Table 2 Characteristics and example of Subtype A2
From: Time and change: a typology for presenting research findings in qualitative longitudinal research
Characteristics of Subtype A2: Partial longitudinal approach |
- The aim is presented in several objectives/research questions, of which one (or some) focus on changes across time - The main focus of the results is to describe aspects of a phenomenon - Findings regarding changes across time are presented in one distinct part of the results section |
Example: Richter Sundberg and colleagues aimed to investigate the bases for decisions and the decision-making process by a prioritization group of clinical experts during the development of clinical guidelines [27]. Data were collected over a period of three years in the form of observations at meetings, open-ended surveys and meeting documents. The study presented three specific research questions: 1) What decision-making criteria were used? 2) How did the composition of decision criteria change over time? 3) Did the participants encounter conflicts or dilemmas, and if so, on what subjects and how were these managed? The focus on time/change was related to research question 2. The findings of the study were then presented in three sections based on the research questions. The subheading for section three was “The decision-making process over time”. In this section, the findings were organized according to a time-line and findings described which topics were discussed early, in the middle, or in the later part of the decision-making process. The findings were also illustrated with a figure showing how the topics of discussion changed in the meetings over time |