A simple technique to identify key recruitment issues in randomised controlled trials: Q-QAT - quanti-qualitative appointment timing

Table 5 Quanti-Qualitative Appointment Timing (Q-QAT) coding categories

Coding categories	Content
(a) Trial group 1, Trial group 2 and so on	Time spent by recruiter and patient discussing:
	Intervention types
	Intervention processes
	Intervention outcomes
	(Content of each RCT treatment group to be defined for each randomised controlled trial (RCT))
(b) Trial	Time spent by recruiter and patient discussing:
	RCT design
	Rationale for RCT
	Patient eligibility
	Processes involved in trial participation, including randomisation, informed consent, study documentation and procedures
(c) Total length of appointment	Time spent by recruiter and patient discussing:
(c) Total length of appointment	Everything - from start to finish of appointment
(d) Balancing	Time spent by recruiter and patient discussing:
	Need for intervention when not in context of RCT
	All other intervention options available when not in context of RCT
	Eligibility for any treatment when not in context of RCT
	Discussion of interventions involving comparisons, when not in the context of the RCT
(e) TTFMT	Time elapsed before first mention of RCT
(Time to first mention of RCT)
(f) Other	Time spent by recruiter and patient discussing:
	All other issues, including current state of health, history-taking,
	test results, diagnosis, examination, and general non-RCT or
	intervention talk

ISSN: 1745-6215