Online platforms and smartphone applications that facilitate patient-provider
communication are examples of how digital technologies support
human interaction. Telehealth enables clinical encounters when physical
consultations are not possible, and evidence confirms that face-to-face
and remote healthcare encounters have comparable ecacy. Furthermore,
research shows that patient-provider communication and relationship
influence patient outcomes. However, we lack studies on what happens
during these interactions, particularly in text-messages conversations, from
a linguistic or behavioral perspective. Our research methods will evolve
alongside our communication channels. Currently, there is an overall
preference for qualitative methods in patient-provider communication
research. Some authors argue that quantitative measures (clinical
measurements, questionnaires) lack an understanding of the patients’
experiences, whereas qualitative approaches (interviews, focus groups) provide
the full picture. Others suggest their combination to interpret interactions
thoroughly. As a result, it is often dicult for a communication researcher to
choose between one or more approaches. We conducted a mini-review of
qualitative approaches, such as corpus linguistics and conversation analysis,
as well as quantitative approaches, such as analysis of variance and temporal
pattern detection, for patient-provider communication analysis. Additionally,
we distinguish relevant communicative features in synchronous or live
interactions, such as video-calls, and asynchronous interactions, such as
non-instant messaging. We further discuss these methods’ potential for
combination and their applications in digital communication research. We aim
to guide researchers to choose a methodology for digital interaction studies.
Our recommendations are based on these approaches’ ability to answer a
research question, and we suggest a mixed-methods approach in future
digital communication research.