title: The critical incident technique: a useful tool for conducting qualitative research.
abstract: The critical incident technique (CIT) is a well-established qualitative research tool used in many areas of the health sciences, including nursing, medicine, and dentistry, and their respective education systems. It is a flexible set of principles that can be modified and adapted to meet the specific situation at hand. By gathering factual reports made by observers, researchers can build a picture of the situation under study. The CIT maximizes the positive and minimizes the negative attributes of anecdotes, effectively turning anecdotes into data. In this, the first of two companion articles, the origins and current state of the CIT and its potential applications in dentistry and dental education are described.
authors.affiliation: Dental Department, Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin, Dublin 12, Ireland. kirsten.fitzgerald@olchc.ie
authors.forename: Kirsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: FitzGerald
authors.forename: N Sue
authors.initials: NS
authors.lastname: Seale
authors.forename: Carolyn A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Kerins
authors.forename: Rosaleen
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: McElvaney
mesh_terms: D000739:Anecdotes as Topic; D003625:Data Collection; D018865:Dental Research / Q000193:education* / Q000379:methods*; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis