1. Meta-synthesis Prepared by : Raluto, Randel Roy

2. What is a meta-synthesis? According to Screiber et al. (1997, p.314), a meta- synthesis “is bringing together and breaking down of findings, examining them, discovering essential features and, in some way, combining phenomena into a transformed whole” In basic terms, a meta-synthesis is the ‘bringing together’ of Qualitative data to form a new interpretation of the research field.

3. Meta-Synthesis VS. Meta- analysis:

4. What's the difference? a meta-analysis which is used to aggregate findings to establish ‘truths’, for example, if an intervention has a true effect on a variable, a meta-synthesis can lead to new interpretations of research. This can result in new theories being developed. In summary, a meta-analysis is a way of testing a hypothesis whereas a meta-synthesis is a way of developing a new theory.

5. THREE MAIN TYPES OF META- SYNTHESIS

6. 1. Theory Building This form of meta-synthesis brings together findings on a theoretical level to build a tentative theory.

7. 2. Theory Explication This form of meta-synthesis is a way of reconceptualising the original phenomenon.

8. 3. Descriptive This form of meta-synthesis provides a broad description of the research phenomenon.

9. Note: These forms of meta-synthesis are not discrete, they are complimentary. The aim of Meta-synthesis usually overlap as you will see in the example later on.

10. Why use a meta-synthesis? Qualitative data is useful for providing a snapshot at one person’s interpretation of an event or phenomenon. By bringing together many different interpretations you are strengthening the evidence for an interpretation by discovering common themes and differences & building new interpretations of the topic of interest.

11. Should you use a meta- synthesis? This depends on your stance as a researcher Do some research into this before conducting a meta- synthesis, a good place to start is Sandelowski et al., 1997.. The basic argument here is that qualitative data is about an individual interpretation of an event because of this is it even possible to combine multiple opinions to lose the individuality of an interpretation to gain an understanding of common features.

12. How to conduct a meta-synthesis: A research example started by building up a series of search terms to conduct a thorough literature search looking for any qualitative research studies looking at this topic. This can be seen in this table:

13. Research Question What are the changes to a person’s family identity following a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis? ConceptMultiple sclerosis IdentityFamilyTime since diagnosis SynonymsMSSelf Social Identity Significant Other, Next of Kin Duration, Onset, Advanced BroaderInflammator y, Neurological Self Concept, Identity Family Group Psychosocial Adjustment NarrowerRelapsing Remitting, Secondary Progressive, Primary Progressive, Benign Self Husband, Wife, Partner, Parent, Mum, Dad, Mother, Father, Child, Sibling, Spouse Related Terms Chronic Conditions, Self Categorisatio n Alternative Spelling

14. with 218 publications, which was then filtered down to 16 after removing duplicates & studies not looking at the topic of interest. then conducted a thorough review of all 16 articles taking notes on the research findings. have reviewed a number of articles, you will begin to notice some common themes and recurring ideas – it is a good idea to make a note of what these are, what papers they are in and how often they occur. This is part of the analytic approach used by Noblit & Hare (1988),

15. there are 3 stages to conducting a meta-synthesis: 1) The reciprocal stage – recognising recurring themes and ideas (What you’ve already done). 2) The refutational stage – recognising themes and ideas that go against the common themes and ideas. 3)The line of arguement – Constructing a statement that can summarise and express what you have found.

16. This was found in themes such as coping together as a couple, social support from the family and bringing families closer together. the articles were re-read to see if the discovery of new themes and ideas had affected my interpretation of previous studies. This represents both the reciprocal and refutational stages.

17. In Summary A meta-synthesis can be a useful tool to extend knowledge and you should now know how to do one. However, there are a number of different arguments about how to go about doing a meta-synthesis and whether you really should do a meta-synthesis. You can rank your studies based on your opinion of the research strengths and weaknesses so that you pay more attention to stronger studies when writing your line of argument.

18. Note: If you feel it is important to rank studies- check out Downe et al. 2007 who does this quite well using an alphabetised system.

19. References: Downe, S., Simpson, L., & Trafford, K. (2007). Expert intrapartum maternity care: a meta-synthesis. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 57(2): 127-40. Noblit, G.W., Hare, R.D. (1988) MetaEthnography: synthesising qualitative studies. Sage: Newbury Park. Sandelowski, M., Docherty, S., & Emden, C. (1997). Qualitative metasynthesis: Issues and techniques. Research in Nursing and Health, 20: 365-371 Schreiber, R., Crooks, D., & Stern, P.N. (1997). Qualitative meta- synthesis; Issues and techniques. In Morse, J.M. Ed. Completing a qualitative project; details and dialogue. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Link: https://abbarker.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/meta-synthesis/

20. Reflection: Systematic reviews are, in essence, literature reviews that are undertaken in a specific way according to strict guidelines that aim to minimise subjectivity, maximise transparency and repeatability, and provide a highly reliable review of evidence pertaining to a specific topic.

21. Reflection: systematic reviews are now widely used in a plethora of topics, including construction, psychology, economics and marketing to name a few. In brief, systematic review methods use peer-reviewed and published protocols to lay out the methods for a review, and then searches for studies, articles screening for relevance and quality, and data extraction and synthesis are undertaken according to a predetermined strategy

22. Reflection:. Where possible, meta-analysis provides a powerful means of statistically combining studies to look for patterns across studies and to examine reasons for contradiction in results where they occur. Systematic reviews are widely accepted as a ‘gold standard’ in evidence synthesis, but other methods, such as civil service rapid evidence assessments, have been developed that aim to offer a faster review

23. Reflection: In order to be able to accurately assess the reliability and applicability of individual primary research, reviewers must be able to extract information relating to study design, experimental procedure and the studies’ findings. In order to be able to include study findings in a meta-analysis, data must be reported either as a standard effect size or as means, and both must be accompanied by sample sizes and measures of variability. In my experience of systematic reviews in conservation and environmental management, a shocking proportion of published research fails to provide details on experimental design or fails to report means, variability and sample size

24. Reflection: As decision-making moves towards Meta synthesis of existing evidence, researchers in all disciplines should be thinking about how to maximise the impact of their research. Thinking carefully about legacy and future use of data is not only sensible, but should be an obligation.