Synthesizing Qualitative Evidence

Synthesizing Qualitative Evidence PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781451163841
Category : Evidence-based medicine
Languages : en
Pages : 79

Book Description
"Practitioners and patients are called upon to make numerous health care decisions and, in doing so, need to weigh various types of information before taking action. This information comes from a myriad of sources, including the results of well-designed research; information related to the preferences of patients/clients and their relevant others; the practitioner{u2019}s own experiences; and the nature and norms of the setting and culture in which the care is being delivered. Methods to synthesize qualitative evidence are now emerging and this text examines the methodological bases to qualitative synthesis and describes the processes involved in the conduct of a rigorous synthesis of qualitative evidence, with a particular focus on Meta-Aggregation."--[source inconnue].

Synthesizing Quantitative Evidence

Synthesizing Quantitative Evidence PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781451163865
Category : Quantitative research
Languages : en
Pages : 76

Book Description
"The objective of a systematic review is to summarize the evidence on a specific clinical question using a transparent, a-priori protocol driven approach. This book provides an overview of the fundamental knowledge, principals and processes for the synthesis of quantitative data in reviews of the effectiveness of health care interventions. As such, it is designed for new reviewers, for students and as an introductory text for academics looking for a book on the fundamentals rather than advanced statistical processes."--[source inconnue].

Synthesising Qualitative And Quantitative Health Evidence: A Guide To Methods

Synthesising Qualitative And Quantitative Health Evidence: A Guide To Methods PDF Author: Pope, Catherine
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education (UK)
ISBN: 033521956X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 222

Book Description
Provides a comprehensive overview of range of approaches and methods available for synthesising qualitative and quantitative evidence and an explanation of why this is important. This book looks at different types of review and examining place of synthesis in reviews for policy and management decision making.

Meta-Ethnography

Meta-Ethnography PDF Author: George W. Noblit
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 9780803930230
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 112

Book Description
How can ethnographic studies be generalized, in contrast to concentrating on the individual case? Noblit and Hare propose a new method for synthesizing from qualitative studies: meta-ethnography. After citing the criteria to be used in comparing qualitative research projects, the authors define the ways these can then be aggregated to create more cogent syntheses of research. Using examples from numerous studies ranging from ethnographic work in educational settings to the Mead-Freeman controversy over Samoan youth, Meta-Ethnography offers useful procedural advice from both comparative and cumulative analyses of qualitative data. This provocative volume will be read with interest by researchers and students in qualitative research methods, ethnography, education, sociology, and anthropology. "After defining metaphor and synthesis, these authors provide a step-by-step program that will allow the researcher to show similarity (reciprocal translation), difference (refutation), or similarity at a higher level (lines or argument synthesis) among sample studies....Contain(s) valuable strategies at a seldom-used level of analysis." --Contemporary Sociology "The authors made an important contribution by reframing how we think of ethnography comparison in a way that is compatible with the new developments in interpretive ethnography. Meta-Ethnography is well worth consulting for the problem definition it offers." --The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease "This book had to be written and I am pleased it was. Someone needed to break the ice and offer a strategy for summarizing multiple ethnographic studies. Noblit and Hare have done a commendable job of giving the research community one approach for doing so. Further, no one else can now venture into this area of synthesizing qualitative studies without making references to and positioning themselves vis-a-vis this volume." -Educational Studies

Finding What Works in Health Care

Finding What Works in Health Care PDF Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309164257
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 267

Book Description
Healthcare decision makers in search of reliable information that compares health interventions increasingly turn to systematic reviews for the best summary of the evidence. Systematic reviews identify, select, assess, and synthesize the findings of similar but separate studies, and can help clarify what is known and not known about the potential benefits and harms of drugs, devices, and other healthcare services. Systematic reviews can be helpful for clinicians who want to integrate research findings into their daily practices, for patients to make well-informed choices about their own care, for professional medical societies and other organizations that develop clinical practice guidelines. Too often systematic reviews are of uncertain or poor quality. There are no universally accepted standards for developing systematic reviews leading to variability in how conflicts of interest and biases are handled, how evidence is appraised, and the overall scientific rigor of the process. In Finding What Works in Health Care the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommends 21 standards for developing high-quality systematic reviews of comparative effectiveness research. The standards address the entire systematic review process from the initial steps of formulating the topic and building the review team to producing a detailed final report that synthesizes what the evidence shows and where knowledge gaps remain. Finding What Works in Health Care also proposes a framework for improving the quality of the science underpinning systematic reviews. This book will serve as a vital resource for both sponsors and producers of systematic reviews of comparative effectiveness research.

Synthesizing Qualitative Research

Synthesizing Qualitative Research PDF Author: Karin Hannes
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119959829
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 144

Book Description
A considerable number of journal publications using a range of qualitative synthesis approaches has been published. Mary Dixon-Woods and colleagues (Mary Dixon-Woods, Booth, & Sutton, 2007) identified 42 qualitative evidence synthesis papers published in health care literature between 1990 and 2004. An ongoing update by Hannes and Macaitis (2010)identified around 100 additional qualitative or mixed methods syntheses. Yet these generally lack a clear, detailed description of what was done and why (Greenhalgh et al, 2007; McInnes & Wimpenny, 2008). Choices are most commonly influenced by what others have successfully used in the past or by a particular school of thought (Atkins et al, 2008; Britten et al, 2002). This is a substantive limitation. This book brings balance to the options available to researchers, including approaches that have not had a substantial uptake among researchers. It provides arguments for when and why researchers or other parties of interest should opt for a certain approach to synthesis, which challenges they might face in adopting it and what the potential strengths and weaknesses are compared with other approaches. This book acts as a resource for readers who would otherwise have to piece together the methodology from a range of journal articles. In addition, it should stimulate further development and documentation of synthesis methodology in a field that is characterized by diversity.

Handbook for Synthesizing Qualitative Research

Handbook for Synthesizing Qualitative Research PDF Author: Margarete Sandelowski
Publisher: Springer Publishing Company
ISBN: 0826156940
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 311

Book Description
Print+CourseSmart

Using Mixed Methods Research Synthesis for Literature Reviews

Using Mixed Methods Research Synthesis for Literature Reviews PDF Author: Mieke Heyvaert
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 1483358305
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 170

Book Description
This practical guide provides step-by-step instruction for conducting a mixed methods research synthesis (MMRS) that integrates both qualitative and quantitative evidence. The book progresses through a systematic, comprehensive approach to conducting an MMRS literature review to analyze and summarize the empirical evidence regarding a particular review question. Readers will benefit from discussion of the potential advantages of MMRS and guidance on how to avoid its potential pitfalls. Using Mixed Methods Research Synthesis for Literature Reviews is Volume 4 in the SAGE Mixed Methods Research Series.

Evidence Synthesis for Decision Making in Healthcare

Evidence Synthesis for Decision Making in Healthcare PDF Author: Nicky J. Welton
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 111830540X
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 296

Book Description
In the evaluation of healthcare, rigorous methods of quantitative assessment are necessary to establish interventions that are both effective and cost-effective. Usually a single study will not fully address these issues and it is desirable to synthesize evidence from multiple sources. This book aims to provide a practical guide to evidence synthesis for the purpose of decision making, starting with a simple single parameter model, where all studies estimate the same quantity (pairwise meta-analysis) and progressing to more complex multi-parameter structures (including meta-regression, mixed treatment comparisons, Markov models of disease progression, and epidemiology models). A comprehensive, coherent framework is adopted and estimated using Bayesian methods. Key features: A coherent approach to evidence synthesis from multiple sources. Focus is given to Bayesian methods for evidence synthesis that can be integrated within cost-effectiveness analyses in a probabilistic framework using Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation. Provides methods to statistically combine evidence from a range of evidence structures. Emphasizes the importance of model critique and checking for evidence consistency. Presents numerous worked examples, exercises and solutions drawn from a variety of medical disciplines throughout the book. WinBUGS code is provided for all examples. Evidence Synthesis for Decision Making in Healthcare is intended for health economists, decision modelers, statisticians and others involved in evidence synthesis, health technology assessment, and economic evaluation of health technologies.

The Handbook of Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis

The Handbook of Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis PDF Author: Harris Cooper
Publisher: Russell Sage Foundation
ISBN: 1610448863
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 567

Book Description
Research synthesis is the practice of systematically distilling and integrating data from many studies in order to draw more reliable conclusions about a given research issue. When the first edition of The Handbook of Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis was published in 1994, it quickly became the definitive reference for conducting meta-analyses in both the social and behavioral sciences. In the third edition, editors Harris Cooper, Larry Hedges, and Jeff Valentine present updated versions of classic chapters and add new sections that evaluate cutting-edge developments in the field. The Handbook of Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis draws upon groundbreaking advances that have transformed research synthesis from a narrative craft into an important scientific process in its own right. The editors and leading scholars guide the reader through every stage of the research synthesis process—problem formulation, literature search and evaluation, statistical integration, and report preparation. The Handbook incorporates state-of-the-art techniques from all quantitative synthesis traditions and distills a vast literature to explain the most effective solutions to the problems of quantitative data integration. Among the statistical issues addressed are the synthesis of non-independent data sets, fixed and random effects methods, the performance of sensitivity analyses and model assessments, the development of machine-based abstract screening, the increased use of meta-regression and the problems of missing data. The Handbook also addresses the non-statistical aspects of research synthesis, including searching the literature and developing schemes for gathering information from study reports. Those engaged in research synthesis will find useful advice on how tables, graphs, and narration can foster communication of the results of research syntheses. The third edition of the Handbook provides comprehensive instruction in the skills necessary to conduct research syntheses and represents the premier text on research synthesis. Praise for the first edition: "The Handbook is a comprehensive treatment of literature synthesis and provides practical advice for anyone deep in the throes of, just teetering on the brink of, or attempting to decipher a meta-analysis. Given the expanding application and importance of literature synthesis, understanding both its strengths and weaknesses is essential for its practitioners and consumers. This volume is a good beginning for those who wish to gain that understanding." —Chance "Meta-analysis, as the statistical analysis of a large collection of results from individual studies is called, has now achieved a status of respectability in medicine. This respectability, when combined with the slight hint of mystique that sometimes surrounds meta-analysis, ensures that results of studies that use it are treated with the respect they deserve....The Handbook of Research Synthesis is one of the most important publications in this subject both as a definitive reference book and a practical manual."—British Medical Journal When the first edition of The Handbook of Research Synthesis was published in 1994, it quickly became the definitive reference for researchers conducting meta-analyses of existing research in both the social and biological sciences. In this fully revised second edition, editors Harris Cooper, Larry Hedges, and Jeff Valentine present updated versions of the Handbook's classic chapters, as well as entirely new sections reporting on the most recent, cutting-edge developments in the field. Research synthesis is the practice of systematically distilling and integrating data from a variety of sources in order to draw more reliable conclusions about a given question or topic. The Handbook of Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis draws upon years of groundbreaking advances that have transformed research synthesis from a narrative craft into an important scientific process in its own right. Cooper, Hedges, and Valentine have assembled leading authorities in the field to guide the reader through every stage of the research synthesis process—problem formulation, literature search and evaluation, statistical integration, and report preparation. The Handbook of Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis incorporates state-of-the-art techniques from all quantitative synthesis traditions. Distilling a vast technical literature and many informal sources, the Handbook provides a portfolio of the most effective solutions to the problems of quantitative data integration. Among the statistical issues addressed by the authors are the synthesis of non-independent data sets, fixed and random effects methods, the performance of sensitivity analyses and model assessments, and the problem of missing data. The Handbook of Research Synthesis and Meta-Analysis also provides a rich treatment of the non-statistical aspects of research synthesis. Topics include searching the literature, and developing schemes for gathering information from study reports. Those engaged in research synthesis will also find useful advice on how tables, graphs, and narration can be used to provide the most meaningful communication of the results of research synthesis. In addition, the editors address the potentials and limitations of research synthesis, and its future directions. The past decade has been a period of enormous growth in the field of research synthesis. The second edition Handbook thoroughly revises original chapters to assure that the volume remains the most authoritative source of information for researchers undertaking meta-analysis today. In response to the increasing use of research synthesis in the formation of public policy, the second edition includes a new chapter on both the strengths and limitations of research synthesis in policy debates