Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27142662›Full record

ArticleTrials2016

Ethnographic methods for process evaluations of complex health behaviour interventions.

Sarah Morgan-Trimmer, Fiona Wood

Abstract readEditorial
In one paragraph

Article in Trials, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 65 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
65citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

65 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  18. How can community music shape individual and collective well-being? A case study of a place-based initiative.Health promotion journal of Australia : official journal of Australian Association of Health Promotion Professionals · 2025
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5 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Sarah Morgan-TrimmerPsychology Applied to Health Group, University of Exeter Medical School, St Luke's Campus, Heavitree Road, Exeter, EX1 2LU, UK. s.morgan-trimmer@exeter.ac.uk.
Fiona WoodDivision of Population Medicine, Cardiff University School of Medicine, Neuadd Meirionnydd, Heath Park, Cardiff, CF14 4YS, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

This article outlines the contribution that ethnography could make to process evaluations for trials of complex health-behaviour interventions. Process evaluations are increasingly used to examine how health-behaviour interventions operate to produce outcomes and often employ qualitative methods to do this. Ethnography shares commonalities with the qualitative methods currently used in health-behaviour evaluations but has a distinctive approach over and above these methods. It is an overlooked methodology in trials of complex health-behaviour interventions that has much to contribute to the understanding of how interventions work. These benefits are discussed here with respect to three strengths of ethnographic methodology: (1) producing valid data, (2) understanding data within social contexts, and (3) building theory productively. The limitations of ethnography within the context of process evaluations are also discussed.

Indexed as

Anthropology, CulturalResearch DesignCultural CharacteristicsHealth BehaviorHealth Knowledge, Attitudes, PracticeHumansModels, TheoreticalProcess Assessment, Health CareQualitative ResearchRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicReproducibility of ResultsResearch SubjectsSocial BehaviorTreatment OutcomeComplex interventionsEthnographyQualitative researchRandomised controlled trials

Identifiers

PMID27142662
PMCPMC4855482

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.