Qualitative Comparative Analysis in Mixed Methods Research and Evaluation

About Heather KaneLeila Kahwati

Leila C. Kahwati MD MPH is a senior research scientist in RTI Internationals Social and Health Organizational Research and Evaluation Program. She has over 20 years of experience in government community and academic health care practice and research settings with a focus on clinical program and policy development and evaluation. Dr. Kahwati is board certified in family medicine and in general preventive medicine/public health and has training in epidemiology and health services research through a Health Resources and Services Administration National Research Service Award in Primary Care Research through the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research and the Department of Family Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. With her colleagues she has pioneered the use of qualitative comparative analysis in mixed methods health services research and in systematic reviews of complex interventions. Before joining RTI she was the Deputy Chief Consultant for Preventive Medicine in the Veterans Health Administration. She holds an adjunct faculty appointment in the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Heather L. Kane PhD is a senior public health analyst and director of the Child and Adolescent Research and Evaluation program at RTI International specializing in qualitative research methodologies qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) and evaluation. Dr. Kane has more than 15 years of experience in planning and implementing mixed methods evaluations. Her work focuses on the lives of vulnerable populations such as children and adults experiencing food insecurity persons living with multiple sclerosis (MS) and low-income persons lacking access to health care. Before joining RTI she was an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality National Research Service Award postdoctoral research fellow at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and recipient of the Jacob K. Javits Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Education.  She holds an adjunct faculty appointment with Tulane University School of Professional Advancement.