Table 2 Questions for clinician-researchers planning research with patient-participants

Using your clinical skills

 1. When is it appropriate to address a clinical question from a patient-participant?

 2. What will you do if you think the patient-participant or another person (such as their carer) is asking you to use your clinical influence or expertise?

 3. When you feel the urge to give physical assistance, what makes it appropriate or not?

 4. If you, incidentally, identify a clinical issue or patient-participant need, how will you manage this?

 5. When is it acceptable for a patient-participant to receive personal (therapeutic) benefit from taking part in research?

Creating a relationship with the patient-participant

 6. What assumptions can you make about shared understanding based on shared clinical ground?

 7. What risk is there of using a trust relationship for your own ends?

 8. What signs are there that a patient-participant might feel coerced or obliged?

 9. What will you do if a patient-participant reveals intimate information of concern?

 10. How will you know if you are ‘too close’ to see?

After the research

 11. What happens if you and the patient-participant meet again, this time as clinician and patient?