Origins, methods and advances in qualitative meta‐synthesis

Abstract

Qualitative research is a broad term encompassing many methods. Critiques of the field of qualitative research argue that while individual studies provide rich descriptions and insights, the absence of connections drawn between studies limits their usefulness. In response, qualitative meta‐synthesis serves as a design to interpret and synthesise qualitative findings across individual studies. More than a broad summary, meta‐syntheses do not aim merely to summarise all available data; rather, qualitative meta‐syntheses present new perspectives on topics through interpreting findings from different qualitative studies to create ‘third‐level’ findings for the advancement of both knowledge and theory. The diversity of opinion on qualitative meta‐synthesis is mirrored in its practice. Several different approaches to qualitative meta‐synthesis have emerged, with most connected to the meta‐ethnographic procedures originally outlined in 1988. This paper: (1) discusses the key philosophical and methodological issues in the literature on qualitative meta‐synthesis, (2) highlights key methods that are used in qualitative meta‐synthesis, and (3) offers an overview of where the field is going. Examples from the last four years of qualitative meta‐syntheses highlight some of this design's current contributions and future usefulness for research in the field of education.

Mixed methods systematic review on effectiveness and experiences of the Incredible Years Teacher Classroom Management programme

“…Throughout this process, analysts continuously made comparisons within and between Mixed methods systematic review of Incredible Years 637 incidents from the data. Sensitivity analyses were not applied to the qualitative strand, as specific methods for doing so are as yet unclear and the topic itself is contentious within the discourse about qualitative meta-synthesis (Nye et al, 2016).…”

Systematic reviews of research in education: aims, myths and multiple methods

“…Although these qualitative studies are predominantly configuring concepts, they may make some summative comments and thus involve a degree of aggregative analysis (Britten et al, 2002;Noblit & Hare, 1988). Another paper in this issue looks in more detail at methodological developments in qualitative reviews (Nye et al, 2016).…”

Meta-Corporate Real Estate Management: Some preliminary thoughts

“…As the head meta-object would be the 'meta-field' itself, for instance, metascience (Shorter Oxford Dictionary), metasociology (Ritzer, 1988) and metaethnography (Nye et al, 2016). This would be, based on the definitions above, the study of an intellectual field's higher order properties that would reveal fundamental components, structures and systems.…”

“…In its most general usage there is some logic to the term being the superset of types of studies producing metatheory. Alternatively, and this seems to be the case in qualitative research, metastudy is a study that combines qualitative studies into metatheory (Nye et al, 2016, Chamberlain, 2007. This distinguishes them from quantitative metastudies which more accurately can be called metaanalyses (see below).…”

“…Within qualitative studies there appear distinctions between those that aggregate data to produce more robust findings and better theory, and those that require interpretation of the disparate findings produced by disparate methods that are almost inevitable with qualitative studies. This latter, interpretive approach has been termed metasynthesis to distinguish it from the more purely data aggregative metastudy (Nye et al, 2016, Melendez-Torres et al, 2015. Metasynthesis requires specific methods like 'reciprocal translation which conceptually is the understanding of one study's findings in terms of other studies' findings in an effort to develop syntheses that are consistent across included studies' (Nye et al, 2016, p.61) (see also Melendez-Torres et al (2015)).…”