The Development, Description and Appraisal of an Emergent Multimethod Research Design to Study Workforce Changes in Integrated Care Interventions

INTRODUCTION: In this paper, we provide a detailed and explicit description of the processes and decisions underlying and shaping the emergent multimethod research design of our study on workforce changes in integrated chronic care. THEORY AND METHODS: The study was originally planned as mixed method research consisting of a preliminary literature review and quantitative check of these findings via a Delphi panel. However, when the findings of the literature review were not appropriate for quantitative confirmation, we chose to continue our qualitative exploration of the topic via qualitative questionnaires and secondary analysis of two best practice case reports. RESULTS: The resulting research design is schematically described as an emergent and interactive multimethod design with multiphase combination timing. In doing so, we provide other researchers with a set of theory- and experience-based options to develop their own multimethod research and provide an example for more detailed and structured reporting of emergent designs. CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION: We argue that the terminology developed for the description of mixed methods designs should also be used for multimethod designs such as the one presented here.