The primary goal of this working conference is to """"""""improve health services research design and methods"""""""" by exploring and elaborating how best to use both quantitative and qualitative methods in primary care research, i.e., to develop and define a multimethod approach. The conference will focus on exploring: 1) which questions for which method; and 2) how to combine methods. Experts on research on changing primary care provider behavior and practice patterns have been selected to identify key unanswered questions in the research area. Nationally recognized researchers have been selected to represent; 1) core research areas defined by AHCPR in the summary report of the March 1990 AHCPR Conference, 2) five approaches to qualitative data collection and analysis, and 3) five designs and methods used by quantitative researchers. Researchers who have successfully communicated about qualitative methods to mixed audiences of physicians and epidemiologists will moderate small group sessions, keep notes of group findings, and prepare written summaries. Researchers participating in the conference come from family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, anthropology, biostatistics, educational research, epidemiology, health policy/economics, psychology, and sociology. Prior to arriving at the conference, each participant will write a ten page summary of their area of expertise. Each summary, and a brief bibliography, will be assigned to another conference participant who will review the material and then informally interview the author. This process will facilitate communication, both by having participants considering the best ways of communicating their message (i.e., without jargon) and by having participants informally speaking before the conference. During the conference, attendees will participate in both large and small groups. Important questions in the area of primary care provider behavior and practice patterns will be identified and different approaches to the integration of qualitative and quantitative approaches explored and defined for each. An Executive Steering Committee of the Principal Investigator, members of the Division of Primary Care at AHCPR, and selected conference participants will oversee conference development. Proceedings of the conference will be made available to AHCPR after the conference. An edited volume will be prepared for independent publication.
