Using interviews with providers to increase the efficiency and explanatory power of qualitative studies of violence

Background and Purpose: Researchers who investigate violence as a public health issue sometimes collect data from relatively small samples of key informants in order to gain insight into the specific population(s) these informants represent. However, the prevailing methodological view in our field appears to have relegated this method to an enduring and diminished status of “preliminary,” “pilot,” or “formative” research. The purpose of this paper is to examine the conventional wisdom regarding the use of health care and social service providers as key informants in qualitative research on violence, and to assess the utility of this approach in research beyond the preliminary phase. Methods: This paper discusses methods in two studies by the author that used qualitative interviews with providers, and engages in a critical evaluation of methodology (Nichol, Venturini, & Sung, 1999) of studies on violence in the public health literature. Results: Health care and social service providers are often uniquely positioned to discern patterns of, and trends in, violence-related behaviors and outcomes in their client/patient populations. Moreover, providers often recognize connections at both the individual and group levels between different types of violence, or between violence and other health issues –connections that individual members of their client/patient populations tend not to perceive or report. Conclusions: Interviewing providers appears to increase the efficiency and explanatory power of qualitative studies that examine potential connections between two or more types of violence, or between violence and other health issues in specific client/patient populations.