Julie Christine Menzies Nurse researcher, Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, England
Carly Tooke Research nurse, Paediatric Intensive Care Unit, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, England
Timothy J Jones Consultant paediatric cardiac surgeon, Department of Paediatric Cardiac Surgery, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, England
Anna C Lavis Associate professor in medical anthropology, Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham Edgbaston Campus: University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England
Nigel E Drury Clinician scientist and consultant in paediatric cardiac surgery, Department of Paediatric Cardiac Surgery, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, England
Why you should read this article:

• To understand the tasks and time required for budgeting and setting realistic project timelines and recruitment targets for research

• To gain insight into the workload associated with conducting qualitative research

• To appreciate the time and effort involved with conducting qualitative interviews with research participants

Background Appropriate costing and allocation of resources is vital to ensure that recruitment to a study is achieved on time and on target. However, there is little guidance concerning the workload associated with qualitative research.

Aim To review the planned versus actual workloads in a qualitative sub-study following elective cardiac surgery in children.

Discussion Parents of children approached for a clinical trial were invited to participate in a semi-structured interview to explore their views about making decisions concerning their children’s participation in the trial. A workload audit was conducted using anticipated points of contact with participants, and the duration of activities identified in the protocol and Health Research Authority statement of activities; these were compared with timed activities documented by the research team.

Conclusion The current system did not anticipate or capture the workload associated with conducting a relatively straightforward qualitative sub-study of a clinical trial with a research-engaged patient group.

Implications for practice Understanding the hidden workload associated with qualitative research is vital in ensuring that project timelines, recruitment targets and funding for research staff are realistic.

Nurse Researcher. 31, 2, 36-43. doi: 10.7748/nr.2023.e1872

Correspondence

julie.menzies2@nhs.net

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software

Conflict of interest

None declared

Permission

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Helen Winmill, Jenna Spry and colleagues in the paediatric intensive care unit research nursing team for assistance in recruitment, as well as the parents who gave their time to be interviewed for the study. This work was supported by a grant from Birmingham Children’s Hospital Research Foundation [BCHRF442]. Julie Menzies was an NIHR 70@70 senior nurse and midwife research leader. Nigel Drury was funded by an Intermediate Clinical Research Fellowship from the British Heart Foundation [FS/15/49/31612]. The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, Department of Health and Social Care, National Institute for Health and Care Research, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, University of Birmingham or the British Heart Foundation.

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