Despite Australia maintaining one of the world’s best-rated healthcare systems, there are still major gaps in our public services, spanning from under-resourced public hospitals to a lack of access to or availability of particular in-demand healthcare and allied health services.
The healthcare sector has also consistently been amongst Australia’s most high-priority industries for free TAFE and other government-funded education, training, and research initiatives. Across local, state, and federal levels, government bodies are partnering with local hospitals and research institutes to get to the heart of Australia’s unique healthcare landscape, seeking to understand what services and treatment programs need more money, more talent, and more public attention.
The driving method behind gaining these insights is data, and not just any data – lived experience data. By combining national quantitative data and granular qualitative data, healthcare researchers can build a stronger, more contextual understanding of how everyday Australians interact with and utilise all of the public health services available to them.
What is qualitative research?
Qualitative research is a method for exploring and understanding non-numerical data, like opinions, perceptions, and experiences. Unlike quantitative research which focuses on traditional numerical data, qualitative research focuses instead on the ‘how’ and ‘why’ behind human behaviour and social phenomena.
As quality healthcare is always patient-focused, understanding patient experiences is essential for researchers and healthcare specialists. This is why experiments with qualitative data are key to training healthcare professionals. In fact, if you’ve ever completed a Bachelor of Science or even a Graduate Diploma in Public Health, you can expect to have facilitated or even participated in a study that utilises qualitative research methodologies.
Common methods for harvesting qualitative data
Qualitative data is harvested through connecting directly with patients, whether it be through in-person interviews or reading through feedback forms with detailed experience-based questions. Some of the most common methods for qualitative research include:
- In-depth interviews
- Focus groups (i.e. group interviews, group discussions)
- Observations
- Ethnography (i.e. immersing oneself in a group or culture to better understand their habits)
- Document analysis (i.e. reviewing letters, diaries, or physician reports)
Different studies typically demand research methods that align with the comfort levels and accessibility needs of research participants. For example, interview formats might not always be accommodating for CALD (Culturally And Linguistically Diverse) people, and not all patients may readily consent to studies that rely on parsing and analysis of their personal medical records for privacy reasons. It’s up to researchers to design a study format that best aligns with the requirements and sensibilities of the target population or demographics behind their qualitative reporting.
Why qualitative research matters
Quantitative research is being harvested automatically every day through research institutes around the world, and archived by federal entities like the ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics). Whilst quantitative data provides us with a whole systems overview of Australia’s healthcare system, what it fails to do is deliver granular insights into local communities. Our population spread in Australia is unique when compared to other countries, with plenty of quirks across regional and rural community trends versus inner city trends and variations in behaviour and healthcare habits across cultural communities as well.
Understanding all the social, cultural, and economic factors that drive different behaviours is paramount to providing community-based solutions that are actually effective. It stands to reason that the best way to deliver those solutions is by consulting the same community members we can anticipate will be using those solutions in time.
This is what qualitative research is all about: ensuring that no communities fall through the gaps of Australia’s wide and varying public health system.
To summarise, qualitative research matters a great deal to elevating Australia’s public healthcare system for the following reasons:
- It contextualises quantitative (numerical) data
- It amplifies the voices of patients from under-represented/marginalised backgrounds
- It improves intervention and the removal of access barriers for vital health services
- It advances health equity and addresses systemic inequalities through community-focused initiatives
- It supports public health campaign messaging (i.e. vaccination drives, screening reminders, etc.)
- It supports the development of government-funded health programs and initiatives
The role of qualitative research in campaign messaging
Local, state, and federal government bodies are always running public health campaigns. Think back to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ads you would’ve seen on your TVs and smartphones encouraging you to book your vaccination. At a time when everyone was locked in their own homes, this public health campaign played a vital role in encouraging millions of Australians to take collective action and book their vaccinations – and it worked.
More recently this year, we’ve also been seeing similar campaigns encouraging Aussie families to book their flu vaccinations this year, or schedule sexual health check-ups, with ads targeting young Australians aged between 18-35. But public campaigns don’t even need to be TV ads. They can come in the form of reminder letters posted to your mailbox, letting you know you’re due for your next pap smear or bowel cancer screening. All of these messages have been developed and optimised using insights from quantitative studies, focused on understanding what types of reminders work best for each demographic.
From qualitative data analysis to government funding
The road from research to resource distribution is long and convoluted for public healthcare providers, but in a system that’s intrinsically people-oriented, qualitative studies help ensure that high-priority areas get the attention they need. This, in a nutshell, is how qualitative studies help spearhead and inform government-funded initiatives like Medicare, the NDIS, and all the many other policy initiatives, programs, and campaigns that receive funding from the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.
For the millions of Australians living regionally, qualitative studies also ensure their experiences don’t go unnoticed, providing policymakers with much-needed visibility across Australia’s most remote communities. And as our ageing population only continues to grow older, the research driving these funding initiatives today is helping build a public health system that’s better equipped to tackle the concerns of tomorrow.
Elevating Australia’s healthcare sector starts within communities
Whether through promoting immunisations across young families or understanding how Aussie seniors love to get in their daily steps, qualitative healthcare research is helping public health professionals create more impactful treatment and preventative healthcare programs. The tireless efforts of qualitative healthcare researchers are ensuring the ongoing development of Australia’s public health sector stays grounded in real-human insights and with only relevant, real-world information.
For Australian students committed to joining the country’s growing healthcare workforce, there are plenty of opportunities to contribute to qualitative research initiatives across the country, whether you’re aiming to work from your local inner city hospital or find a unique experience with ethnography based in regional Australia or within a local government area on the outskirts of your city.