Published 7 August 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a949
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a949

Practice

Qualitative Research

Why use theories in qualitative research?

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, Centre for Faculty Development, and Wilson Centre for Research in Education, University of Toronto, 200 Elizabeth Street, Eaton South 1-565, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 2C4, ² Department of Psychiatry and Wilson Centre for Research in Education, ³ Department of Medicine, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, and Wilson Centre for Research in Education

Related to doi: , 10.1136/bmj.a288doi: , 10.1136/bmj.39602.690162.47doi: , 10.1136/bmj.a1020doi: , 10.1136/bmj.a879doi: 10.1136/bmj.a1035

Theories such as interactionism, phenomenology, and critical theory can be used to help design a research question, guide the selection of relevant data, interpret the data, and propose explanations of causes or influences

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Previous articles in this series have addressed several methodologies used in qualitative research. Qualitative researchers also rely heavily on theories drawn from the social sciences and humanities to guide their research process and illuminate their findings. This article discusses the role and use of three theoretical approaches commonly used by qualitative researchers in health domains: interactionism, phenomenology, and critical theory. It also explains why such theories are important for clinicians, for health policy, and for patient care.

Theories provide complex and comprehensive conceptual understandings of things that cannot be pinned down: how societies work, how organisations operate, why people interact in certain ways. Theories give researchers different "lenses" through which to look at complicated problems and social issues, focusing their attention on different aspects of the data and providing a framework within which to conduct their analysis.

Just as there is no one way to understand why, for instance, a . . . [Full text of this article]

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