Research Methods and Theory Building: A Reading Guide
Good health management research needs both a defensible method and a real theoretical contribution. This guide organises the methods articles on The Health Topics by theme: building and using theory, qualitative designs, reviews and evidence synthesis, measurement and structural equation modelling, and writing and publishing in high-impact journals.
Start here
- What Theory Is, and Is Not: Thirty Years After Sutton and Staw
- How to Use Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs): A Guide for Health Management Researchers
- Mastering State-of-the-Art Literature Reviews: A Six-Step Guide
- Big Q: Guidelines for Qualitative Research Reporting
- Data-Driven vs Theory-Driven Research Methods
Theory building
- The Case Against Theory Fetishism in Research
- Theory Development Guide
- Debunking Grounded Theory Misconceptions
- Theory Building from Cases: Opportunities and Challenges
- Coleman’s Boat: Bridging Macro and Micro Management Theory
- Radical Theorizing: New Ways of Seeing in Management Research
- Advantages of Starting Research with Theory
- Theory Integration Across Disciplines
- Institutional Theory and Change: A Research Forum Introduction
- Publishing in AMJ: Discussing Theoretical Implications
Qualitative research
- Redundancy in Measurement Science: A Multilevel Guide for Researchers in the Health and Social Sciences
- Understanding Health Dynamics: The Role of Causal Loop Diagrams
- Persuasion with Case Studies: Talking Pigs and Phineas Gage
- Writing and Reviewing Qualitative Research Without Boilerplate
- Realist Reviews: Purpose, Practice, and Pitfalls in Quality and Safety
- Achieving Coherence in Qualitative Research
- Balancing Quality and Innovation in Journal Review
- Important, Interesting, International, and Integrative Research
- Qualitative Research: Challenges, Opportunities, and Methodologies for AMJ
- Qualitative Methodologies in Genetic Counseling Research
- Developing Discrete Choice Experiments for Digital Health Uptake
- Evaluating Knowledge Translation Interventions: A Primer
- Redefining Systematic Reviews: Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Evidence
- Realist Case Studies for Health in All Policies Implementation
- Automated Eligibility for Clinical Trials: A Methodological Synthesis
- Cluster Searching for Complex Interventions: A Case Study Methodology
- Publishing Qualitative Research in AMJ
- Interpretive Description for Medical Education Research
- Discrete Choice Experiments in Health Economics: A Review
- Publishing in AMJ: Mastering the Scholarly Manuscript
- RETREAT: Choosing Qualitative Evidence Synthesis Methods
- Optimizing Qualitative Research Interviews: A Guide to Sample Size
- Thematic Analysis with AI: A Step-by-Step Guide
- Qualitative Research: Features and Guiding Principles
- Thematic Analysis: A Six-Step Framework for Qualitative Research
Systematic, scoping and other reviews
- Item-Level Content Overlap Analysis (Jingle–Jangle)
- Lotus Protocol: A New Approach to Systematic Reviews
- Assessing Health Research Reporting Guidelines: Methodology and Quality Review
- Exploring Umbrella Reviews in Digital Health
- Meta-Analysis for Imaging Procedure Technical Performance
- Evaluating the JBI Scoping Review Methodology: User Experiences and Refinements
- Scoping Reviews: Epistemology, Methodology, and Lessons Learned
- GLOBAL: Guidance for Reporting Bibliometric Analyses
- Evaluating Rapid Review Methodologies for Health Policy
- A Multidisciplinary Review of Frailty Methodology
- DASS-21 Measurement Properties: A Systematic Review
- Cracking The Code: Why Doctors Ignore Your Surveys
- Systematic Reviews of Healthcare Interventions: Methodology and Practice
- Systematic Review of Implementation Science Instruments
- Q-Methodology in Healthcare: A Scoping Review
Measurement, psychometrics and SEM
- The Spectrum of Personal Wellbeing: A Promising New Measure and the Research Questions It Leaves Open
- Introduction to Profile Analysis: Foundations of the Person-Centred Approach in Health Research
- Balancing the NHS Balanced Scorecard: A Pioneering Attempt to Untangle Healthcare Performance Indicators
- When One Method Is Not Enough: The Multimethod SEM Framework for Rigorous Research
- Couples’ Sleep Conflict Scale Adaptation for Turkish Speakers
- PLS-SEM in Quality Management: Current Practices and Challenges
- PROMIS Psychometric Summit: Advancing Measurement Methodologies
- Structural model robustness checks in PLS-SEM
- Child Health Questionnaire: International Translation and Scaling
- Cognitive Interviewing for Pediatric PROMIS Item Bank Development
- COSMIN: Evaluating Patient-Reported Outcome Measures’ Content Validity
- Issues in Translation Methodology: External Validity and Generalization
- EHR Data Versus Administrative Claims for Quality Measurement
- The Multifaceted Nature of Validity in Research
- Common Method Bias in PLS-SEM
- Paradigm Shifts in Healthcare Management Research, 2020–2025: AI, Mixed Methods, and Adaptive Measurement
- Measuring Spiritual Wellbeing: A New Scale
- Religious Beliefs and Mental Health Measurement
- Clinimetric Criteria for Patient-Reported Outcome Measures
- S-TIMHSS: A Shortened Trust Scale for Healthcare
- Step-by-Step Guide to Implementing Confirmatory Composite Analysis
- Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling Research
Writing, peer review and publishing
- When Journal Editors Sound the Alarm: Safeguarding Quality in Health and Medical Science Information
- Fabricated Citations in Medical Research: A Reader-Friendly Summary and Critical Review
- When Authorship Becomes Currency: A Critical Reading of the Authorship Misappropriation Diamond and Its Unfinished Agenda
- Reviewer Fatigue and the Future of Peer Evaluation
- Being Scheherazade: Storytelling in Academic Writing
- Knowledge Combination: A Cocitation Analysis
- Strategically Enhancing Journal Publication Contribution
- Academic Publishing: Dos and Don’ts for High-Impact Journals
- Organizational Behavior in AMJ: Trends and Opportunities
- Publishing in the Academy of Management Journal: A Guide
- Publishing in AMJ: Topic Choice
- Publishing in AMJ: Research Design for Success
- Crafting Methods and Results for AMJ Publication
- Grounding Hypotheses for AMJ Publication
- Confounder Selection in High-Impact Medical Journals
- The Importance of Patient Authorship in Medical Research
More articles in this area
- The Sense and Nonsense of Effect Size: What Does Funder and Ozer’s (2019) Call Mean for Health Research?
- THESIS REVIEW
- Mastering Sample Size in Survey Research
- NCA-ESSE: Enhancing Necessary Condition Analysis in Data Science
- Creativity Deadlock and Scientific Stagnation: The Modern World’s Invisible Crisis
- Medical Statistics: Current Trends and Future Directions
- Galapagos: Scalable Medical Terminology Development
- Streamlining Patient Discharge with Six Sigma and Discrete Event Simulation
- From Interesting to Important: Advancing Management Research
- Bridging Behavioral Science and Workplace Practice
- The Relational Foundation of Research
- Enabling Psychiatrists as Mobile App Developers
- From Scarcity to Abundance: Scholars and Scholarship in AI’s Age
- Obligations and Obfuscations in the Review Process
- Carrying Sumantra Ghoshal’s Torch: Relevant Research Practices
- New Ways of Seeing: Elaboration on a Theme
- Don’t Shoot the Messenger: A Wake-Up Call for Academics
- Academic Craftsmanship in Management Sciences
- Multilevel Research: Pitfalls and Opportunities in Management Studies
- Critical Management Studies: Challenge and Counterchallenge
- Data Visualization in Management Research: A Primer
- Crowdsourcing for Clinical Problem-Medication Knowledge Base Construction
- Flawed Methods in Death Certificate Accuracy Studies
- Mapping SF-12 to EQ-5D: A Regression Analysis
- Household Medicine Use: Methodologies and Analysis
- WHO-CHOICE: Updating Disease Control Program Support Costs
- Review of 1993 World Development Report Health Methodology
- Evaluating Research Methodology Workshops: Kirkpatrick’s Model in Practice
- Patients as Partners: Setting the Health Research Agenda
- Cultural Probes for Assisted Living Technology Design
- Palliative Care Research: Challenging Assumptions, Empowering Patients
- Harmonizing Raw Accelerometry Methodology in Research
- Reengaging With Management Classics
- Generative Participatory Design for eHealth Interventions: A Review
- Florida’s Osteoporosis Burden: Present Costs and Future Projections
- Lean Six Sigma to Reduce Healthcare-Associated Infections in Surgery
- Compositional Data in Nutritional Epidemiology
- Q-Methodology: Guiding Healthcare Policy Implementation
- Tailoring Implementation Blueprints: A CBT Youth Residential Exemplar
- Cognitive Interviewing for Palliative Care Screening Tool Design
- Comparing Statistical Methods for Cardiac Surgery Report Cards
- Lean Transformation in a Public Hospital Emergency Department
- Assessing Brazilian Primary Care: A Rapid Methodology
- French Minimum Data Set for Rare Diseases
- Developing an eClinic for Youth Mental Health: A Participatory Design Approach
- Valuing Health States: Methods and Findings from PRET and PRET-AS
- Care for a Break? Informal Caregivers’ Attitudes Toward Respite Care
- Narrative Inquiry: Relational Research in Medical Education
- Leapfrog CPOE Evaluation Methodology for Patient Safety
- Vision-Based Serious Games for Motor Rehabilitation: A Research Methodology
- Kaiser Permanente Mortality Model: External Validation and Extension
- Mapping Health Assets in a Community
- Constructive Technology Assessment in Health Care
- Experience Sampling for Autism: Feasibility and Usability
- Health IT Usability Study Methods: A Comprehensive Review and Guidance
- Measuring Engagement in Digital Health Interventions
- Measuring Health-State Preferences: Strategies and Methodologies
- Measuring Harm with Trigger Tools
- Researching Unconventional Therapies: A Methodological Framework
- Costs of Illness in Cost-Effectiveness Analysis: A Review
- Optimizing Patient and Public Involvement Principles
- EUnetHTA: Practical Tools for Health Technology Assessment in Europe
- Assessing Clinical Guideline Quality: A Generic Methodology
- Self-Controlled Case Series Study Methodology
- Q-Methodology: Understanding Physician Views on Health Informatics
- Forecasting Future Health: A Three-Dimensional Approach to Mortality
- Enhancing Scoping Study Methodology: An Inter-professional Team’s Experience
- Quantitative Risk-Benefit Assessment Methods for Pharmaceuticals
- Critique of Back-Translation in Health Research
- Reliability of Nutritional Screening and Assessment Tools
- Scaling Methods for Measuring Health-State Preferences
- Transparent Rapid Evidence Assessment Methodology
- Achievable Benchmarks of Care: Concepts and Methodology
- Adverse Drug Event Trigger Tool: A Practical Methodology
- Consensus Methodology: Descriptions and Recommendations for Research
- Setting the Hook: Crafting Effective Introductions in Academia
- Interrupted Time Series Design in Healthcare: Methodology and Reporting
- Intensive Care Costs Across Four European Countries
- Medical Students’ Attitudes Toward Science and Research Methodology
- Patient Compliance in Medical Research: Methodology Issues
- Telemedicine Services in Hospitals: Evaluation and Implementation
- Cost-of-Illness Studies: Review of Direct Cost Methodologies
- Age-Period-Cohort Models: A Comparative Study
- Stepped Wedge Trials: Statistical Methods and Design Appropriateness
- Time Trade-off: Methodologies, Variations, and Standardization
- Measuring End-of-Life Care Quality with Administrative Data
- Pseudoinnovation: Healthcare Quality Improvement Methodologies
- Advancing Scoping Study Methodology: Perceptions, Terminology, and Steps
- Bridging Clinical and Environmental Health Through Evidence-Based Medicine
- QALY Calculation: Methodology and Transparency in Research
- Regression Methodology for ROC Curve Estimation
- Evaluating Research Methodology Workshops: A Kirkpatrick Model Study
- Digital Tools in UK Clinical Research
- Evaluating Clinical Research Hypotheses: Metrics, Instruments, and Validation
- Network Analysis in Public Health
- Factorial Surveys: Sociology’s Study of Human Judgment
- The READ Approach to Health Policy Document Analysis
- Dynamics in Health Psychology: Formal Modeling and Best Practices
- Swe-IPAT: Assessing Implementation in Swedish Elderly Care
- Unlocking Palliative Care Research: Barriers and Facilitators
- RE-AIM: Evaluating Public Health Intervention Impact
- Evidence-Based Medicine: Practice and History
- Revitalizing Critical Management Studies: A Shift to Three-Dimensional Thinking
- Global Trigger Tool vs. Voluntary Reporting in Adverse Event Detection
- Rapid Research Methods in Health Education: A Practical Guide
- Evolving Trends in Sentiment Analysis Research
- Quantitative Research Fundamentals in Mental Health Nursing
- Health Literacy and Cancer Screenings: Insights from Latent Profile Analysis
- Exploring Fuzzy-Set Analysis: Impacts on Business Strategy and Management
- A Step-by-Step Guide to Bibliometric Analysis Techniques
- Understanding Statistical Power Analysis in Psychology
- How to Choose the Right Variables in Health Services Machine Learning
This guide is updated as new articles are published. Last updated: November 2026.