Concept elicitation interviews and focus groups
We lead the field in the rigorous conduct of concept elicitation interviews and focus groups to high standards to meet clients’ clinical outcome assessment (COA) instrument development goals. Our in-depth understanding of what is important in concept elicitation interviewing and qualitative analysis means that we are able to apply our methods to elicit in-depth, high-quality data from a range of participant groups including patients, caregivers/parents and clinicians. We have particularly strong expertise in conducting interviews with children, in rare diseases and other special populations where greater creativity can be required.
Hallmarks of our approach to concept elicitation research are the following:
- Open-ended enquiry and techniques to maximize opportunity for spontaneous elicitation of concepts by participants
- Use of creative tasks (e.g., drawing tasks, mood boards, timeline tasks, importance rating) to facilitate discussion and elicitation of concepts where necessary
- Use of dynamic probing to ensure full understanding of concepts of interest
- Formal analysis of qualitative transcripts/data using software (ATLAS.ti) and based on thematic analysis methods
- A focus on organization and visualisation of complex and in-depth qualitative data in concise and compelling ways
We are also experienced in using a wide range of digital methods, alongside or in place of traditional qualitative research methods (e.g., interviews or focus groups), including:
- Mobile apps to elicit ‘real time’ disease experience data in a number of modalities (text, audio, photo or video)
- Use of bespoke online communities, focus groups or blogs
- Instant messaging platforms
These methods can facilitate access to hard-to-reach participants, reduce participant burden, increase flexibility of scheduling, reduce recall bias, improve ecological validity and increase patient engagement in the research.