Objectives Patients’ preferences, values and contexts are important elements of the shared decision-making (SDM) process. We captured those elements into the concept of ‘personal perspective elicitation’ (PPE), which reflects the need to elicit patients’ preferences, values and contexts in patient–clinician conversations. We defined PPE as: ‘the disclosure (either elicited by the clinician or spontaneously expressed by the patient) of information related to the patient’s personal preferences, values and/or contexts potentially relevant to decision-making’. Our goal was to operationalise the concept of PPE through the evaluation of preferences, values and contexts and explore how PPE occurs in clinical encounters. Design Cross-sectional study: observational coding based on a novel coding scheme of audio-recorded outpatient clinical encounters where encounter patient decision aids were applied. Setting We audio-recorded patient–clinician interactions at three Dutch outpatient clinics. PPE was analysed using a novel observational coding scheme, distinguishing preferences, contexts and four Armstrong taxonomy value types (global, decisional, external and situational). We measured SDM using the Observer OPTION 5 . Participants Twenty patients who suffered from psoriasis or ovarian cysts; four clinicians. Results We included 20 audio-recordings. The mean Observer OPTION 5 score was 57.5 (SD:10.1). The audio-recordings gave a rich illustration of preferences, values and contexts that were discussed in the patient–clinician interactions. Examples of identified global values: appearance, beliefs, personality traits. Decisional values were related to the process of decision-making. External values related to asking advice from for example, the clinician or significant others. An identified situational value: a new job ahead. Contexts related to how the illness impacted the life (eg, sexuality, family, sports, work life) of patients. Conclusions The operationalisation of PPE, an important aspect of SDM, explores which ...