It is essential that we engage with all people that make up our communities to ensure health and social care services work for everyone in our communities.

This guidance sets out how to conduct research and engagement with people that often go unheard. It sets out tips on how to build trust and understanding with hard to reach communities, ensuring that your research materials are inclusive and how to interpret and analyse information from diverse communities.

It also contains links to other pieces of guidance including examples from Healthwatch that have undertaken research with particular seldom heard groups.

About this guidance

Qualitative research produces rich detailed data about people’s experiences.  It can help you explore people’s experiences in depth and can complement statistical data gathered via a survey.

This guidance sets out:

• what qualitative research is
• The different qualitative research methods you can use, including when and when not to use each
• Links to more detailed resources on different qualitative research methods

This guide provides practical advice for planning, running, and following up on focus groups as a qualitative research method.  

The guidance explains the pros and cons of using focus groups compared to other qualitative research methods and when they should be used.

It outlines practical considerations, including location, the number of participants per focus group, budget, the pros and cons of online compared to face to face focus groups and the importance of setting ground rules at the start.

The guidance also sets out how to plan an effective session, moderation and recording the discussion and focus group dynamics.

Local Healthwatch conduct research with people to find out their experiences of health and social care services. This means we must carefully consider how we plan our research by assessing the risks for everyone involved. 

This guidance sets out a series of helpful tips to consider when assessing the risks and benefits of your research. It also sets out when ethical approval might be necessary.

We have outlined considerations about data security and protection, the wellbeing of participants, and the risk to Healthwatch including those who are undertaking the research. These are supported by examples to help you better understand how you can apply this to your own projects.   

You will also find some top tips on how to ensure your research is necessary, robust, proportionate, legitimate and appropriate. 

We have created a proforma to help you assess ethics and risk in your projects

Using community research 

Some Healthwatch have successfully used a community researcher approach to engage seldom-heard groups and conduct inclusive research.

This document will help you understand this approach and provide guidance on how you could apply it.

It explores: 

• When a community researcher approach might be appropriate and when it might not be
• Different models of using community researchers, using examples from Healthwatch Oxfordshire
• The five steps of conducting effective research using community researchers
• A list of resource considerations for community research.  

At the end you’ll find a theory of change document on using community research.

Our aim at Healthwatch is to undertake fair research which isn’t influenced by personal views or preconceptions. This guidance outlines how you can identify and minimise bias in your research and how you can choose a good sample of participants for your research, so that you can report robust and reliable findings.

The guidance looks at:

• Different types of bias that can occur in research and how you can mitigate them.
• Different sampling methods that are available for quantitative and qualitative research. These are ordered starting with the most used and relevant to Healthwatch.
• Top tips on mitigating bias and planning research samples.

Working with partners to undertake research projects can be very beneficial. However, it is also important for you to maintain independence when delivering your statutory duties as an independent champion for the health and social care services users. 

This guidance will help you to understand why you should work with other organisations on research projects. It includes examples of previous Healthwatch research with successful partnerships, tips on how to maintain independence and how to manage intellectual property rights when working with partners. 

About this resource

To help you plan your communications, we have created a calendar that provides you with:

• Communication opportunities (Awareness dates)
• Key Healthwatch dates
• Religious dates you might want to mark

This calendar has 12 separate tabs, one for each month. Within each tab you'll find:

1. A full month calendar view so you can see what's coming up at a glance.
2. Suggested content for the campaign / a space for you to write more information about the campaign.
3. Links of where you can go for more information about specific campaigns.

Semi-structured interviews are a widely used qualitative research method.

Semi-structured interviews help you understand why people respond the way they do, and uncover the values, attitudes, beliefs, and experiences that explain their views. and can be a powerful way to explore people’s experiences of health and care services.  

They are particularly useful when you need to explore sensitive topics.

Semi-structured interviewing starts with a pre-determined list of questions, but crucially allows people to go beyond the question list.  

Read our guidance to find out more.