This course will demonstrate how qualitative research can be used to address particular trial design and conduct issues, enhance understanding of how qualitative methods can be integrated at various stages of a trial, show how a range of qualitative methods can be used within trials, and facilitate greater confidence in including qualitative research in grant applications for randomised trials. It is not a course of how to do qualitative research but rather a course on how to appreciate its value within trials.

This 1 day course will run online using Blackboard Collaborate, with a mix of live presentations and small group work.

By the end of the course participants should:

1. appreciate how qualitative research can be used to address particular randomised trial design and conduct issues (particularly in pragmatic trials of complex interventions);
2. be aware how qualitative research can be of value at various stages of the trial process;
3. realise the range of qualitative methods that can be used within a trial; and
4. be better equipped to include qualitative research in grant applications for randomised trials.

This course is intended for researchers and health professionals who have a reasonable knowledge of the process of conducting randomised trials within a health service context, and who are interested in how qualitative methods can optimise the design and conduct of a trial; and qualitative researchers who wish to consider how they could apply their skills to optimise the design and conduct of randomised trials.

This course will cover:

1. using qualitative research to address particular randomised trial design and conduct issues;
2. integrating qualitative research at various stages of the development and running of a trial;
3. how a range of qualitative methods can be used within a trial; and
4. incorporating qualitative research in grant applications for randomised trials.