Consulting Services -Tailored Solutions
For Your Health Research Needs

Providing tailored solutions for your health research needs includes helping you choose the right methodology to collect data which should not be a do-it yourself activity unless you have the expertise. Tell us what you need to measure and we can either advise you or carry out the work for you, so you get the right information you need within the compressed timelines often demanded by the client.

Focus groups

We have used focus groups including patients, carers and front-line staff to capture perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes towards service delivery, experiences of their condition and treatment and COA evaluation. See our case studies.

Typically, we normally recruit between 8-10 people by location. Groups are guided by a research moderator who often uses a topic guide to control the discussion as well as other qualitative techniques to help solicit responses from participants.

In-depth interviews

We have carried out in-depth interviews with patients, carers, clinical, administrative, managers, frontline NHS staff and consultants for purposes including, factors contributing to ineffective health outcomes, patient experience and COA concept elicitation. See our case studies. We also use projective techniques and the laddering technique where a seemingly simple response to a question is pushed by the interviewer in order to find subconscious motives behind the response. Laddering is particularly useful for understanding patient behaviour and perceived outcomes.

Mixed methods

We also utilise a mixed methods approach (using a combination of research methodologies) that allow us to identify insights from the analysis of different data sets in parallel such as in-depth interviews, focus groups, diaries and cognitive debriefing alongside quantitative data such as surveys. We apply a proven ten-stage framework to apply a holistic analysis that provides you with a rounded view of what the qualitative and quantitative research evidence is saying.

Clinical trial exit interviews

Exit interviews can provide a rich source of information about the individual’s experience and evaluation of the medication, treatment, side-effects, functioning etc. The data collected is normally qualitative carried out at various time points as well as at the end of the treatment phase. When we have combination of data type we apply our ten-stage framework described above to carry out the analysis. Sample size is usually around 30 patients to increase the likelihood of identifying themes.

Cognitive interviewing (Cognitive debriefing)

Carrying out cognitive interviews is now an established approach in questionnaire design, clinical outcome assessment (COA) development and cross-cultural adaptation. However, selecting the most appropriate method requires an understanding of the benefits, costs and the context as to which model will be most useful as well as the critical issues in the analysis of cognitive interviews. See our blog post.

At Health Outcomes Insights we select the most appropriate method based on an assessment of the investigation’s requirements and the attributes of each model and analytical approach that ensures you get the most informative information.

Co-creation workshops

Our workshops are a creative form of collaborative creativity.’ It’s a rich mix drawing on a combination of knowledge, and group decision-making. It’s the process of involving the client/customer/patient in the creation of meaning and value. We have applied this technique in COA development as it brings patients and key stakeholders (e.g. researchers, clinicians, pharmaceutical advisors) together and who are tasked to collaboratively generate ideas, concepts through a range of stimulating activities.