A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO THE QUALITATIVE META-SYNTHESIS

Abstract

In the past fifty years, the number of published research papers has grown at an almost exponential rate, while at the same time the use of qualitative methodologies has gained popularity. Quantitative researchers were quick to grasp the value of being able to combine, or synthesis the results from serval small studies into a larger, more comprehensive study called a meta-analysis. In the late 1990's researchers in the fields of education and health care applied the concept of the meta-analysis to qualitative research. The qualitative meta-synthesis uses secondary data in an attempt to create a "holistic interpretation" and uncover new knowledge as opposed to simply aggregating numbers or presenting a review of the literature (Jensen and Allan 1996; By taking a systematic approach to the qualitative meta-synthesis researchers have a method of combining qualitative data without losing the richness of the original works while providing an "audit trial" as well as "reproducibility" of results.