Table 1.

A comparative summary of recall VSI and reflective VSI

	Recall VSI	Reflective VSI
Historical context	Post-positivism, cognitive psychology [9, 15]	Interpretivism, constructivist thinking [9, 16]
Aim	Gain insight into cognitive processes underlying and taking place during actual behaviour [7]	Produce an interpretation of a phenomenon (behaviour, practice) as the participant understands it [9]
Procedure	Stimulate participants’ retrospective description of their cognitive processes [7]	Stimulate the participants’ retrospective reflections on their situational understanding, routine procedures, and intuitive decision-making [4, 42]
Sample research questions	‘What factors influence physicians’ decisions to discuss smoking cessation with patients?’ [40] ‘What processes and stages of treatment decision-making do women with early stage breast cancer perceive?’ [41]	‘Why do physicians communicate with their patients about medication use and adherence the way they do?’ [30] ‘How does student nurses’ reflective learning develop in the context of health counselling and promotion in the clinical training section of a 3-year nursing education program?’ [26]
Sample interview questions	‘What do you think of [behaviour, event]?’ [12] ‘What were you thinking when you decided to [behaviour]?’ [12]	‘How would you evaluate [behaviour, event]?’ ‘What do you notice when you watch [behaviour, event]?’