Conducting Evaluation Research in the Clinical Setting: "Know before You Dig"

Unexpected, yet intriguing, artifacts were unearthed while working with clinician-researchers to examine the potential benefits of an interprofessional-interdepartmental intervention introduced at a local hospital. This brief commentary is a reflection on those specific issues. The phrase "Know before You Dig" should be taken as an advisement to those interested in expanding their social research into the clinical setting to not only engage in preliminary field work (i.e. observations or semi-structured interviews) before embarking on the full thrust of data gathering, but also to consult with those on their research team that are familiar with or active in the field before actually entering that field. Although primarily aimed towards green medical sociologists and interested clinician-researchers, this commentary may speak to various types of social science scholars involved in research in and of the clinical health arena.