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Improving reporting of meta-ethnography: The eMERGe reporting guidance

France, Emma F.; Cunningham, Maggie; Ring, Nicola; Uny, Isabelle; Duncan, Edward A. S.; Jepson, Ruth G.; Maxwell, Margaret; Roberts, Rachel J.; Turley, Ruth L.; Booth, Andrew; Britten, Nicky; Flemming, Kate; Gallagher, Ian; Garside, Ruth; Hannes, Karin; Lewin, Simon; Noblit, George W.; Pope, Catherine; Thomas, James; Vanstone, Meredith; Higginbottom, Gina M. A.; Noyes, Jane

Authors

Emma F. France

Maggie Cunningham

Isabelle Uny

Edward A. S. Duncan

Ruth G. Jepson

Margaret Maxwell

Rachel J. Roberts

Ruth L. Turley

Andrew Booth

Nicky Britten

Kate Flemming

Ian Gallagher

Ruth Garside

Karin Hannes

Simon Lewin

George W. Noblit

Catherine Pope

James Thomas

Meredith Vanstone

Gina M. A. Higginbottom

Jane Noyes



Abstract

The aim of this study was to provide guidance to improve the completeness and clarity of meta‐ethnography reporting. Evidence‐based policy and practice require robust evidence syntheses which can further understanding of people's experiences and associated social processes. Meta‐ethnography is a rigorous seven‐phase qualitative evidence synthesis methodology, developed by Noblit and Hare. Meta‐ethnography is used widely in health research, but reporting is often poor quality and this discourages trust in and use of its findings. Meta‐ethnography reporting guidance is needed to improve reporting quality. The eMERGe study used a rigorous mixed‐methods design and evidence‐based methods to develop the novel reporting guidance and explanatory notes. The study, conducted from 2015 to 2017, comprised of: (1) a methodological systematic review of guidance for meta‐ethnography conduct and reporting; (2) a review and audit of published meta‐ethnographies to identify good practice principles; (3) international, multidisciplinary consensus‐building processes to agree guidance content; (4) innovative development of the guidance and explanatory notes. Recommendations and good practice for all seven phases of meta‐ethnography conduct and reporting were newly identified leading to 19 reporting criteria and accompanying detailed guidance.The bespoke eMERGe Reporting Guidance, which incorporates new methodological developments and advances the methodology, can help researchers to report the important aspects of meta‐ethnography. Use of the guidance should raise reporting quality. Better reporting could make assessments of confidence in the findings more robust and increase use of meta‐ethnography outputs to improve practice, policyand service user outcomes in health and other fields. This is the first tailored reporting guideline for meta‐ethnography.

This article is being simultaneously published in the following journals: Journal of Advanced Nursing, Psycho‐oncology, Review of Education, PLoS One and BMC Medical Research Methodology

Citation

France, E. F., Cunningham, M., Ring, N., Uny, I., Duncan, E. A. S., Jepson, R. G., …Noyes, J. (2019). Improving reporting of meta-ethnography: The eMERGe reporting guidance. Review of Education, 7(2), 430-451. https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3147

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jul 3, 2018
Online Publication Date Jan 15, 2019
Publication Date 2019-06
Deposit Date Jan 23, 2019
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Review of Education
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 7
Issue 2
Pages 430-451
DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3147
Keywords Guideline, meta‐ethnography, nursing, publication standards, qualitative evidencesynthesis, qualitative research, reporting, research design,
Public URL http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/1526717

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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Copyright Statement
© 2019 The Authors. Review of Education published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Educational Research Association.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes




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