Use of multiperspective qualitative interviews to understand patients’ and carers’ beliefs, experiences, and needs

Linked interviews conducted with patients and their informal and professional carers can generate a richer understanding of needs and experiences than the single perspective most commonly used in qualitative studies. Interview dyads or triads, where two or three participants are interviewed as a set or case study, can explore complex complementary as well as contradictory perspectives, and there is considerable scope for using this method in a range of long term conditions.

Based on our experiences of conducting multiperspective studies and drawing on the wider literature, we summarise when researchers might find multiperspective interviews a useful approach, discuss how to use this approach, consider the data that are generated, and highlight potential pitfalls and how to avoid these.1 2 3 4 5 This paper builds on our previous article discussing the need for longitudinal qualitative approaches.6 Combining longitudinal and multidimensional interviews can prove particularly valuable.