TY - JOUR
T1 - Comparability work and the management of difference in research synthesis studies
AU - Sandelowski, Margarete
AU - Voils, Corrine I.
AU - Barroso, Julie
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2008 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2007/1
Y1 - 2007/1
N2 - The new imperative to be more methodologically inclusive has generated a burgeoning interest in synthesizing the findings of qualitative and quantitative studies, or mixed research synthesis. Yet, the very diversity seen to define the mixed research synthesis enterprise is also considered to defy it as it intensifies the problem of comparing the seemingly incomparable to enable the combination of the seemingly uncombinable. We propose here that the research synthesis enterprise, in general, and the mixed research synthesis enterprise, in particular, entail comparability work whereby reviewers impose similarity and difference on the studies to be reviewed. The very study diversity requiring management does not exist a priori but rather is itself an outcome of comparability work already done whereby judgments have been made about what constitutes methodological and topical diversity and uniformity. Conceiving the research synthesis process as defined by comparability work moves the backstage interpretive work of systematic review to center stage and, thereby, sets a new stage for addressing the methodological issues involved. These issues are explored by reference to the synthesis of empirical studies of antiretroviral adherence in HIV-positive women in the US.
AB - The new imperative to be more methodologically inclusive has generated a burgeoning interest in synthesizing the findings of qualitative and quantitative studies, or mixed research synthesis. Yet, the very diversity seen to define the mixed research synthesis enterprise is also considered to defy it as it intensifies the problem of comparing the seemingly incomparable to enable the combination of the seemingly uncombinable. We propose here that the research synthesis enterprise, in general, and the mixed research synthesis enterprise, in particular, entail comparability work whereby reviewers impose similarity and difference on the studies to be reviewed. The very study diversity requiring management does not exist a priori but rather is itself an outcome of comparability work already done whereby judgments have been made about what constitutes methodological and topical diversity and uniformity. Conceiving the research synthesis process as defined by comparability work moves the backstage interpretive work of systematic review to center stage and, thereby, sets a new stage for addressing the methodological issues involved. These issues are explored by reference to the synthesis of empirical studies of antiretroviral adherence in HIV-positive women in the US.
KW - Comparability work
KW - Evidence-based practice
KW - HIV
KW - Research synthesis
KW - Systematic review
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U2 - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2006.08.041
DO - 10.1016/j.socscimed.2006.08.041
M3 - Article
C2 - 17029691
AN - SCOPUS:33750994940
VL - 64
SP - 236
EP - 247
JO - Social Science and Medicine
JF - Social Science and Medicine
SN - 0277-9536
IS - 1
ER -