title: Understanding the value of mixed methods research: the Children's Safety Initiative-Emergency Medical Services.
abstract: Mixed methods research has significant potential to broaden the scope of emergency care and specifically emergency medical services investigation. Mixed methods studies involve the coordinated use of qualitative and quantitative research approaches to gain a fuller understanding of practice. By combining what is learnt from multiple methods, these approaches can help to characterise complex healthcare systems, identify the mechanisms of complex problems such as medical errors and understand aspects of human interaction such as communication, behaviour and team performance. Mixed methods approaches may be particularly useful for out-of-hospital care researchers because care is provided in complex systems where equipment, interpersonal interactions, societal norms, environment and other factors influence patient outcomes. The overall objectives of this paper are to (1) introduce the fundamental concepts and approaches of mixed methods research and (2) describe the interrelation and complementary features of the quantitative and qualitative components of mixed methods studies using specific examples from the Children's Safety Initiative-Emergency Medical Services (CSI-EMS), a large National Institutes of Health-funded research project conducted in the USA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, USA.
authors.forename: Kerth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: O'Brien
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Garth
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Meckler
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA.
authors.forename: Anna Marie
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA Department of Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon, USA.
authors.forename: Jeanne-Marie
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Guise
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D003697:Delphi Technique; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000592:standards*; D017144:Focus Groups; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D008499:Medical Records; D061214:Patient Safety; D010372:Pediatrics / Q000592:standards*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012107:Research Design; D018401:Sample Size; D014481:United States
keywords: emergency ambulance systems; methods; prehospital care; qualitative research; research, methods