Table 2 Potential research questions that can be answered through the FCS

1. What factors have led to the person attending for homeopathic treatment?

2. Can life events such as grief be seen to trigger pathological states?

3. Can conventional treatments be seen to create negative syndrome shift (26)?

4. What is it like to live with common conditions such as RA?

Questions about the therapeutic process

1. What is different about homeopathic case-taking?

2. What types of questioning lead to the gathering of rich information?

3. How do written records compare with transcripts?

Questions testing homeopathic theory

1. Do symptom aggravations occur in practice and what is their nature?

2. Do old symptoms return in the healing process?

3. Does healing occur in accordance with "Hering's Law"?

4. What themes emerge when comparing several cases apparently helped by the same remedy?

Questions on outcome

1. Has positive therapeutic change occurred in this case/these cases?

2. What explanations are there for positive change?

3. In which medical conditions is homeopathy apparently effective?

4. How in subjective terms do people describe healing experiences?

5. To what factors do patients attribute their change?

6. What adverse events have occurred in the course of treatment?

7. In what ways are patients satisfied/dissatisfied with their care?