QualCore provides expertise and leadership in qualitative research design, implementation, analysis, and interpretation. Our collaborative clinical projects include multidisciplinary teams that integrate both clinical insight and methodological expertise. This intentional composition enables us to explore the everyday realities of people living with a certain health condition with greater depth and nuance, while also fostering reflexivity to help recognize and reduce potential biases throughout the research process. Our chosen methodological approach—qualitative description—allows our research findings to remain close to participants’ words and perspectives, re-presenting their experiences with integrity and in ways that clinicians can readily interpret and act upon to improve care.
How You Can Use Qualitative Research
- Identify individuals’ perspectives, experiences, and motivations that influence their health behaviors.
- Gain insight into the broader context of individuals’ daily lives that shape their decisions and actions.
- Explore preferences and ideas for designing patient-focused interventions and materials.
- Inform survey development or explain survey findings.
What We Do
- Partner with clinicians, faculty, and other investigators in Duke’s School of Medicine on clinical and health services research.
- Advise our research partners on how to design and conduct rigorous qualitative research relevant to their specific study aims.
- Use a flexible approach to accommodate the dynamic nature of qualitative data collection.
Who We Are
The QualCore team consists of faculty, doctorate and masters-level social scientists, and research assistants—all part of the Department of Population Health Sciences. Our team includes:
- Faculty and staff who can help investigators develop qualitative research study designs and question guides.
- Interviewers who arrange and conduct interviews and focus group discussions.
- Analysts who organize, critically examine, and summarize the qualitative findings.