Handbook for Synthesizing Qualitative Research

Written for graduate-level students and faculty in health care science disciplines, this handbook will help you integrate the findings in reports of primary qualitative studies as well as extrapolate the methods and techniques used to create a qualitative research synthesis. Using reports of studies in two domains of research and across behavior, social science, and practice disciplines, this handbook will help you: Locate qualitative research synthesis in qualitative research, research synthesis, research utilization, and evidence-based practice Locate the qualitative research synthesis enterprise in reading and writing practices Differentiate qualitative research synthesis from other forms of inquiry Formulate significant research problems and purposes for a qualitative research synthesis study Design credible qualitative research synthesis studies that fit available resources Conduct comprehensive searches for primary qualitative research reports in a target domain of inquiry Conduct judicious appraisals of these qualitative research reports Compare and classify findings across qualitative research reports Select methodological approaches appropriate to the content and form of the qualitative research findings Use qualitative metasummary and metasynthesis techniques to integrate qualitative research findings Optimize the validity of qualitative research synthesis studies Present the results of qualitative research synthesis studies in effective, audience-appropriate ways.

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: Attitudes, Assumptions, and Caveats The Urge to Synthesize Conceiving the Qualitative Research Synthesis Study Searching For and Retrieving Qualitative Research Reports Appraising Reports of Qualitative Studies Classifying the Findings in Qualitative Research Reports Synthesizing Qualitative Research Findings: Qualitative Metasummary Synthesizing Qualitative Research Findings: Qualitative Metasynthesis Optimizing the Validity of Qualitative Research Synthesis Studies Presenting Syntheses of Qualitative Research Findings Appendix: Reports in the Qualitative Metasynthesis Project Index

About the Author :
Julie Barroso is Associate Professor & 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 research 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 longitudinal 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 personal factors in the development of HIV-related fatigue. Dr. Barroso maintains a practice at the Duke University AIDS Research and Treatment Center.

Review :
For many years, I have been aware of the work of Margarete Sandelowski and Julie Barroso. They are very experienced qualitative researchers whose previous book, Qualitative Health Research was lauded internationally. I suspect that the stimulus for this current book has been the excellent feedback that the authors have received from researchers generally and students and faculty in particular.This book is expertly crafted and its easy style and ‘readability’ are some of its most pleasing features. The short chapters are interesting and authoritative and can be read on a ‘stand alone’ basis, allowing readers to ‘dip in and out’. It has arrived at an opportune time. Qualitative methodology is fast becoming the approach of choice for many investigators who are seeking answers to intriguing research questions. However, the resultant large number of completed qualitative studies has the potential to lead to information overload. To be interested in how such studies can lead to meaningful changes in knowledge and practice without being aware of how to synthesise qualitative research would be like starting a new journey without a map. Without fear of contradiction, this book is the best map of qualitative research synthesis that I have come across. I congratulate Drs Sandelowski and Barroso on producing it and I recommend it wholeheartedly to all qualitative researchers.""- Dr Hugh McKenna, PhD, RN, FEANS, FRCSI, FRCN Professor and Dean, Faculty of Life & Health Sciences; ""In this powerful text, Sandelowsi and Barroso have capitalized on their talent for powerful imagery and exquisite narrative to engage readers in a virtual conversation on the meaning of knowledge claims and the methods by which we construct them. Drawing upon insights gained through extensive cutting-edge application of this type of scholarship, they have consulted widely across methods and traditions to construct a truly coherent and comprehensive guide to qualitative research metasynthesis. Handbook for Synthesizing Qualitative Research meets an urgent need for practical wisdom and intellectual sensibility in the integration of qualitatively-derived knowledge as a fundamental constituent of evidence-based health care practice. Ostensibly a primer in methodological guidance, the text avoids undue prescription and instead enters us into a lively academic seminar in which ideas are deconstructed and controversies debated. The reader is at once informed and entertained by immersion into considering the truly important questions surrounding what ought to constitute knowledge within our current social and temporal context. This text will be of value to both neophyte and seasoned qualitative researchers in nursing and health care. It will extend the dialogue into action, and contribute to a new generation of thoughtful qualitative research synthesis.""- Sally Thorne, RN, PhD, Professor and Director, University of British Columbia School of Nursing; ""What distinguishes this Dictionary from others are its attention to the diversity in inquiry and distinctively nursing 'takes' on key concepts in theory and research. This Dictionary will be a welcome addition to the libraries of both new and experienced researchers.""- Margarete Sandelowski, Cary C. Boshamer Professor, School of Nursing, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill