Handbook for Synthesizing Qualitative Research

311 Pages·2006·0.83 MB·English

by  Margarete Sandelowski PhD RN FAAN

Handbook for Synthesizing
Qualitative Research
About the Authors
MARGARETESANDELOWSKI, PHD, RN, FAAN,is Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished
Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH) School
of Nursing and principal investigator of the Qualitative Metasynthesis Project on
which this book is based. She is also director of the Annual Summer Institute in
Qualitative Research held at UNC-CH School of Nursing. Dr. Sandelowski is
one of three associate editors of Research in Nursing & Health,and a member of
the editorial boards of Advances in Nursing Science, Field Methods, Journal of
Mixed Methods Research, Nursing Inquiry, andQualitative Health Research. She
is internationally recognized for her expertise in qualitative methods. She has
more than 120 publications in both nursing and social science journals and
books, with over 35 refereed papers on qualitative methods alone. The ethno-
graphic work, With Child in Mind: Studies of the Personal Encounter With
Infertility (1993), was awarded a national book prize from the American
Anthropological Association. Devices and Desires: Gender, Technology, and
American Nursing(2000), a social history of technology in nursing, has been fa-
vorably reviewed in both nursing and medical history journals.
JULIEBARROSO, PHD, ANP, APRN, BC,is associate professor and director of the
Adult Nurse Practitioner Program at Duke University School of Nursing, and co-
principal investigator of the Qualitative Metasynthesis Project. She is also a senior
research fellow with the Health Inequalities Program (part of the Terry Sanford
Institute of Public Policy at Duke University) and served as chair of the Research
Committee, part of the National Leadership Council for the Association of Nurses
in AIDS Care. Her practice, research, and teaching have focused on people with
HIV infection. Dr. Barroso has conducted both qualitative and quantitative re-
search in this area, including a metasynthesis of studies with HIV-positive men,
study of physiological and psychological correlates of fatigue, a psychometric
study of the HIV-Related Fatigue Scale, and a secondary analysis of a 12-year lon-
gitudinal data set to examine the relationship between fatigue and depression in
HIV-positive gay men. She is currently principal investigator of a National Institute
of Nursing Research longitudinal study of physiological, psychosocial, and per-
sonal factors in the development of HIV-related fatigue. Dr. Barroso maintains a
practice at the Duke University AIDS Research and Treatment Center.
Handbook for
Synthesizing
Qualitative Research
MARGARETE SANDELOWSKI, PHD, RN, FAAN
JULIE BARROSO, PHD, ANP, APRN, BC
Copyright © 2007 by Springer Publishing Company, Inc.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
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out the prior permission of Springer Publishing Company, Inc.
Springer Publishing Company, Inc.
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Acquisitions Editor: Sally J. Barhydt
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Cover design by Joanne E. Honigman
Typeset by Daily Information Processing, Churchville, PA
06 07 08 09 10 / 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sandelowski, Margarete.
Handbook for synthesizing qualitative research / by Margarete
Sandelowski and Julie Barroso.
p. ; cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8261-5694-0
1. Qualitative research. 2. Medicine—Research—Methodology.
I. Barroso, Julie. II. Title.
[DNLM: 1. Qualitative Research. 2. Biomedical Research.
W 20.5 S214h 2006]
R853.Q34S26 2006
610.72—dc22
2006009077
Printed in the United States of America by Bang Printing.
Contents
Preface vii
Acknowledgments xi
Permissions to Publish xiii
Introduction: Attitudes, Assumptions, and Caveats xv
List of Tables, Figures, and Boxes xxi
Quotations xxv
Chapter 1 The Urge to Synthesize 1
On the Crest of a Wave 1
The Debate Over Qualitative Research Synthesis 4
Qualitative Research Synthesis as a Contested Site 9
Chapter 2 Conceiving the Qualitative Research Synthesis Study 17
Qualitative Research Synthesis 17
Qualitative Research Synthesis Versus Other Entities 18
Formulating Purpose and Rationale 23
Accommodating Qualitative Research Synthesis 24
Studies to Available Resources
Chapter 3 Searching For and Retrieving Qualitative 35
Research Reports
Setting Parameters for the Search 35
Browsing and Berry-Picking 41
Fugitive Literature 49
Determining Relevance 50
Managing Information 50
The Dynamics of Searching 52
v
vi Contents
Chapter 4 Appraising Reports of Qualitative Studies 75
Individual Appraisal 75
Comparative Appraisal 78
Appraisal as Foundation for Research Synthesis 82
Chapter 5 Classifying the Findings in Qualitative Research 133
Reports
Rewriting the Text 133
The Quality of Qualitative Research 135
Empirical/Analytical Versus Constructionist 138
Conceptions of Data and Findings
Typology of Qualitative Findings 140
Chapter 6 Synthesizing Qualitative Research Findings: 151
Qualitative Metasummary
Qualitative Metasummary 152
Chapter 7 Synthesizing Qualitative Research Findings: 199
Qualitative Metasynthesis
Approaches to Qualitative Metasynthesis 199
Chapter 8 Optimizing the Validity of Qualitative Research 227
Synthesis Studies
Audit Trail 229
Negotiated Consensual Validity 229
Expert Peer Review 230
Chapter 9 Presenting Syntheses of Qualitative Research 235
Findings
Writing and Representation 235
The Elements of a Report of a Qualitative Research 240
Synthesis Study
Forming the Synthesis 241
Innovations in Dissemination 248
After Synthesizing Qualitative Research 251
Final Words 252
Appendix Reports in the Qualitative Metasynthesis Project 263
Index 273
Preface
Welcome to the Handbook for Synthesizing Qualitative Research, a guide
for integrating the findings in reports of primary qualitative studies.
Qualitative research synthesis is scientific inquiry aimed at systematically
reviewing and formally integrating the findings in reports of completed
qualitative studies. The phrase qualitative research synthesis refers both
to an interpretive product (i.e., the synthesis itself, or integration of a set
of findings) and to the methods and techniques used to create that prod-
uct (i.e., the processes involved in producing a synthesis). Written for
graduate nursing students and faculty, as well as students and faculty in
other healthcare and practice disciplines, this handbook will help you:
1. Locate qualitative research synthesis in the contemporary land-
scape of qualitative research, research synthesis, research utiliza-
tion, and evidence-based practice;
2. Locate the qualitative research synthesis enterprise in reading and
writing practices;
3. Differentiate qualitative research synthesis from other forms of
inquiry;
4. Formulate significant research problems and purposes for a qual-
itative research synthesis study;
5. Design credible qualitative research synthesis studies that fit
available resources;
6. Conduct comprehensive searches for primary qualitative research
reports in a target domain of inquiry;
7. Conduct judicious appraisals of these qualitative research reports;
8. Compare and classify the findings across these qualitative re-
search reports;
9. Select methodological approaches appropriate to the content and
form of the qualitative research findings in these reports;
vii
viii Preface
10. Use qualitative metasummary and metasynthesis techniques to
integrate qualitative research findings;
11. Optimize the validity of qualitative research synthesis studies;
and
12. Present the results of qualitative research synthesis studies in ef-
fective, audience-appropriate ways.
In this Handbook, we illustrate procedures for conducting qualita-
tive research synthesis projects with reports of studies in two domains of
research: qualitative studies conducted with HIV-positive women and
with women and couples who received positive prenatal diagnoses. These
reports represent research across the behavioral and social science and
practice disciplines, including anthropology, psychology, sociology, nurs-
ing, and public health. They also represent our respective areas of ex-
pertise. Reviewers generally choose topics for research synthesis in areas
in which they have expertise and to which they have strong commitments.
We use these reports to describe methods that were clarified, refined, or
newly developed in the course of the National Institutes of Health,
National Institute of Nursing Research study we conducted, entitled
Analytic Techniques for Qualitative Metasynthesis (R01NR04907 &
R01NR04907S, 06/01/2000–06/02/2005). You can read an annotated
version of the proposal for this study in Sandelowski & Barroso (2003).
The Web site for this Project is available at http://www.unc.edu/
~msandelo/qmp/. We refer to this study throughout this book as the
Metasynthesis Project.
The sample of HIV studies we draw from here consists of 114 re-
ports appearing between 1991 (the year of the first study known to us to
meet our inclusion criteria) and 2002, including 79 published reports (75
journal articles, 2 books, 1 book chapter, and 1 technical report) and 35
unpublished reports (31 doctoral dissertations and 4 master’s theses).
These works were retrieved between June 1, 2000, and December 31,
2002. The sample of positive prenatal diagnosis studies consists of 17 re-
ports appearing between 1984 (the year of the first study known to us to
meet our inclusion criteria) and 2002, including 13 published reports (10
journal articles, 2 books, and 1 book chapter) and 4 unpublished reports
(3 doctoral dissertations and 1 master’s thesis). These reports were retrieved
between December 1, 2002, and March 31, 2003. All of these reports are
listed in the Appendix.
To facilitate your understanding of several of the processes involved
in transforming research findings into research syntheses, we created a
web site to illustrate them in a more dynamic visual form. At this site, you
will find materials to supplement Chapters 3, 4, and 6. Please visit
http://www.unc.edu/~msandelo/handbook whenever we refer you to it in
the book.
Preface ix
We are pleased that you are considering this Handbook for your
work. We hope that you will find in it the assistance you need to conduct
your qualitative research synthesis project.
MARGARETESANDELOWSKI
JULIEBARROSO
REFERENCE
Sandelowski, M., & Barroso, J. (2003). Writing the proposal for a qual-
itative research methodology project. Qualitative Health Research,
13,781–820.