Abstract
Background: The Japanese Society of Health Education and Promotion (JSHEP) conducted a seminar on qualitative research on January 16, 2014. This paper reports on the seminar outputs of group work and discussions with instructors.
Contents: In total, 101 participants attended the seminar. They were divided into 10 groups, each of which discussed the following question: “What do you want to know about qualitative research?” This initial question generated further questions and comments within the groups that were all recorded. After engaging in an intra-group discussion, each group addressed their collective questions to the instructors. We compiled and organized the results of the group work, which we present in this paper with a summary of the subsequent discussion held with instructors. We thematically arranged questions raised by participants into the following six categories: (1) an explanatory overview of qualitative research and mixed methods research, (2) research strategies, (3) data collection, (4) data analysis, (5) progression of analysis to obtain results, and (6) writing a paper. During the discussion with the instructors, a representative from each group raised questions. These included, for example, development of qualitative research methodologies, coding techniques and analysis, probability of acceptance of original papers, the quality of qualitative studies, and reaching a saturation point. It was evident from the group work that the participants raised a wide variety of questions.
Conclusions: By discussing specific and focused key questions relating to qualitative methodologies with instructors, participants could acquire beneficial inputs.
