Promote this Issue
As guest editor LaKesha Anderson, PhD, notes in her introductory editorial, “methods should not dictate the research question; rather, the research question should drive the method.” The articles and infographics in this themed issue all focus on research methods and methodologies for medical education scholars. The editors hope this issue serves to expand the research community’s toolkit as we further our inquiry into how to develop and maintain a strong family medicine workforce.
February 2026 Vol. 58 No. 2
EDITORIAL
Methods Matter: Strengthening Research in Family Medicine and Beyond
LaKesha N. Anderson, PhD
ORIGINAL ARTICLES
Overview of Quantitative Research
TingLan Ma, PhD | Yen Lee, PhD
Introduction to Qualitative Methods: A Practical Primer for Clinicians
Gemmae M. Fix, PhD | Linda S. Kahn, PhD | Andrea L. Nevedal, PhD
The Science and Art of Mixed Methods in Medical Education Research
Christy J.W. Ledford, PhD | Ebiere Okah, MD | Caroline Tietbohl, PhD
Knowledge Syntheses in Medical Education
Lauren A. Maggio, PhD
Picture This: The Use of Visual Methods in Health Professions and Medical Education Research
Monica L. Molinaro, PhD
Making the Most of CERA Studies: How to Develop Excellent Survey Research in Academic Family Medicine
Bryce A. Ringwald, MD | Miranda A. Moore, PhD | Heather L. Paladine, MD | Santina J.G. Wheat, MD, MPH | Grace Shih, MD, MAS | Alison N. Huffstetler, MD
Conceptual Framework and Methods for Evaluating an Intervention to Improve Psychological Safety in Graduate Medical Education
Kate Rowland, MD, MS | Lauren Anderson, PhD, MEd | Elizabeth F. Avery, MS | Cynthia Hays, PhD
Validation of the Use of a Large Language Model for Detecting Sentiment in Student Course Evaluation
Kate Rowland, MD, MS | Ling Wang, PhD | Kirstie Bash, PhD | Lori DeShetler, PhD | Sarah Vick, MD | Emma Nguyen, EdD, MS | Michelle Rogers-Johnson, PhD | Lauren Anderson, PhD | Michelle Sweet, MD | Kimberly Fasula, PhD, MS, MPH, RDH | Stefanie Carter, EdD
Cognition in the Clinic: The Case for Cognitive Ethnography in Family Medicine
Nathan Cupido, PhD(c) | Nicole N. Woods, PhD | Kulamakan Kulasegaram, PhD | Risa Freeman, MD, CCFP, MEd, FCFP | Maria Mylopoulos, PhD
Narrative Methodology to Examine Medical Students’ Experiences of Adverse Events
Monica A. Lutgendorf, MD | Paolo C. Martin, PhD | LaKesha N. Anderson, PhD | Kirsten Brown, PhD
Yesterday’s Patterns, Tomorrow’s Possibilities: Historical Methods in Family Medicine
Lucy Vorobej, PhD | Cynthia Whitehead, MD, PhD
BRIEF REPORTS
Writing Qualitative Research and Evaluation for Clinical Audiences
Jen M. van Tiem, PhD | Linda M. Kawentel, PhD | Gemmae M. Fix, PhD
FAMILY MEDICINE FOCUS
Strategies for Mixed-Methods Research in Health Professions Education Research
TingLan Ma, PhD | Alexis Battista, PhD, MBA
Pragmatic Decisions: Choosing a Qualitative Research Methodology
Kirsten R. Brown, PhD
Completing a Scoping Review
Yohualli B. Anaya, MD, MPH | Leslie Christensen, MA-LIS | Sarina Schrager, MD, MS
Social Network Analysis for Family Medicine Educators
Bryce A. Ringwald, MD | Meghan Gilfoyle, MSc, PhD
N-of-1 Trials in Family Medicine Education
Diego Garcia-Huidobro, MD, PhD | Martina Mookadam, MD, MS | Ping-Hsin Chen, PhD
BOOK AND MEDIA REVIEWS
Realist Trials and Systematic Reviews: Rigorous, Useful Evidence to Inform Health Policy
Alexis Reedy-Cooper, MD, MPH
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Authors’ Response to “Putting Propensity Score Matching to Good Use in Medical Education Research”
Genya Shimkin, MPH | Kimberly Kardonsky, MD | Alisse Cassell, BA | Amanda Kost, MD, MEd | Lynn Oliver, MD, DTMH | Sharon Dobie, MD, MCP | Samira Farah, MD
