Getting to grips with the beast: the potential of multi-method operational research approaches

Many of us will be familiar with the parable of the blind men and the elephant, beautifully retold by the 19th century American poet John Godfrey Saxe.1 In this tale, each man in turn describes the small part of the elephant they are touching (the flank, the tusk, the trunk, etc.), declaring with confidence that they know the true nature of the object ('It's a wall!', 'A spear!', 'A snake!'). Saxe ends with the moral of the tale:

So, oft in theologic wars

The disputants, I ween,

Rail on in utter ignorance

Of what each other mean;

And prate about an Elephant

Not one of them has seen!1

This seems to be a fair summary of where we still too frequently find ourselves in health services research and delivery. Though the rise of extensive, multi-method programmes of work evaluating complex,...

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