Table 2.

Types of study objectives in qualitative JAMIA literature

	Objective category	N
Before deployment (N=76)	Understand needs: these studies focused on analyzing medical practices and users' needs. They often involved understanding people's processes, workflows, and mental models, to gather requirements for the development of an IT system that would align with user needs, expectations, and practices. Example: Moen and Brennan33 conducted interviews with health consumers about their experiences managing health information at home, aiming to derive implications for consumer health informatics systems.	41
	Analyze technology development: these studies focused on analyzing the processes used to develop health informatics technologies, to analyze how health informatics systems were conceptualized, negotiated, and implemented. Example: Ratwani et al34 conducted interviews with EHR vendor staff to analyze their user-centered design practices aiming to identify challenges related to system development that play a role in EHR usability.	6
	Initial evaluation: these studies described an early evaluation of a system that had not been deployed in a real environment, such as a clinical trial or usability test, to identify opportunities for improvement. Example: Wilcox et al35 conducted a pilot study of a medication-tracking tool, interviewing patients and healthcare providers (clinical pharmacists).	29
After deployment (N=77)	Learn from deployment: these studies focused on identifying best practices and potential challenges (particularly sociotechnical challenges) of deploying a system or an institutional program for use in a real-world setting, often aiming to support the success of future efforts. Example: Novak et al36 explored the work a group of nurses performed as mediators of the adoption and use of a barcode medication administration system in an inpatient setting.	26
	Assess system impact: these studies assessed the impact of a system deployed to supplement or replace established paper-based practices or software systems. They have often used methods such as a longitudinal study in 1 setting, or compared different settings, shedding light on uptake and effectiveness, and highlighting issues that need to be addressed to better support end users. Example: Richardson and Ash37 analyzed the effects of introducing hands-free communication devices in 2 hospitals.	8
	Describe technology use: these studies typically focused on understanding how people use technologies that have been used in a real setting for a significant time, often focusing on unintended consequences and work-arounds. These studies may promote reconfigurations of work practices or computer systems. Example: Winkelman et al38 analyzed how patients with chronic inflammatory bowel disease used and valued internet-based patient access to electronic patient records.	43
Separate from deployment	Conceptual or definitional: these studies defined a nomenclature, the curriculum of a course, policies, or a research space. Example: Embi and Payne39 described the field of Clinical Research Informatics and identified its main challenges and opportunities.	5