A Field Guide to Qualitative Research for New Vaccine Introduction

"Involving key stakeholders and target group members in the research builds the community's sense of participation in the work of the programme. The community will have a greater sense of ownership of the vaccination programme when they feel they have been heard."

Based on field experience, lessons learned, and literature on qualitative formative research and communication, this field guide from the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe is intended for staff of any national immunisation programme planning to introduce a new vaccine. It guides the reader through a simple and step-wise process that is meant to: build the skills needed to design and conduct qualitative formative research with key priority groups, analyse the findings, and utilise the outcomes by developing targeted communication activities. Some examples could be development of a dedicated website, including materials designed to meet the needs of health care workers and parents, training of health care workers on interpersonal communication, establishment of close collaboration with bloggers or parents' groups active on social media, etc.

Qualitative research - e.g., focus group discussions and individual in-depth interviews - is insight research, based on understanding the audience's points of view. This type of research can give us insights into what the audience knows and doesn't know, their fears and worries, hopes and desires, as well as more complex issues - for example, those related to access to or accessibility of vaccination. Such insights can be very useful for developing communication activities, messages, and materials, and are therefore the focus of this field guide.

Following acknowledgements and an introduction, the resource outlines the steps of qualitative formative research:

• Step 1: Form a research team and begin desk research
• Step 2: Identify the target audiences
• Step 3: Develop research objectives
• Step 4: Design the research
• Step 5: Prepare and conduct the field research
  • Step 5A: Choose and prepare the moderation team
  • Step 5B: Develop discussion guides for the focus group discussions
  • Step 5C: Develop interview guides for the individual in-depth interviews
  • Step 5D: Schedule and arrange logistics for the focus group discussions
  • Step 5E: Schedule and arrange logistics for the individual in-depth interviews
  • Step 5F: Conduct focus group discussions and individual in-depth interviews
• Step 6: Prepare the data for analysis
  • Step 6A: Designate a documents coordinator to manage the transcription/translation process
  • Step 6B: Transcribe the focus group discussions and individual in-depth interviews
  • Step 6C: Translate the transcripts for international team members
• Step 7: Analyse the research data
  • Step 7A: Form an analysis team and agree on the coding
  • Step 7B: Code the transcripts individually
  • Step 7C: Meet to review the coded transcripts and agree on findings
  • Step 7D: Write findings and explanations and pick illustrative quotes
• Step 8: Develop recommendations for communication activities
• Step 9: Write the research report
• Step 10: Develop an action plan
• Annexes
  • Annex I: Example of questions to consider before starting the research
  • Annex II: Example of discussion guide for focus group discussion
  • Annex III: Example of interview guide for an individual in-depth interview
  • Annex IV: Information that should be compiled by a national immunization programme prior to the introduction of a new vaccine
  • Annex V: Developing a crisis communication plan
  • Annex VI: Checklist for preparedness

The guide was pre-tested in the field with immunisation programmes preparing to introduce the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. However, the guidance provided is equally applicable to the introduction of any new vaccine.