Table 1 Suggestions to ensure and communicate rigor in pragmatic qualitative analysis for IS

Demonstrate the link between research goals, analytic approach, findings, and broader literature

Researchers should explain how and why they are incorporating procedures from different approaches. By explicitly justifying their decisions and connecting these pieces of the overall research design, the team can ensure internal coherence as they combine procedures from approaches that may have distinct underlying principles and assumptions.

Ensure transparency around data analysis

Researchers should provide sufficient details about which procedures from which analytic approaches have been used and how they were combined or adapted to enable readers and users of the research to understand and evaluate the utility of the work. Details may include, e.g., the initial coding structures and how conceptual frameworks influenced analysis. Additionally, for data collected among diverse participant groups (e.g., EBI recipients vs. implementers) or sites, details about if/how data were analyzed separately and then holistically are critical. Ongoing documentation of the analytic process, including description of decision-making and mediation of disagreements, also supports transparent reporting.

Triangulate data

The analysis can be strengthened by comparing results from different methods of inquiry (e.g., participant observation and focus group discussions) or different sources (e.g., implementers and leaders) to gain a more comprehensive and nuanced view of the IS concerns at hand.

Integrate reflexivity

The researchers should describe how their background, experience, and positions (particularly in terms of being grounded in research or practice) may influence their analysis of the data. Relevant details may include experience with the implementation effort, setting, implementers, and EBI of interest.

Use member reflections

Sharing early findings with members of participant groups to get feedback offers an opportunity to strengthen the analysis and help meet practice goals. This could include sharing early interpretations with an advisory group or key implementation stakeholders to gather suggestions to further refine/develop analyses.

Consider divergent cases

It is important to identify and investigate not only the broadly consistent themes but the deviant cases as well. This ensures a wide range of explanations have been considered, and the bulk of the cases have been included in the summaries offered. For example, this might prompt attention to an implementation site with a vastly different experience implementing a new innovation compared to others in its network.