ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the uptake of qualitative research in health sciences. Health professionals are encouraged, indeed expected, to base practice on evidence. Traditionally, incontestable outcomes of research such as the randomized clinical trial were viewed as the most reliable forms of evidence to inform practice. While the evidence arising from studies of this nature was useful, many aspects of healthcare service delivery did not lend themselves to these types of investigations. To accommodate the humanism of healthcare, evidence is drawn from both quantitative and qualitative studies and is informing healthcare service delivery. Combining studies and performing meta-analysis of the data achieve strengthening of the evidence provided by small-scale quantitative and qualitative studies. Nonetheless all rigorous research studies have the potential to inform practice and therefore health outcomes.
