5, f, 71).

Material comprehensiveness and consistency

The content of the materials was consistent with what had been provided in face-to-face rehabilitation sessions in view of almost participants. The materials were also reported to be comprehensive and to meet the needs of the participants in both arms.

From the ARTISAN participants:

It was very good because you get…further on, you’ve sort of got more exercises to do. So, you really need that leaflet to show you the different exercises you need to do (A26, f, 68). Yeah well, the exercises we did were the exercises in the pamphlet that I was given which I said to you, and hmmm the physio she did them all with me… 2 or three times (A2, m, 56).

From the ARTISAN plus participants

It was just giving me alternatives to do. It’s the same kind of stress on the shoulder, but it was a different exercise. But more or less, there were those like, you know (AP28, m, 36). She (the physiotherapist) did. She did go through the booklet with it and marked certain things, you know like she wrote in the book the few exercises that I should be doing (AP1, m, 27).

Participant’s assessment of rehabilitation service provision

This theme reflects participants feelings about the provision of physiotherapy/rehabilitation in terms of the accessibility to the providing rehabilitation centres, physiotherapist performance and then the form of sessions provided. This part of the participants’ experiences reflects insights about the barriers that can influence the participants getting to the centres, and to what extent participant believe the physiotherapists have been engaged in their rehabilitation/treatment process.

Accessibility to the rehabilitation services

Several of the participants in ARTISAN plus have experienced some physical difficulties in attending the rehabilitation sessions, such as problems with driving, finding a car park and a considerable distance to the physiotherapy clinic or hospital from their home.

Taking into account quite a long distance to travel and the roads aren’t that great, I have to be taken in by my wife obviously I was not driving (AP3, m, 62). Sort of 2 hours right around the hospital so if I wasn’t close it would be more difficult (AP1, m, 27).

Most of the people in this group stated that there are no difficulties to attend the physiotherapy sessions. They also mentioned that the health centres were flexible in providing suitable slots for appointments. In addition, there were positive comments about public transport and employers who were supportive.

Nothing whatsoever because I was able to get a time slot that suited me, which was earlyish morning. And there was no delay, you know. There was…it was all perfectly right for me (AP27, m, 72). No, no. Well, they were quite supportive at work (AP28, m, 36), No, you can get a bus to the hospital (AP15, m, 33).

Most of the participants in the ARTISAN group report not having experienced any obstacles or barriers to accessing rehabilitation services.

I didn't (have trouble to attend), but I walked attending…walked attending the physio (A23, f, 53), that’s fine (A26, f, 68).

However, some barriers remained for a small number of ARTISAN participants.

I couldn't drive. I got some free transport from the transport people. And then…and that stopped when I was told that…they had to tell me I must get on a bus because they have to keep it for people that are more seriously ill than me. And I was, therefore, trying to sort that out, and eventually, I got a friend to take me, across the road…. (After requiring additional physiotherapy sessions for frozen shoulder). (A21, f, 65) Parking. It’s terrible up there (A29, m, 26).

The physiotherapist’s performance

The physiotherapist was considered a valuable source of motivation in improving the injured shoulder by participants in both arms of the trial. All participants expressed that their physiotherapists went through the exercises and correct movement in detail as much as they could. Giving feedback and setting short and long-time goals by physiotherapists had a positive impact on the participants’ feelings, especially for ARTISAN plus.

It gave us confidence (AP10, f, 25). I don’t know who he (the physiotherapist) was, but it was a good job (AP13, m, 59). She (the physiotherapist) pretty much answered the questions anyway as we went along you know (AP20, m, 81).

The participants in the ARTISAN’s arm also found an excellent experience with their physiotherapists.

he (the physiotherapist) was a really, really, really good physio. Very straightforward, practical, on to work which I really like (A19, m, 48). He’s…he (the physiotherapist) was very, very positive attitude so that’s about all really. No, they're all very positive about what to do next (A21, f, 65). (Participant who was given additional physiotherapy session by the clinician).

Physiotherapy session formats

Almost all participants in the ARTISAN group found the physiotherapy session helpful and informative; a few expressed they may have preferred having multiple physiotherapy sessions. A number noted that they felt that they benefited from a single session.

Yes, was helpful. He (the physiotherapist) gave me a booklet, he gave me lots of things and did say that if I had problems, then I was to go back (A14, f, 74). It was informative. They gave me a few exercises to do, and they scanned through all different movements to see where I was sort of suffering with it (A29, m, 26).

One ARTISAN participant noted that she experienced group-based physiotherapy sessions (outside of that provided by the trial). She was keen on attending these sessions because she thought it was an excellent opportunity to get peer support, to understand the limitations and develop coping strategies for dealing with issues that may arise.

Although everybody is different it was nice to talk to other people and other people have different things, but it was still nice to speak to someone in the same situation as you (A2, f, 56).

Two participants in the ARTISAN arm have sought out additional treatments or programmes apart from the training materials to increase their chance of returning to their previous sports activities.

I’m lucky enough that the club that I play rugby for has a physio that they employ as well, he recommended that the Derby shoulder stability programme, so I went along, did some of those exercises on that, and that was good, got to all progressions that I was trying to get back to, and the exercise that was provided from like the ARTISAN from the hospital was kind of due to get me back to general life, it probably would’ve been perfectly fine, but yeah, I want to go back to rugby so I know I needed to get my shoulder back to like full strength (A9, m, 24). Almost to the year, it was almost to the year and my shoulder was absolutely killing. I couldn't drive. It almost felt like well, I didn't know what was wrong with it. It felt like a frozen shoulder, and I ended up in the…I ended up going to a chiropractor (A23, f, 53).

Most participants with ARTISAN plus multiphysiotherapy sessions pointed out that they had enough chances to visit their physiotherapist to assess their shoulder movement, achieve their goals and receive instructions on doing the exercises correctly.

If I was doing something wrong, they could correct me (AP15, m, 33).

The most emphasised point in this group was getting reassurance and feedback from the physiotherapist.

Well, I suppose it’s…the fact that you can do a certain exercise over a period of time, then you get some feedback with a consultant to tell you how you’re doing (AP13, m, 59).

Several of them expressed that communication with a professional member such as a physiotherapist psychologically impacts the rehabilitation journey.

It certainly helped mentally. It gave you support. You felt that somebody was interested in trying to help, which was as much benefit as the physical side of it (AP20, m, 81).

A participant from the ARTISAN arm who received additional physiotherapy sessions highlights again the reassurance of having the contact with a therapist.

The other benefit really was the reassurance because I think one of the things that you did…that you worry about is you know it’s going to dislocate again (A19, m, 48).

The interview substudy, seamlessly integrated within the broader framework of the ARTISAN trial, served as a crucial avenue to explore the nuanced experiences of participants undergoing the trial treatments. By adopting a qualitative approach, we aimed to unravel the intricacies of their rehabilitation journeys and illuminate the factors influencing their adherence to the prescribed interventions. Our endeavour was not merely to supplement the quantitative findings of the main trial but to enrich the understanding of the outcomes by capturing the subjective narratives of the participants. Through the lens of 31 in-depth interviews, we explored the multifaceted dimensions of their experiences, ranging from their feelings about shoulder rehabilitation outcomes to their assessments of the provided rehabilitation services.

While the outcome of the trial found no difference between the two groups, the participant experiences give an insight that is a little different. 2 Similar findings were observed in the REPOSE trial, where qualitative data provided valuable context and a deeper understanding of patient experiences that were not captured by the quantitative results. 12 More ARTISAN plus participants reported that their expectations about their rehabilitation were met than those in the ARTISAN group. There were those, however, in both groups, who felt that they did not return to the level of physical activities that they would have liked (eg, Sports). Indeed, even participants in the ARTISAN plus group who had a programme of physiotherapy felt they were not reaching their preinjury levels of activity. A recent paper highlights that fear of recurrent dislocation may be a contributing factor to participants feeling they are not returning to their normal levels of physical activity. 3

Participants who only received the advice session (the ARTISAN group) do seem to want more engagement and more actual physiotherapy sessions. Several of the younger participants in the ARTISAN group have sought out additional treatment options (eg, exercise programmes, chiropractic sessions) in addition to what was provided to increase their chance of returning preinjury levels of activities. While ARTISAN plus participants, it seems were less likely to go for additional treatments outside of that provided.

The interviews give us an insight into the participants’ experiences in their rehabilitation journey. Involving them in the improvement journey seems to have a positive influence on their sense of improvement. Regardless of the participant’s allocated group, sex, age and history of doing exercise, the physiotherapist’s advice and efforts to give reassurance appear to play a crucial role in the participants’ mindset and confidence. Following operative and non-operative treatment of shoulder instability, physiotherapists plays a key role in the recovery process, supporting the patient and building strength and trust. 3 This highlights the importance of clearly communicating with participants, providing them with clear information and reassurance about their rehabilitation journey. This approach ensures effective treatment and contributes to a better overall experience and outcome for participants. Cridland et al , in a recent article, looking at patient experiences and perceptions of rotator cuff related shoulder pain rehabilitation, highlight the importance of participants’ trust in the health professional providing the rehabilitation. They note that this facilitates adherence and increases the belief that the condition is being effectively treated. 13 Main et al also emphasise the critical role of the therapeutic relationship in rehabilitation success. 14

Those participants who have engaged with the materials provided have found them helpful regardless of their background factors (sex, age and history of doing sport) and allocated arms. Both groups of participants have used the booklets and expressed good experiences with it.

The participants have raised some minor points regarding the difficulty with the booklets and the online materials were sometimes difficult to access. However, the participants in the ARTISAN plus group seem to have had a better chance of resolving this kind of problem because of having more contact with their therapist. Participants in both groups report using the videos and website less than the booklets. This is more obvious among the senior groups and women. Lack of internet access was an issue for several older participants, who struggled with digital materials. This underscores the need for alternative formats and enhanced support for digital resources to ensure all participants, regardless of their digital literacy or access to technology, can effectively engage with the provided materials. Addressing these aspects is crucial for improving the inclusivity and effectiveness of the future interventions. However, for those who viewed the video, it has given them a better idea of how to do the exercises correctly. The latter is more apparent among those participants at younger ages and with less severe injuries.

Strengths and limitations

It was found that some participants, especially elderly participants, faced challenges in recalling their rehabilitation journey experiences, potentially affecting the accuracy of their recall. To mitigate this issue, the interviewer used prompts as necessary and adjusted questions to improve understanding. The study also observed variations in recall accuracy among different demographic groups, indicating that the passage of time since their rehabilitation may impact memory differently. These findings underscore the importance of demographic considerations in qualitative research, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of participants’ experiences. In addition, because of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, only the first four interviews were held face-to-face, and the rest were by telephone. This potentially could have some effects on understanding the participants’ feelings and reactions, as non-verbal cues and personal rapport are more challenging to capture over the phone. Despite these limitations, efforts were made to ensure comprehensive data collection by employing consistent interview techniques and maintaining a flexible approach to question phrasing.

While our study comprehensively explored the patient experience in the ARTISAN trial, we did not evaluate the perspectives of the healthcare practitioners delivering the intervention. Understanding the experiences and insights of physiotherapists could provide valuable context to our findings. Future research should consider their views on treatment implementation. This approach aligns with the current emphasis on shared decision-making models in healthcare, where the collaboration between patients and practitioners is crucial for optimal treatment outcomes. 15

While previous qualitative studies have explored the experiences of people with shoulder instability, this study provides an in-depth reflection on participants’ voices specifically with shoulder dislocation during their physiotherapy journey within the UK-based randomised trial. However, the transferability of findings may be limited.

The overall clinical trial outcome was very conclusive, in which extraphysiotherapy was not superior and thus may not be the best form of rehabilitation for those who experience a first-time traumatic shoulder dislocation. This interview study supports this finding in that it shows us that both forms of intervention have merit for some individuals. Thus, it may be that tailoring the treatment offered to the needs of the patient is appropriate here. Not all patients want regular clinic visits or indeed support from a health professional. Recognising and facilitating this will be of benefit to both the patients and healthcare as a whole.

Ethics statements

Patient consent for publication.

Not applicable.

Ethics approval

Ethical approval for the interview study was included in the ethical approval of the main trial (Wales REC 3, REC reference: 18/WA/0236, 2018). All participants gave written informed consent prior to taking part. Participants gave informed consent to participate in the study before taking part.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Ziheng Liew for conducting the interviews. We also would like to thank all the participants who attended the interview sessions. In addition, we acknowledge this paper is written on behalf of the ARTISAN Team, and we would like to acknowledge the expert support of the ARTISAN Team which comprised: Helen Parsons, Warwick Clinical Trials Unit, University of Warwick, Warwick, UK, ( https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2765-3728 ); Aminul Haque, Warwick Clinical Trials Unit, University of Warwick, Warwick, UK, ( https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3589-6751 ); James Mason, Warwick Clinical Trials Unit, University of Warwick, Warwick, UK, ( https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9210-4082 ); Henry Nwankwo, Warwick Clinical Trials Unit, University of Warwick, Warwick, UK, ( https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7401-1923 ), Helen Bradley, Warwick Clinical Trials Unit, University of Warwick, Warwick, UK, ( https://orcid.org/0009-0003-1663-4462 ); Stephen Drew, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, Coventry, UK, ( https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9523-682X ); Chetan Modi, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, Coventry, UK, ( https://orcid.org/0009-0008-3337-4419 ); Howard Bush, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, Coventry, UK, ( https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9360-0504 ); David Torgerson, York Clinical Trials Unit, University of York, York, UK, ( https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1667-4275 ); Martin Underwood, Warwick Clinical Trials Unit, University of Warwick, Warwick, UK, ( https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0309-1708 ).

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Contributors DRE and RK have designed the study. DRE and SN have analysed the data. All authors have contribution to drafting the manuscript and reviewed. SN is the corresponding author, and all authors are guarantors for the overall content of the manuscript.

Funding ARTISAN trial founded by NIHR, Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme, (16/167/56) 01/06/18. The University of Warwick and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust are co-sponsorship for this trial.

Competing interests RK is co-chair of the NIHR Programme Grants for Applied Research (PGfAR) committee, a paid position in NIHR but unrelated to the trial. She is also a previous chair of the NIHR West Midlands Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) committee and member of the NIHR Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Clinical Evaluation and Trials Committee and NIHR Integrated Clinical Academic (ICA) doctoral committee. RK, DRE, HP, AH, JM, HN, SD, CM, HB, DT, MU have all been awarded current and previous NIHR research grants. HP, MU and RK are co-investigators on grants funded by the Australian NHMRC and NIHR funded studies receiving additional support from Stryker Ltd.

Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research. Refer to the Methods section for further details.

Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer-reviewed.

Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.

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Integrating social policy dimensions into entrepreneurship education: a perspective from India

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Michael Snowden ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1218-7434 1 ,
Liz Towns-Andrews 2 ,
Jamie P. Halsall 1 ,
Roopinder Oberoi 3 &
Walter Mswaka 4

Social innovation and social enterprise are often supposed as methodological solutions to address multifaceted socio-economic problems, due to the sharing of ideas and their involvement of stakeholders from different sectors. This cooperative treatise (Ziegler in Innov Eur J Soc Sci Res 30:388–405, 2017) is striking to legislators across the political gamut. This research is therefore positioned within the broader literature on social innovation and its policy relevance; even though social innovation is not a novel thought, the application of social innovation as a policy idea and its part in relation to the restructuring of the prevailing welfare establishment has gained momentum in recent years. Hence, in their paper the authors will examine how social enterprise as a concept can act as a positive catalyst for influencing policy (i.e. public and social) in the developing world. To meet the overall aim of this paper, the authors employed a case study of India and applied a three-step approach, namely: (1) a literature review process that explored a variety of policy methods that can influence on the accomplishment and measurement of social enterprises; (2) a policy survey, which entailed desk-based searches of national and state-level policies, followed by stakeholder consultation queries to complement online results; and (3) qualitative interviews with stakeholders from government agencies and departments at national and state levels, including the Ministry of Finance, representatives of private industry, chambers of commerce, social investors, social enterprise networks, and advocacy leads. The research findings that are presented in this paper were funded by Delhi School of Public Policy and Governance, Institute of Eminence at the University of Delhi.

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Introduction

This paper presents an exploration of the various facets of the social enterprise ecosystem within India and how government, organisational, and institutional policies directly and indirectly impact social enterprises through specific targeted actions or by influencing the broader policy framework within which they operate. This can have either a positive or negative impact on the development of social entrepreneurship. When an organisational body specifically designed for social enterprises exists, it serves as a convenient ‘one-stop-shop’ for specific issues associated with social enterprise and provides a vehicle of support for social entrepreneurs. For example, the global organisation Social Enterprise Mark, which is an award-winning international social enterprise accreditation authority based in the UK that recognises and builds the capabilities of social enterprises as competitive, sustainable businesses, dedicated to maximising social impact (Social Enterprise Mark, n.d. ). The one-stop approach to social enterprise support provides a valuable support system for social enterprises and social entrepreneurs as they strive to create favourable ecosystems that support social enterprise growth and development though an holistic approach that considers the unique aspects of their business models.

Institutions internationally are increasingly acknowledging social enterprises as crucial partners in their pursuit of sustainable, inclusive, and prosperous societies. The significance of this was acknowledged in the Spring of 2023 by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and Social Inclusion (UN, 2023 ), emphasising the contribution that social enterprise can make towards attaining the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Adoption of this unprecedented, unopposed resolution that calls upon institutions within the global community to support the development of social enterprise is a clear catalyst for the social and solidarity economy that placed emphasis on social justice.

However, social enterprise is in a state of infancy and is juxtaposed against the demands of the UNDP; this paper, therefore, addresses those facets of the social enterprise ecosystem within India and how Integration of social policy into entrepreneurship education facilitates understanding and application of social enterprise at institutional, regional, national, and international levels. The first assessment of the institutional context is broken down into three key components:

State Policy and Programmes: The assessment involves examining whether there is an established state policy, approach, action plan, or dedicated programme. These elements guide the overall direction and priorities within the institution.

Uniformity: The exploration considers legal, political, and professional standards to identify consistency and inconsistencies across administrative bodies and agencies.

Policy Framework: Understanding the policy framework requires the study of those processes that develop, implement, and monitor the institutional framework. A crucial element of this is the engagement and collaboration with relevant stakeholders and beneficiaries.

However, this cannot be simply broken down into a set of three steps. As identified by Oberoi et al. ( 2022 ), the nature of social enterprise is dynamic, multifaceted, and complex. Therefore, when assessing the interaction between institutional bodies (such as chambers of commerce) and social enterprises, several key factors influence the relationship. First, a clearly defined and informed institutional framework—whether through a nationwide policy, agreed strategic approach and plan, or a dedicated schemata—provides valuable support for social enterprise growth and development. In addition, statutory and legal frameworks that complement the policy contribute to feasibility and sustainability. Developing this framework creates a significant challenge for those disciplines that are embryonic. For example, it is well documented that the social enterprise knowledge base is poorly developed, that strategies, polices, and programmes are often untested, and that change adopted and implemented is frequently not built on an evidence base (Halsall et al., 2022a , 2022b ).

To ensure success, active engagement with other institutional bodies is vital. This involvement facilitates information sharing, connecting social enterprises and entrepreneurs with public and statutory agencies, formal and informal support networks, and financial providers. The statutory body itself can contribute by raising awareness through campaigns and by monitoring, assessing, and evaluating the implementation of social enterprise related strategies and development plans. In the Indian context, creating an enabling environment and recognising the government’s pivotal role in supporting the social enterprise sector are key considerations that influence success (British Council 2015 ; British Council 2016 ; British Council 2020 ).

Establishing a collaborative, collegial, coherent, and holistic framework to support the emergence and consolidation of social enterprises is crucial for maximising their social and economic impact. While the plans themselves are essential, policy approaches play an equally significant role. Effective policies are more likely to emerge when built through horizontal cooperation (across different administration portfolios) and vertical coordination (across various levels of administration), in collaboration with relevant stakeholders. This collaborative approach reduces the likelihood of anomalies leading to better policy consistency and overall effectiveness. The authors of this paper have identified four areas that are underrepresented within existing literature and are distinctly related to policy frameworks for innovation and social enterprise in India.

Social enterprises often operate at the juncture of different policy areas and disciplines. Consequently, their actions are entwined with various government ministries and agencies. Engaging in a collaborative dialogue with a broad range of relevant stakeholders and beneficiaries (perceived and actual) allows for a richer understanding of the presenting issues. This understanding contributes to the development of well-informed, real-world policies that effectively address emergent challenges and contribute to the sustainability and longevity of policies.

Legal frameworks play a crucial role in shaping policies. They can legitimise social enterprises and expand the legal definition of ‘enterprise’ to include entities that blend entrepreneurial approaches with social and environmental missions. The trend towards embracing legal and statutory frameworks reflects the enhanced interest in social enterprises and other entities of the social economy. These entities prioritise public and social interests and make a distinct contribution to specific policies (such as renewable energy and other green initiatives) and strategic priorities, including job creation, skills development, and public health initiatives for disadvantaged and marginalised groups. However, globally there is a reliance on working definitions (that are frequently poorly crafted) and criteria (embedded in strategies and action plans) to identify social enterprises.

The existent literature demonstrates a research topic in its infancy (Campopiano & Bassani, 2021 ; Farinha et al., 2020 ; Novak, 2021 ; Opuni et al., 2022 ; Winful et al., 2022 ) and characterised by four key themes that include social entrepreneurship, social movement, community development, and social innovation (Farinha et al., 2020 ; Winful et al., 2022 ). Academic research on social entrepreneurship has emphasised the social outcome of business activities that aim for value creation beyond profit maximisation (Campopiano & Bassani, 2021 ; Del Gesso, 2020 ). However, the research is dominated by the disciplines of Business and Management Studies; subsequently, the social impact of research is often understated (Snowden et al., 2023a ).

Social innovation is often seen as the opportunity for social enterprises to significantly invest in the creation of social outcomes to address people's needs. Social innovation and social enterprise are often proposed as a solution to address multifaceted social economic problems, by sharing ideas and involving stakeholders from different sectors. This cooperative treatise, as described by Ziegler ( 2017 ), presents an opportunity to legislators across the political spectrum.

Recent work carried out by the UK’s Quality Assurance Agency ( 2018 ) and Snowden et al., ( 2023a , 2023b , 2023c ) has illustrated that there are diverse aspects of social entrepreneurship, which have been influenced by international public policy in the context of social, economic, cultural, political, and sustainability agendas. Consequently, this has created a new emphasis on entrepreneurship, innovation, and social enterprise driven by the social justice and socio-environmental debate that has emerged strongly since the COVID pandemic. Nonetheless, it is this complexity that has resulted in conceptual challenges regarding the nature of social enterprise and its relationship with the social entrepreneur.

Social enterprise is not a new concept, but it is growing exponentially as illustrated by the post-pandemic abundance of academic literature on the rise of social enterprise (Chilufya et al., 2023 ; Halsall et al., 2022a ; Oberoi, 2021 ). This increased attention has been evident in a global context, as many governments across the world are shifting away from state-controlled, funded projects and moving towards a more social entrepreneurial approach. The emerging contemporary notions of social enterprise and the social entrepreneur are contributing to an identity and establishing some degree of clarity upon the nature and purpose of a social enterprise.

The impetus for this renewed vigour towards social enterprise is linked to the world adjusting to the demands of living in a post-COVID world (Oberoi et al., 2022 ). It is widely accepted that the global social welfare system is broken and traditional welfare models are ill-equipped to address the emerging social needs in the wake of the pandemic. As a result, there is a clear need for fresh, creative ideas to replace intransigent, archaic, and inflexible systems of welfare. Halsall et al. ( 2020 ) reaffirm this view, commenting that the traditional, rigid, institutionalised assumption of a two-sector economic model is being replaced with the view that social enterprise can provide a mitigating conduit to deal with the challenges associated with social and economic problems.

Social entrepreneurship is underpinned by strong social innovation. Despite social innovation’s long history, it remains relatively under-researched, leading to untapped opportunities (Farinha et al., 2020 ). For social enterprise to develop, it must be underpinned by strong social innovation, and ensuring the connection between social innovation and social enterprise is crucial because both address social and environmental challenges, aiming for positive change but are co-dependent on each other. These approaches provide innovative solutions for pressing issues such as poverty, inequality, environmental degradation, healthcare access, and education. By combining innovative creative thinking with practical solutions, they offer new ways to solve complex problems. Both social innovation and social enterprise prioritise long-term sustainability, moving beyond short-term fixes to address root causes. Collaboration and partnerships are essential, involving government agencies, non-profits organisations, industries, institutions, and communities collaborating towards shared goals, enhancing efficiency, scalability, and sustainability.

A contemporary popular definition for social enterprise is provided by the global organisation Deloitte ( 2018 ), which suggests that a social enterprise is an organisation that combines revenue growth and profit-making with a commitment to respecting and supporting its local community and stakeholders. A crucial element of this involves actively monitoring and adapting to the trends shaping the contemporary world or community and is built by collaborative (social) entrepreneurs who embrace their responsibility as good citizens and act as a model for others. However, this fails to acknowledge the complex and dynamic nature of social enterprise. A responsive definition is proposed within the literature that defines it as a multifaceted change process through which social entrepreneurs offer economic inclusion and social engagement to different global community and social groups through creative, solution-orientated strategies (Halsall et al., 2020 ; Oberoi et al., 2019 ). This recent definition provides and emphasises the importance of innovation underpinning social enterprise.

Contemporary social enterprise acquires a new significance that focusses upon providing innovative approaches to address pressing social needs and challenges reflected by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as poverty, inclusion, disparity, environmental degradation, gender equality, access to healthcare, social welfare and education, and innovative solutions all embracing the notion of social justice. Joining innovative thinking with well-designed innovative solutions will enable new ways of mitigating multifaceted problems to emerge. Social entrepreneurs are the altruistic, solutions-orientated, forward-thinking characters that develop social enterprises to go beyond short-term solutions and place emphasis on creating enduring solutions that address root causes of problems. Social entrepreneurs ensure, and by their very nature emphasise and firmly embed collaboration, co-participation, and partnership working. When developing an enterprise, they bring on key participants; for example, government agencies, non-profits organisations, industries, and communities are enlisted along with actual and potential beneficiaries, all working together towards shared goals. This collaborative alliance improves the efficiency, scalability, and sustainability of the innovation in a collegial approach that embraces entrepreneurial methods to design solution and encourage imaginative thinking. By applying business principles to social and environmental challenges, they foster innovation, adaptability, and creativity.

Social enterprises aim to be financially sustainable while concurrently creating social impact. They advance business models that make revenue through the sale of goods or services, reducing reliance on external funding sources. Distinctly, social enterprises empower people and groups by providing prospects for economic participation, skills development, and social inclusion. They often prioritise marginalised groups, permitting them to become dynamic givers to the social order and agents of change, while leveraging resources like human capital, technology, networks, and funding. The collaborative approach maximises the collective impact of efforts and has the potential to energise systemic change by challenging existing systems and structures and is able to provide a full spectrum of activities, ranging from conventional to hybrid organisations, serving as a catalyst for broader societal transformation.

How are social enterprises legally defined?

Unsurprisingly, the term ‘social enterprise’ is not commonly used in legal frameworks, policies, or literature; consequently, this lack of direct terminology poses a significant challenge for social enterprises. However, several countries do recognise new forms of entrepreneurship that align with the concept of social enterprise. De jure social enterprises (i.e. legally recognised practice and actions) are legally recognised under specific legal frameworks that establish clear legal forms and statuses to support their development—examples include the ‘solidarity enterprise of social utility [ entreprise solidaire d’utilité sociale ]’ (ESUS) in France, the ‘societal impact company’ in Luxembourg, and the ‘social cooperative’ in Poland—whereas de facto social enterprises are not legally recognised through specific social enterprise designations. However, they can still be identified based on their contributions to social challenges and adopt recognised social enterprise business models.

Social enterprises can adopt various authorised arrangements and statuses that reflect their unique characteristics, including their entrepreneurial and economic approaches, societal goals, and comprehensive governance and ownership structures (OECD, 2022 ). In a strict legal context, social enterprises represent an operational archetype (Caire & Tadjudje, 2019 ) reflected by the social cultural context in which they operate and those challenges the enterprise is attempting to mitigate.

While there are inconsistencies on legal definitions of social enterprises there are some key facets that are fundamental to the nature of social enterprises.

A corporate business model generates profit solely for owners and keeps operational for cost benefit deliberation and need to obtain other ventures in line with the principles of the business. However, the social enterprise model creates value not just for the business but is driven by social and environmental impact. Legal frameworks stipulate that social enterprises must explicitly pursue a defined social objective, and some nations limit the notion of flexibility and responsiveness by defining the arenas of engagement in which social enterprises are expected to function. For example, in Luxembourg, societal impact companies must respond to at least one pre-defined area of a 2016 Law on Societal Impact Companies (European Commission, 2020 ). Similarly, in Italy, the 1991 Italian Law on Social Cooperatives requires entities to be operational in at least one sector in an A-list of activities (well-being care, conservation protection, and improvement of cultural heritage) or B-list activities (organisations that conduct entrepreneurial activity oriented to job inclusion of underprivileged or disabled workers/individuals, irrespective of the area or areas) (OECD, 2022 ). Furthermore, some nations’ social enterprises are required to implement an asset lock to ensure their long-term social purpose and prioritise social impact in decision-making. The asset lock typically involves two mechanisms: restricting or limiting profit distribution to owners and ensuring that any surplus upon dissolution is transferred to a similar initiative. For instance, in the UK, France, Italy, Belgium, and Luxembourg, social enterprises are asked to maintain a limited asset or full asset lock in order to safeguard the longevity of the social purpose and clearly prioritise social impact within decision-making processes alongside a reproducible audit of decision-making processes (Fici 2015 ). In addition, there are defined limitations on the amount of profit that can be redistributed to the owners or staff within the social enterprise. A distinct component of some legal frameworks that enhance the spirit of social enterprise is the notion of inclusive governance. Some legal frameworks require the workforce to be part of the decision-making process within a social enterprise and for this to be clearly defined and auditable. For example, within France it is obligatory to involve stakeholders in some company choices (OECD, 2022 ).

Social enterprises are organisations that take diverse legal forms across nations to pursue both social and economic goals with an entrepreneurial spirit. From a global perspective, there a set of key commercial and societal fundamentals that can be used to define social enterprises:

Social enterprises are distinct from orthodox for-profit organisations which are outrightly involved in the production and/or sale of goods and services (instead of chiefly advice-giving or grant-giving occupations);

Social enterprises are designed and fulfilled by groups of citizens and community members;

Social enterprises typically sell products and/or deliver services to members of the public and private users to produce their revenues;

Social enterprises operate in the monetary economy, and use non-commercial resources to become sustainable and;

They share a social dimension in their entrepreneurial goals, which should be based on a distinct social interest and based on unmet needs or presented and established within a legislative model (OECD, 2022 ).

Social entrepreneurship and social enterprises have existed for decades (John et al., 2024 ). The development and advent of social enterprise have taken diverse routes in different geographic areas in the world but can still be grouped according to two foremost schools of thought. One is the market-based or commercial social enterprise arrangement, and the second is more of a blended or hybrid-based form of social enterprise. The market-based formula emerged prominently in North America and Africa, while the hybrid-based plan was adopted more in European and Latin American countries. Haarich et al. ( 2020 ) propose that legal frameworks can be an authoritative tool to foster and bolster social enterprise expansion and, where these are in place, social impact is more accurately measured.

The recent report published by the European Commission ( 2020 ) identifies approximately 397 000 social enterprises among European Union member states. For example, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Hungary have over 1,600 social enterprises per million residents, while Estonia, Malta, and Greece have much less than 500 (European Commission, 2020 ). In comparison, India has around 2,000,000 social enterprises and the UK 100,000 (John et al., 2024 ). However, this data does need to be reviewed with caution. As illustrated, there are numerous descriptions of the nature of social enterprise and inconsistencies in legal recognition for social enterprises between nations and regions.

Nonetheless, governments are increasingly looking towards external agencies to solve social and economic problems in society (Khan & Halsall, 2017 ; Oberoi et al., 2021 ). Globally, an era of social enterprise is gaining momentum and is prevalent in many debates within businesses, society, and educational institutions. However, for this to progress in an informed and systematic way, there is need for a strategic realignment of policy with key social enterprise dimensions that will be shaped by five factors:

Political Environment: The administration’s role significantly influences the emergence of social enterprises. When societal issues align with administrative priorities, natural synergies arise, especially in the context of the neoliberal paradigm.

Legal Environment: Like traditional private enterprises, social enterprises require an iterative process of refining knowledge and execution. A supportive legal environment—one that avoids excessive regulation and unwarranted oversight—facilitates this progression.

Social Environment: Favourable social and cultural conditions are essential for nurturing social entrepreneurs. A strong civil society and focus on socio-economic challenges contribute to the development of social enterprises.

Cultural Environment: The enthusiasm of civil society plays a crucial role in the rise of social enterprise. Often, social entrepreneurs emerge from within civil society, responding to socio-economic issues with innovative approaches.

Institutional Environment: To advance social enterprises from emergence to maturity, institutional support is critical. Curricula in academic institutions can prepare novice social entrepreneurs with knowledge and networks.

Despite the challenges in defining the nature and legal basis of social enterprises, they undoubtedly play a vital role in addressing social, economic, and environmental challenges. Applying this observation to the Indian context, there are four key issues that run concurrently with these factors that demand the realignment of policy and social enterprise dimensions:

The legal status of social enterprises is not clearly defined, generating issues with credibility and authenticity, which in turn undermine the development of policy and strategy.

Regarding sustainability, governments must foster an environment that encourages social entrepreneurship and innovation. India (not is isolation) faces a distinct challenge in this area.

The review of literature reveals that social enterprise in India lacks a comprehensive policy framework for understanding the complexities of the phenomenon and its determinants.

There are no clear-cut guidelines of how to improve and enhance social enterprise activities across the nation. The distribution of social enterprise is geographically inconsistent.

Methodological approach to the research

This research is positioned within broader literature on social innovation and its policy relevance. Even though social innovation is not a novel concept, the application of social innovation as a policy idea and its relationship to the restructuring of the prevailing welfare establishment is synonymous with the development of social enterprise.

Embracing the spirit of social innovation was a key feature of the methodological approach adopted in this study. The involvement of partners, prospective partners, and actual and potential beneficiaries is essential to reflect the philosophical basis of social enterprise and to provide a cross cultural and social representation of each community as part of the research and evaluation process. This will provide the firm foundation towards enabling the attainment of the study’s objectives. This study utilised an embedded a case study approach, drawing upon the approach illustrated by Yin ( 2018 ).

The case study approach is used when evaluating and exploring the nature of underlying issues with reference to an identified phenomenon (Robson & McCartan, 2016 ; Yin, 2018 ). The case study approach is the most appropriate to explore the underlying factors perceived to influence a key phenomenon under investigation and is particularly useful when the phenomenon is an under-researched subject. This approach was particularly suited to this study as it reflects the emerging and contemporary phenomenon of social enterprise, enabling the development of an explanation and the exploration of the causal relationships of underlying determinants influencing the development of social enterprise (Robson & McCartan, 2016 ). This enabled the detailed exploration of those factors that influence the determinants of social enterprise and its flexibility; it also allowed the perceptions of participants to be included, and this flexible research design enabled the researchers to evaluate the strengths and limitations of the subject studied in context. A case study effectively addresses the ‘what’, ‘how’, and ‘why’ of events, experiences, phenomena, and data collected in the process, each crucial features of this research. Enabling the researchers to gather information, understand processes, and explore reasons, and thereby facilitating effective and deeper understanding of the various facets of social enterprise and policy development within the Indian context.

Specifically, the research team adopted a mixed methods and exploratory embedded multiple case study design approach proposed by Yin ( 2018 ) was utilised as this specifically offers an insight to the micro-cultural and socio-economic and political influences upon policy development. It is this aspect of the case study that resonates with the aspirations of the study, referring, as Yin asserts, to multiple sources of evidence enables researchers to capture the perspectives of different data sets and participants, focussing on how their different meanings illuminates new perspectives (Yin, 2018 ) is appropriate for the research.

Conceptual framework

The following illustrates the processes that were undertaken to establish a model of change to promote an understanding of the policy framework, the role, forms, practice, and value of learning within social enterprise, and how this could contribute to the development of a policy framework for innovation and social enterprise in India. The model comprises a four-step cyclical process that involves assessment, solutions-orientated problem solving, implementation, and reflection and evaluation (Snowden et al., 2023a ):

Assessment—comprises a holistic method of data collection from all available sources. For the purpose of this study, this involved:

Semi-structured and focus interviews of key beneficiaries (actual and potential) and stakeholders, e.g. NGOs, statutory agencies, community members, social entrepreneurs, and representative of social enterprise groups and agencies.

A desk top review using a systematic method to assess existing research, policy, and curriculum documentation for information relevant to parameters of this study.

Online survey of actual beneficiaries and stakeholders, e.g. NGOs, statutory agencies, community members, social entrepreneurs, and representative of social enterprise groups and agencies.

Solutions-orientated problem solving—involves the development and design of recommendations and solutions to problems and challenges identified from data collected in the assessment phase.

Implementation—is an active phase delivering the solutions to the research questions presented. This stage involved: an initial dissemination of findings; peer review; design of recommendations, strategy materials, and policy based on the evaluation and analysis of data collected.

Reflection and evaluation—this required holistic evaluation and testing in addition to harnessing the reflective elements of Kirkpatrick’s model (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016 ).

Data collection and analysis

The following methods were used for the data collection:

Document review

Document review within this study includes all publicly available policy, curriculum, and practice documents. The purpose of performing document analysis is to inquire in what ways and to what extent literature is presented and if it is visibly accurate and representative. A systematic approach was used to frame the document review. Documents included specific guidelines aimed exclusively at social enterprises and those additionally associated more broadly towards social enterprise, social innovation, and allied fields such as small and medium enterprise (SME) policy, and policy intents and achievements/failures each within the context of India. The data collected were used to inform and provide a meticulous summary of available data in relation to the research question and objectives of the study. Prior to analysis, data that met the criteria for the study were analysed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool approach. Using content analysis (Krippendorff, 2019 ) enabled inferences to be developed regarding the content within the texts analysed.

Online survey

An online questionnaire was developed to identify those key features of social enterprise that have been influenced or constrained by developments and policies within India. Each of the questions was developed by data identified in the literature review and in consultation with the research team. The purposive sample included key beneficiaries (actual and potential) and stakeholders, e.g. NGOs, statutory agencies, community members, social entrepreneurs, and representative of social enterprise groups and agencies within India. Overall measures of the importance of the different dimensions of influence were calculated using the descriptive statistical method ‘relative importance index’ (Robson & McCartan, 2016 ), and free-text responses were analysed using content analysis.

The interview method is highly recommended when the focus of the study is to explore the meaning associated with a particular phenomenon (Robson & McCartan, 2016 ). For the purpose of this study, semi-structured interviews and semi-structured focus groups were conducted. Interview questions were informed by the literature/desk top review, the results of the online survey, and agreed within the research team. While semi-structured interviews were considered to be the most appropriate method for data collection, as this enabled the curation of views on the perspectives explored, to enhance the credibility and replicability of the study, focus groups were also conducted. This dual approach to collecting qualitative data allowed within the focus groups a sense of greater security, where the group dynamic allowed participants to build on one another's responses and generate ideas that they might not have thought of in an individual interview. Furthermore, the strategy of conducting the focus groups first provided the opportunity to follow up issues and perspectives into more detail from a single perspective.

In evaluative studies, the quality of the information collated is dependent upon the quality of the interview process; to ensure consistency, an interview guide was developed using the principles of PROMPT (Open University, 2024 ) and key suppositions based on the experiences and wisdom of the participants and available literature. This exercise contributed to the validity and credibility of the data collection tools within the evaluative framework (Robson & McCartan, 2016 ). Purposive sampling was used to conduct a series of 34 interviews and 14 focus group interviews. Data collected from both focus groups and interviews were analysed using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006 ), transcribed verbatim, coded, and used to analyse similar and comparative themes or patterns to establish key findings.

Results from the survey

The survey posed 10 key questions:

Question 1: What is the scope of social entrepreneurship, especially in a price sensitive market like India ?

The responses (65%) indicate that many feel the scope for social enterprises is huge but that new social enterprises face fundraising challenges. Market competition hinders the growth of social enterprises and catering to Indian market. 50% of the respondents suggested that social enterprises need to price their products/services at a cheaper cost than competitors but this leads to issues with sustainability.

Question 2: Do you see a growing trend in inclination towards social enterprises among Indian youth?

Generally, the participants (70%) perceived that the youth is generally more aware about the environmental and social issues, and are able to understand the role of social entrepreneurship and social enterprise. Participants suggested that there is a sense of responsibility in the younger generation and imply that this group is more innovative and environmentally conscious, so they are more aware of the social enterprise concept as it blends social and economic strategy to respond to social challenges.

Question 3: Are there any incentives and schemes by the Indian and state governments to encourage social enterprise?

Many participants (75%) expressed that, over the past 10 years, the government has been encouraging and continues to encourage social innovation, technological solutions, and a number of schemes have been announced during the past decade to support young entrepreneurs, such as Avishay Capita, Atal Innovation Mission, Support for International Patent Protection in Electronics & Information Technology (SIP-EIT), National Skill Development Corporation, Start-Up India Programme, MeitY Start-up Hub, Start-Up India, and the Stand-Up India Scheme.

Question.5: What could the government or society do to encourage social entrepreneurship?

The respondents had many suggestions that could be taken up by the government and society to encourage and promote social entrepreneurship in the country:

The provision of incentives and financial aid to new social enterprises.

Launching courses and education programmes in schools and universities to raise awareness regarding the concept of social entrepreneurship.

Setting up incubation centres and innovation centres across the country.

The provision of tax benefits to new social enterprises, at least in their initial years.

People, as a society, need to support small-scale social enterprises over large-scale manufacturing houses who are able to provide goods and services at lower costs.

Question 6: What are the main barriers to the development of social entrepreneurship in India?

The overwhelming response was that issues linked to funding are the most critical barrier. There is also lack of awareness among participants about how to harness support for innovative ideas; educational institutions have not been teaching social enterprise courses, and complex regulatory frameworks and bureaucratic procedures are significant barriers in conjunction with a lack of skill and capability development programmes and capacity building. Some participants highlighted that they had opportunities provided by a local university; however, these were not experienced by all.

Question 7: Should the concept of social entrepreneurship and innovation be incorporated into the education curricula?

The response was distinct; it was clear that the participants viewed universities as having a role in challenging the old paradigms of business schools that prioritise profit maximisation. Higher education institutions (HEIs) were viewed by some as engaging with the social enterprise sector in order to discover sustainable solutions for concerns around economic and social disparity and justice. However, this was found to be regionally disparate. All participants agreed that universities should be promoting knowledge and understanding of social enterprise.

Question 8: Do you think the concept of social enterprise requires additional skill development training programmes in higher education settings?

Universities were perceived as income generators within a local community, and most importantly, are seen as a hub between different institutions (public, private, and non-government organisations). Each participant commented that additional skills are needed to fulfil the role of the social entrepreneur.

Question 9: Is the emergence of social enterprise a potential alternative development channel to rapidly shifting Indian policies?

Rich and uniform answers were provided as a response to this question. Participants viewed the growth of social enterprise as significant over recent years. In particular, uniformly they viewed social enterprise as demonstrating spectacular growth in India, with the country being referred to as ‘a social enterprise superpower’ by Think, a social action think-tank and action hub, as well as ‘a hotbed for social enterprise’ by Beyond Profit magazine, a leading social enterprise magazine. Social enterprises have been extremely effective in driving development in India, which is home to one of the world’s largest populations still living in poverty.

Question 10: Indian Social enterprises are very active but operate as NGOs, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or foundations, in the absence of any legal definition that could form a basis for policy dialogue. Do you agree with this?

In spite of India having a legal form that closely mirrors the social enterprise model, 80% of the survey respondents reported that they operate as private limited

companies and they find the lack of legal clarity a huge hurdle. There is growing diversity in the way social enterprises are being registered, with participants commenting that this lack of clarity dilutes their social mission.

Findings from the literature review

The survey findings mirrored what was found within the literature. Social enterprises are perceived as positive change agents; they offer the latest methodologies, innovative solutions, and novel conceptual frameworks. Social enterprises attend to social issues and support marginalised and disadvantaged people by developing innovative community-centred methods to resolve challenging issues. Many understand social enterprise as a transformational trend in the progression towards making standard for-profit enterprises that change themselves to generate social value. Opuni et al. ( 2022 ) present the view that, in a local community context, social enterprises create opportunities and can have a real impact in the geographical area (e.g. in tackling poverty, and in employment, education, and environmental issues).

While reviewing the literature, government programmes, and policy supporting the social enterprise sector were found to be too recent to provide evidence of long-term impact. However, there are early results from adaptations to selected local contexts in developing countries that can inform policy design for those governments that are considering the social enterprise agenda as part of their strategy to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Indian social enterprises are very active but operate chiefly as NGOs, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or foundations. Enterprises operate in the absence of legal definitions or even a commonly shared operational definition that could form the basis for policy dialogue among the various stakeholders. Nonetheless, India has commenced a policy dialogue around the social enterprise sector and has recently adapted policy sections that provide a vehicle for engaging with social entrepreneurs. A special social enterprise section has been included within the Enterprise Policy, adopted in 2015 by the Ministry of Skills Development and Entrepreneurship. It provides 14 definitions and specifies forms of support for social enterprises, which includes higher education courses, fiscal incentives for social investment, incubation, grassroots technology hubs, and engagement on innovation with existing entities such as the National Innovation Foundation. Despite the government promoting an ecosystem to encourage social business, impact investment, and social enterprises, the on-the-ground realities of running a social venture remain daunting. However, these changes are pointing to a bright future for India's social entrepreneurship scene.

With an estimated two million social enterprises in India, it is one of the most dynamic social entrepreneurship environments globally. In their 12th Five Year Plan (2012–2017), the Government of India ( 2011 ) accorded priority to Bottom-of-the-Pyramid (Bop) focussed enterprises and social good ventures by declaring the period between 2010 and 2020 as the ‘decade of innovation’. The government is committed to helping social enterprises in capacity building by investing seed capital through a fund called the India Inclusive Innovation Fund (IIIF) in areas of healthcare, energy, urban infrastructure, water, and transportation. IIIF has been capitalised to INR 5000 crores (USD 780 million) and was to be allocated to social enterprises over the 10-year period starting 2010; 20% of a social venture’s funds came from this fund while the remaining 80% will have to come from private investors.

The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly highlighted the critical significance of strengthening systems and building resilience across communities—principally among those living in severe scarcity and who are most at risk during these major disruptions. A social innovation approach puts competence to harness innovation at the hub of community solution orientate problem solving. However, this necessitates a distributed and dispersed arrangement where innovation and social enterprise connects through networks. Halsall et al.( 2020 ) assert that in addition to developing the traditional learner-teacher relationship, pedagogical restructuring needs to take place in regard to social entrepreneurial skill development and that this should take two forms: (1) changes in the curriculum, and (2) changes in the techniques of teaching and learning. The illustration by Snowden et al. ( 2023a , 2023b , 2023c ) presents a conceptualisation of this remodelling of enterprise education, which is developing at various levels globally, as illustrated by the UK—the India Research Initiative ( 2019 ) annual report, the Developing Inclusive Creative Economies (DICE) ( 2019 ), and the British Council ( 2016 ).

Two projects illustrate how this remodelling is influencing the development of social enterprise. The first is a collaborative project between Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi, and the University of Huddersfield. This project formed a collaboration and works in partnership with several stakeholders, including new and existing social enterprises, and has developed a series of educational tools and packages that have advanced social enterprise within a number of different contexts. The second example is the Tamil Nadu Polytechnic College, Madurai, India, project. The aim of this project was to promote the use of ICT and smart classrooms to enhance teaching and learning. This project achieved success via a 30% improvement in teaching materials, a 40% increase in staff using integrated teaching methods, a 40% increase in acquisition of knowledge outside traditional sources of information, and a 10% overall increase in academic performance. Undoubtedly, a symbiotic relationship must develop between social enterprise to be successful, and indeed for HEIs to fulfil their role successfully.

The following assumptions were made about what policy is potentially relevant to social enterprises:

Policies or programmes affecting or targeting SMEs have the potential to include some social enterprises.

Policies and plans influencing organisation registering and governance of organisations and enterprises have the potential to influence social enterprise, given that they register in multiple forms.

Policies or programmes targeting low income and disadvantaged groups in terms of improving their livelihoods and/or access to social services have the potential to influence some social enterprises.

Policies or strategies deliberating financial growth, industrial expansion, sector-level development, or social development have the potential to affect social enterprises.

Qualitative findings

The results from focus group discussions bring out common concerns that were reflected and emphasised by further probing in the individual interviews, reaffirming the reliability of the findings. Participants expressed the consistent view that the social enterprise situation in India has changed considerably in recent years and was dynamic in response to societal trends. The participants were asked about the major objectives for setting up a social enterprise. The most frequently specified aim of social enterprises in the focus group discussions was generating employment (70% of participants), followed by social inclusion (45% of participants), improving health (40% of participants), protecting the environment (40% of participants), addressing social exclusion (40% of participants), supporting agriculture and allied activities (36%), empowering women (35%), promoting education (40% of participants), and supporting vulnerable groups (23% of participants).

At present, though the Indian government has supported social entrepreneurs there are still substantial funding challenges, meaning they often fail to secure start-up capital. There are a limited number of financial institutions that lend financial support to social entrepreneurs, as they hold a misconception that these organisations are not profitable. Participants were invited to propose how social entrepreneurship could be improved, the data collected identified three themes:

Enhancing and expanding research and education on social enterprise and social economy in schools and universities, which might help to develop both local knowledge and the talent pipeline.

Encouraging private and public procurement channels to be more inclusive, enabling the procurement of services and goods from social enterprises that impart social and environmental value.

The creation of incentives for funding and investment.

It is evident from each data set that there are significant growth plans for social enterprise; for example: the majority of surveyed social enterprises is looking to enlarge their scope, reach new areas, and increase their customer base by developing new products and services. A disturbing observation notable in both the literature review and commentary from participants was the barrier associated with recruitment. The foremost recruitment challenge was perceived to be finding and retaining junior to mid-level talent, with a lack of awareness and understanding of social enterprise identified as key contributory features. Respondents were asked during the interview discussions about funding and finance they have received since they started operating. The nature of funds received primarily consist of funding from the government; endowments from foundations; indentures from the government; fees, sales, and charges; and aids—cash and in-kind (e.g. apparatus, volunteer time, etc.). The nature of finance received comprised of: capital grants; concessional loans (loans with below-market interest rates); commercial finances (market interest rate loans); and equity or equity-like investments. Of the respondents surveyed, 40% count on grants from foundations, and 28% of social enterprises got funds from philanthropists and charities; capital grants (24%); commercial loans (27%); funding from government schemes (25%); contracts from governments (18%); and concessional advances lower than the market rate (14%).

There is a significant variance between the funding of social enterprises and conventional commercial organisations. Of the social enterprises surveyed, 40 faced difficulties gaining access to investors due to inadequate networks. This was significant in some areas, where support establishments are rare and social enterprises are limited. For example, there is significant social enterprise presence in Maharashtra and Karnataka as compared to Utter Pradesh or North East states. Nearly 30% of the social enterprises recognised a lack of access to debt/equity as a key stumbling block. New social enterprises are moving to repayable finance to establish and expand their businesses. New generation social enterprises are also tapping into diverse, non-traditional funding sources; for example: crowd funding, using social media like Facebook’s ‘internet.org;’ social loans from Milap (an online micro-lending platform); and educational institutions and consortia, etc.

An incidental issue that raised during the interviews was related to incorporation of the concepts of social entrepreneurship and innovation within high school curricula. The perception of the participants encouraged incorporation and encourage students to explore new business ventures that provide self-employment opportunities as well as enabling them to contribute to developing solutions to social problems; for example, by improving health outcomes that exploit innovative approaches. Indian social enterprises are very active but operate as NGOs small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), or foundations, and lack legal definition that could form a basis for policy dialogue. A legal definition of a social enterprise would promote a self-sustaining model that could generate the financial resources to support operations, but also to enhance scalability, develop awareness, and promote social enterprise as a career option alongside the more commonly recognised professions.

The Government of India is making positive steps towards this by promoting incentives and schemes by Indian and state governments:

The central government's Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) was established to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship throughout India. It consists of programmes that support and fund social entrepreneurs, such as Atal Incubation Centres, Atal Tinkering Labs, and Atal New India Challenges.

The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) supports social entrepreneurs operating in industries like healthcare, agriculture, and renewable energy with funding and training. The NSDC focuses on skill development.

Start-Up India is a programme that intends to promote the development of new businesses, especially social enterprises. It offers advantages like tax breaks, simplified compliance procedures, and access to investment through several government-backed programmes like AIM and Fund of Funds for start-ups.

While government initiatives and schemes provide a foundation of support, additional resources and partnerships are typically necessary. There are few incentives and schemes by the governments at either national or state levels to encourage social enterprises. The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) was set up NITI Aayog in 2016, which aims to promote the innovative and entrepreneurial mindset among school and university students, and the private and MSME sectors across the nation. AIM is mandated to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in India. Through Atal Incubation Centres—or AICs—at universities, institutions, and corporations, AIM is creating an ever-evolving ecosystem of start-ups and entrepreneurs. These business incubation centres aim to foster and support world-class innovations and dynamic entrepreneurs, who want to build scalable and sustainable enterprises. To date, AIM has successfully operationalised 69 AICs in 18 states and 3 Indian union territories. These AICs support incubated start-ups by providing world-class technical facilities, resource-based support, mentorship, funding support, partnerships and networking, co-working spaces, and laboratory facilities, among other modes of support. More than 2,900 start-ups have been supported by these AICs, of which 900 + start-ups are led by women and have created 30,000 + jobs in the ecosystem. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology's (MEITY’s) Start-up Hub (MSH): MSH acts as a national coordination, facilitation, and monitoring centre that integrates all the incubation centres, start-ups, and innovation-related activities of MEITY, which aims to promoting technology innovation, start-ups, and the creation of intellectual property. 3. Start-Up India’s Stand-Up India scheme launched on 15 August, 2015; Start-Up India is a flagship initiative of the Government of India, intended to catalyse start-up culture and build a strong and inclusive ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship in India. In most cases, social enterprises do need external aid, whether in the form of capital or mentorship, mostly due to lack of education about the concept and lack of financial aid schemes.

The Indian government has announced policies and 63 incentives, such as the AIM and Start-Up India schemes, to support social entrepreneurship. The UK has a vigorous legal framework for social enterprises, with the Community Interest Company (CIC) structure explicitly intended for them. The UK government has executed numerous policies and programmes, including the Social Value Act and Social Investment Tax Relief, to endorse and support social enterprises. Funding and Investment: India: Impact investment and social finance in India are rising, but access to investment for social enterprises can still be challenging, particularly for early-stage ventures. Old-style funding sources, such as banks and venture capitalists, have limited exposure to the social enterprise sector.

India has seen the emergence of incubators, accelerators, and support organisations focussed on social entrepreneurship. These organisations provide mentoring, networking opportunities, and capacity-building programmes for social enterprises. However, the ecosystem is still evolving and expanding. Nonetheless, India's social enterprise sector is growing rapidly, and the government is increasingly recognising and supporting social entrepreneurship. With the right policies and support, India has the potential to further strengthen its social enterprise ecosystem and increase its impact. A much-neglected area, as highlighted in this study, is the importance of education—in particular, the role that higher education institutions can play.

Recent studies (Halsall et al., 2022b ; Snowden et al., 2023b , 2023c ) highlight the value of delivering a curriculum that will develop the key skills and qualities of a social entrepreneur. Halsall et al. ( 2022b ) and Snowden et al. ( 2023b ) present six components of a proposed social entrepreneurship curriculum and recommend that they should be delivered within a heutagogical approach. The six characteristics include:

Institutions—structures of rules and norms that develop social change in society. In this context, an institution is a personal business, governmental, or education establishment. Here, institutions are, overall, seen to have an important effect on citizens in society.

Stakeholders—key individuals and organisations contributing to social enterprise, for example this may include: learners, i.e. those who want to learn the skills associated with social enterprise; educators, i.e. those who ‘teach’ or facilitate learning about social enterprise; entrepreneurs, i.e. those who are contributing to society and developing social enterprise.

Teaching and Learning—a process whereby the learner gains skills and understanding.

Personal Skills and Capability—a framework for skills and knowledge growth from a social entrepreneur development perspective.

Curriculum—centrally driven by knowledge, practices, and critical engagement.

Work Placement—a period in which the learner can experience expertise in the employment or specific sector they want to enter.

The data collected from the study also demonstrate that despite the importance of social enterprise in society, students are still studying theories as opposed to acquiring practical skills. Hence, there is an urgent need to encourage students to learn by doing, and to develop an understanding of how to collaborate and engage with each other to address social problems. As emphasised by Halsall et al. ( 2022a , 2022b ), engagement can only take place if the stakeholders, both actual and perceived, engage in the transformational process, providing opportunities to acquire the capability and skills through work-based learning and internship opportunities alongside constructive mentorship are offered.

However, education must also take place in practice. Strengthening of the emerging social enterprise ecosystem is achieved by:

The development of capacity building and entrepreneurship support. Developing entrepreneurship and incubation programmes that focus on social enterprise development; the provision of training, mentorship, and technical assistance to social entrepreneurs is key to this.

The promotion of partnerships between academic institutions, incubators, and industry experts to offer specialised courses and programmes on social entrepreneurship and social innovation would develop social entrepreneurs’ capability, skills, and knowledge base.

Encouragement of a community of praxis via the development of support networks and platforms that facilitate knowledge sharing, collaboration, and peer learning among social entrepreneurs and innovators.

While from a more strategic viewpoint this ecosystem can be strengthened by:

The introduction of policies that promote social enterprise and that encourage social procurement by encouraging government agencies and corporations to prioritise procurement from social enterprises rather than multinational corporations. This should include the simplification and creation of transparent procedures that allow social enterprises to access government tenders and contracts, providing them with fair opportunities to compete. Encourage corporations to include social enterprises in their supply chains and foster partnerships between social enterprises and private sector entities.

Impact Measurement and Reporting: The development of standardised frameworks and guidelines for the measurement and reporting of social impact, ensuring consistency and comparability across social enterprises. Support and training should be provided to social enterprises to build their capacity in impact assessment, monitoring, and evaluation, and the adoption of impact measurement tools and technologies should be encouraged to enhance accountability and transparency.

Collaboration and knowledge-sharing platforms should be established to connect social enterprises, government bodies, academia, civil society organisations, and traditional businesses to create a robust social innovation ecosystem. Dedicated social innovation centres and incubation hubs should be established across the country, providing physical spaces, mentorship, and networking opportunities for social entrepreneurs.

Research and development in social innovation should be promoted, with the support of partnerships between universities, research institutions, and social enterprises to enable them to address pressing social challenges.

Implementing these policy suggestions can create an enabling environment for social enterprises and social innovation in India, driving inclusive economic growth and sustainable development while addressing critical social and environmental issues.

The development and agreement of a uniformed legal framework for social enterprise development will consolidate the approach to social enterprise and promote sustainability. There is a consistent view demonstrated within the study’s findings that a legal framework will benefit social enterprise growth. The espousal of legal frameworks typically indicates that social enterprises are significant to establishments. In countries where legal frameworks for social enterprises were introduced, they have been beneficial both socially and economically. A clearly defined characterisation that is widely accepted provides structure, clarity, and additional authority as opposed to a working definition that produces de facto social enterprises. The design of a clear and uniform policy also helps to promote the identity of the social entrepreneur role, encouraging professionalisation. An enhanced and improved empathetic view of what social enterprises mean and how they function regarding funders and establishments will contribute to sustainability and advancement of the discipline.

Conclusion and recommendations

This paper provides an exploration of the issues associated with the integration of social policy dimensions into social entrepreneurship education and makes the following recommendations:

The Indian government should implement measures to foster a supportive environment by utilising suitable legal and fiscal tools. This would encourage MSMEs to transition from the unorganised to the organised sector and promote their corporatization. Furthermore, the government should stimulate higher investments in innovative and knowledge-based ventures, as well as in research and development, by enhancing collaborations between industry and academic institutions.

The social enterprise ecosystem will continue to grow rapidly and will attract interested stakeholders. Social enterprise has the potential to address societal needs, and it will bring a positive impact to society.

The social enterprise ecosystem in India operates in an unorganised fashion. It needs a platform for communicating social and economic values and to leverage business opportunities.

To streamline and establish institutional structure for standard setting and the measurement of impact.

Social enterprises in India need to develop a managerial framework that can be adapted to offer guidance to new and emerging social entrepreneurs. This could help to cut the number of errors new social entrepreneurs make and enable them to manage their organisations in a more professional manner.

There is immense potential to link social enterprise to corporate social responsibility. Social enterprises can avail numerous benefits apart from funding if policy regarding corporate social responsibility is streamlined in a coherent manner.

Furthermore, to provide support at a fundamental level, the government should aim to set up a technical advisory team whose role is to mentor emerging social enterprises and provide them with guidelines on registration, funding, management, business, networking, expansion, collaboration, and innovation. The necessity for an all-in-one, exclusive social enterprise policy in India is clear; it would act as a singular source of wisdom, guiding approaches and providing solutions to many of the issues that occur frequently in social enterprise operations.

While this research has significant limitations, it paints a common and consistent picture of the key determinants of social enterprise. Social enterprises are attracting increasing research and academic consideration around the world. By implementing supportive policies, governments can create a sustainable ecosystem that nurtures social entrepreneurship and contributes to inclusive and sustainable development.

Policymakers need to develop a clear understanding of why, when, and how to regulate social enterprises and the impact that legislation (or lack thereof) can have for their development. The need for regulation for social enterprises is context-based: motives and outcomes of legal frameworks reflect local conditions, which means that what works within the broader legal and regulatory frameworks of one country may not in another and vice versa. Legal frameworks may provide recognition and visibility, as well as access to financial incentives and support, to markets, and to support services that facilitate starting, developing, and growing social enterprises.

Higher education increasingly requires institutions to evidence their worth and address the issue of employability within the curriculum. Traditionally, the focus is largely on young undergraduates who are studying full time and preparing for their first job. However, students enrolled on higher education courses within further and higher education institutions are not primarily concerned with their ability to get that first job, but their ability to keep their current job and/or progress on to the next job. Current employability strategies are concerned with generic skill development. Drawing upon a student centred approach to learning, drawing upon the principles of heutagogy, that focuses upon the development of a social entrepreneurial skill set and related capabilities is required.

Social enterprises are promoted as a solution to the socio-economic challenges posed to the challenges presented of the post-COVID-19 pandemic world. The innovative use of entrepreneurial skills and spirit to address social issues, though not a new concept, surpasses traditional frameworks and is essential for meeting the evolving demands of the modern world. To ensure equality and parity, society today demands that graduates develop new skills, abilities, and knowledge that are responsive to the challenges of the day—i.e. that they become an individual who is able to create social value by generating innovative solutions through a process of social entrepreneurship.

This paper illustrates that social enterprise is complex and dynamic; it is a multifaceted change process through which social entrepreneurs offer economic inclusion and social engagement to different global communities and social groups through creative, solution-orientated strategies (Halsall et al., 2022b ; Snowden et al., 2021a , 2021b ; Oberoi et al., 2018 ). The global community sits on a on a fulcrum; societal and global challenges are distinct and reflect the pervasive inequalities within global society, a response to the needs of today’s dynamic global society is demanded, and social enterprise provides a resolution to these challenges. The recent statement by the United Nations issued in Spring 23 (Unted Nations 2023 ) reaffirms this and calls for global institutions and nations to enable the development of social entrepreneurship skills and capabilities to meet the goals of Sustainable Development Goals.

These include social inequality and injustice, public health, and socio-environmental issues as they present in society, and distinctly, the manner in which the issues empower communities and groups locally, nationally, and globally. Indubitably, the development of a ‘new’ curriculum to develop must be achieved within a cross-disciplinary framework that is both global and hauntological in nature. It is clear that the emerging social enterprise curriculum should be multifaceted and complex, like the concept itself; this would, therefore, enable the learning experience to be dynamic and context specific, and ensure that the needs of the social entrepreneur, community, and society are met by the training provider in the form of the higher education institution.

There is a significant opportunity for policy leaders to shape the future of Indian society. Key to this is the development and adoption of a clear policy to enable social entrepreneurs to fulfil their potential. However, to support this development, opportunities must be realised in relation to learning, and can be developed via the teaching and learning curriculum in terms of skills and development. Without the adoption of a clear pedagogic model to support policy development, the realisation of social enterprise will not be achieved.

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Acknowledgements

This paper would not have been possible without the inputs from various social entrepreneurs and directors of social enterprises and CISE students, particularly our research assistant Adarsh Sachan from KMC, who helped us to carry out focus group discussions and data collection. A special thank you to those who took time out of their busy schedules to share their entrepreneurial journeys with us.

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Michael Snowden & Jamie P. Halsall

Huddersfield Business School, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK

Liz Towns-Andrews

Department of Political Science, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India

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Department of Social Entrepreneurship, Rollins College, Winter Park, FL, USA

Walter Mswaka

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Correspondence to Michael Snowden .

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Approval was obtained from the ethics committee of University of Delhi. The procedures used in this study adhere to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki. The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

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Snowden, M., Towns-Andrews, L., Halsall, J.P. et al. Integrating social policy dimensions into entrepreneurship education: a perspective from India. Entrep Educ (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41959-024-00125-6

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Introduction to Research Methods

6.1 Interviews

6.2 Asking good Questions

6.3 Analyzing Interview Data

6.4 Using interview data

6.5 Ensuring Anonymity

6.6 Why not both?

6.7 Summary

How to Write an Introduction for a Qualitative Research Study

How to Write a Lab Report Conclusion

Why an Introduction is Important

State the Problem

Describe the Methods

State the Conclusion

Address the Bigger Picture

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How to Create a Literature Review Outline

Chapter 1. Introduction

Why an Open Access Textbook on Qualitative Research Methods?

What is Research?

What is Qualitative Research?

Examples of Qualitative Research

Example 1 : The End Game (ethnography + interviews)

Example 2: Racing for Innocence (Interviews + Content Analysis + Fictional Stories)

Example 3: Amplified Advantage (Mixed Methods: Survey Interviews + Focus Groups + Archives)

How Is This Book Organized?

Chapter Descriptions

Recommended Reading: Other Qualitative Research Textbooks

Patton’s Ten Suggestions for Doing Qualitative Research

Qualitative Research 101: Interviewing

Overview: 5 Interviewing Mistakes

1. Not having a clear interview strategy

2. Not having good interview technique

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4. Not having a basic risk management plan

5. Not keeping your golden thread front of mind

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