Meta-Synthesis

The Essence of Meta-Synthesis

Qualitative meta-synthesis differs from the conventional or critical integrative literature review in that the new conceptualizations it produces result from a systematic, structured, and auditable analysis and synthesis of the entire body of qualitatively derived knowledge within a field. The original studies constitute the data and, upon them, coherent procedures for generating the research question, selecting the sample selection, collecting and analyzing data, and coming to conclusions are applied. Unlike quantitative meta-analysis, which seeks simplification through aggregation, or qualitative secondary analysis, which seeks expansion and clarification, qualitative meta-synthesis demands exploitation of variations and complexities within the data set toward an integrative conclusion that extends beyond the scope of what would have been achievable within the temporal, spatial, or epistemological confines of individual studies or programs of research.

Although various approaches exist for summing up a collection of similar studies or contrasting findings derived from similar methodological approaches, meta-synthesis is distinct in explicitly acknowledging the objective of synthesizing new knowledge on the basis of products that are interpretive accounts of cases, events, or phenomena. Because the extant research may draw upon such diverse inductive approaches as phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, and interpretive description, meta-synthesis methods must account for both process and product before credible substantive claims can be made about what is known as an outcome of the systematic synthetic process.

Styles of Meta-Synthesis