Table 1 Key issues to consider in the production of evidence
From: Implementation and trial evidence: a plea for fore-thought
Key questions | Methods that apply to the question |
|---|---|
Is the area of research a key priority for patients, clinicians, policy-makers and commissioners? Is the right research question being asked? Are patients at the centre of the research process? | Patient and public involvement Priority setting partnerships Prioritisation methods eg discrete choice experiments Consensus methodologies eg Delphi |
Is the right intervention being tested? | Patient and public involvement Co-creation and production eg experience based co-design |
Do researchers understand the context, within which the trial is situated? Do researchers understand the mechanisms and conditions that lead to the outcomes of the trial? Do researchers understand the interdependence of these factors and the fidelity of both clinicians and patients? | Theoretically informed feasibility/pilot studies Theoretically driven process evaluation |
Do researchers understand the role of the observer and the observed within the trial? Do researchers understand how the magnitude and direction of the effect size in the trial is produced? | Theoretically driven process evaluation |
How does the evidence generated from the trial get synthesised? | Cochrane reviews Parallel realist syntheses |
How do these syntheses account for context? | Realist syntheses and meta-ethnography Theoretically informed systematic reviews |
