A decade of metasynthesis research in health sciences: A meta-method study

Abstract

The overall aim of this study was to analyze the methods applied in previous metasynthesis research and to inform future researchers of epistemological and methodological issues based on this analysis. Meta-method analysis was applied to a decade of 45 published metasynthesis studies that pertain to nursing and allied health studies. The findings show that the metasynthesis research can be classified into three areas: (1) health, illness and suffering, (2) care and support, and (3) parenting, newborn and childcare. Meta ethnography dominates the research area. Metastudy, metasummary, qualitative metasynthesis, and grounded formal theory are emerging methods. The metasynthesis studies suffer from modifications without explications, use of secondary method references, missing sample and search data and differences in the type of findings and the meta-concepts depicting the findings. The worth of metasynthesis research is questioned when the core ideas of qualitative meta studies, theoretical and/or methodological development ("synthesis") combined with the potential of going beyond and behind the studies ("meta"), is missing. Metasynthesis research requires knowledge in both the substance and the various qualitative methods, and systematic attendance to the method accompanied by the openness and the creativity of a qualitative approach. Conclusions and recommendations are presented as epistemological reflections and a guide for future metasynthesis research in health sciences. Key words: Metasynthesis, meta-method, meta-ethnography, metastudy, grounded formal theory, metasummary, qualitative methods