A scoping review of the use of ethnographic approaches in implementation research and recommendations for reporting

Alex K Gertner; Joshua Franklin; Isabel Roth; Gracelyn H Cruden; Amber D Haley; Erin P Finley; Alison B Hamilton; Lawrence A Palinkas; Byron J Powell

doi:10.1177/2633489521992743

A scoping review of the use of ethnographic approaches in implementation research and recommendations for reporting

Implement Res Pract. 2021 Jan-Dec:2:2633489521992743. doi: 10.1177/2633489521992743. Epub 2021 Mar 16.

Authors

Alex K Gertner¹, Joshua Franklin², Isabel Roth³, Gracelyn H Cruden⁴, Amber D Haley¹, Erin P Finley⁵, Alison B Hamilton^{5

6}, Lawrence A Palinkas⁷, Byron J Powell⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Health Policy and Management, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
² Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
³ Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Program on Integrative Medicine, UNC School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
⁴ Oregon Social Learning Center, Eugene, OR, USA.
⁵ VA Center for the Study of Healthcare Innovation, Implementation & Policy, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁷ Department of Children, Youth and Families, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁸ Brown School and School of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.

Abstract

Background: Researchers have argued for the value of ethnographic approaches to implementation science (IS). The contested meanings of ethnography pose challenges and possibilities to its use in IS. The goal of this study was to identify sources of commonality and variation, and to distill a set of recommendations for reporting ethnographic approaches in IS.

Methods: We included in our scoping review English-language academic journal articles meeting two criteria: (1) IS articles in the healthcare field and (2) articles that described their approach as ethnographic. In March 2019, we implemented our search criteria in four academic databases and one academic journal. Abstracts were screened for inclusion by at least two authors. We iteratively develop a codebook for full-text analysis and double-coded included articles. We summarized the findings and developed reporting recommendations through discussion.

Results: Of the 210 articles whose abstracts were screened, 73 were included in full-text analysis. The number of articles increased in recent years. Ethnographic approaches were used within a wide variety of theoretical approaches and research designs. Articles primarily described using interviews and observational methods as part of their ethnographic approaches, though numerous other methods were also employed. The most cited rationales for using ethnographic approaches were to capture context-specific phenomena, understand insiders' perspective, and study complex interactions. In reporting on ethnographic approaches, we recommend that researchers provide information on researcher training and position, reflect on researchers' positionality, describe observational methods in detail, and report results from all the methods used.

Conclusion: The number of IS studies using ethnography has increased in recent years. Ethnography holds great potential for contributing further to IS, particularly to studying implementation strategy mechanisms and understanding complex adaptive systems.

Keywords: Methodology; Scoping review; ethnography; qualitative methods.

Abstract

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