How novice, skilled and advanced clinical researchers include variables in a case report form for clinical research: a qualitative study

OBJECTIVES: Despite varying degrees in research training, most academic clinicians are expected to conduct clinical research. The objective of this research was to understand how clinical researchers of different skill levels include variables in a case report form for their clinical research. SETTING: The setting for this research was a major academic institution in Beijing, China. PARTICIPANTS: The target population was clinical researchers with three levels of experience, namely, limited clinical research experience, clinicians with rich clinical research experience and clinical research experts. METHODS: Using a qualitative approach, we conducted 13 individual interviews (face to face) and one group interview (n=4) with clinical researchers from June to September 2016. Based on maximum variation sampling to identify researchers with three levels of research experience: eight clinicians with limited clinical research experience, five clinicians with rich clinical research experience and four clinical research experts. These 17 researchers had diverse hospital-based medical specialties and or specialisation in clinical research. RESULTS: Our analysis yields a typology of three processes developing a case report form that varies according to research experience level. Novice clinician researchers often have an incomplete protocol or none at all, and conduct data collection and publication based on a general framework. Experienced clinician researchers include variables in the case report form based on previous experience with attention to including domains or items at risk for omission and by eliminating unnecessary variables. Expert researchers consider comprehensively in advance data collection and implementation needs and plan accordingly. CONCLUSION: These results illustrate increasing levels of sophistication in research planning that increase sophistication in selection for variables in the case report form. These findings suggest that novice and intermediate-level researchers could benefit by emulating the comprehensive planning procedures such as those used by expert clinical researchers.