Using Systems Diagrams to Conceptualize Context and Interventions in Pragmatic Research

Despite broad recognition of the need to account for complexity in pragmatic research, many available conceptual tools and frameworks are linear or categorical. Diagramming approaches from systems science such as causal-loop modeling and stock-and-flow diagramming can be used to visually describe how an intervention is believed to act on multilevel contextual factors to produce outcomes. Several examples will be briefly presented, and advantages and limitations of this approach for pragmatic research teams will be discussed.