Why, when and how to update a meta-ethnography qualitative synthesis

France, Emma F; Wells, Mary; Lang, Heidi; Williams, Brian

doi:10.1186/s13643-016-0218-4

Why, when and how to update a meta-ethnography qualitative synthesis

France, Emma F; Wells, Mary; Lang, Heidi; Williams, Brian

Authors

Emma F France

Mary Wells

Heidi Lang

Brian Williams

Abstract

Background: Meta-ethnography is a unique, systematic, qualitative synthesis approach widely used to provide robust evidence on patient and clinician beliefs and experiences and understandings of complex social phenomena. It can make important theoretical and conceptual contributions to health care policy and practice. Results Since beliefs, experiences, health care contexts and social phenomena change over time, the continued relevance of the findings from meta-ethnographies cannot be assumed. However, there is little guidance on whether, when and how meta-ethnographies should be updated; Cochrane guidance on updating reviews of intervention effectiveness is unlikely to be fully appropriate. This is the first in-depth discussion on updating a meta-ethnography; it explores why, when and how to update a meta-ethnography. Three main methods of updating the analysis and synthesis are examined. Advantages and disadvantages of each method are outlined, relating to the context, purpose, process and output of the update and the nature of the new data available. Recommendations are made for the appropriate use of each method, and a worked example of updating a meta-ethnography is provided. Conclusions This article makes a unique contribution to this evolving area of meta-ethnography methodology.

Citation

France, E. F., Wells, M., Lang, H., & Williams, B. (2016). Why, when and how to update a meta-ethnography qualitative synthesis. Systematic Reviews, 5, Article 44. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-016-0218-4

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Feb 24, 2016
Online Publication Date	Mar 15, 2016
Publication Date	Mar 15, 2016
Deposit Date	Sep 29, 2016
Publicly Available Date	Sep 29, 2016
Journal	Systematic Reviews
Print ISSN	2046-4053
Electronic ISSN	2046-4053
Publisher	BMC
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	5
Article Number	44
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-016-0218-4
Keywords	Cancer; Qualitative analysis; Meta-ethnography; Meta-synthesis; Systematic reviews
Public URL	http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/396039

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© France et al. 2016 This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.