This paper used both qualitative and quantitative data to extend the breadth and depth of understanding of diffusion within the context of the SASA! intervention. The quantitative and qualitative analyses were integrated to achieve complementarity through answering related questions using the type of data most suited to each question. Figure 1, presents a diagram of diffusion of innovations theory and indicates which constructs were analysed with each data set for this paper. Aspects of the theory such as movement through the innovation decision process could not be examined due to limitations of cross sectional data. The length of the survey instrument did not allow us to measure all constructs quantitatively, and some were explored in the qualitative component exclusively.Fig. 1Constructs from Diffusion of Innovation theory measured in the quantitative and qualitative data analyses