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Qualitative Metasynthesis: Reflections on Methodological Orientation and Ideological Agenda

School of Nursing, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.

Louise Jensen

University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.

Margaret H. Kearney

Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

George Noblit

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Margarete Sandelowski

School of Nursing, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

In an era of pressure toward evidence-based health care, we are witnessing a new enthusiasm for qualitative metasynthesis as an enterprise distinct from conventional literature reviews, secondary analyses, and the many other scholarly endeavors with which it is sometimes confused. This article represents the reflections of five scholars, each ofwhom has authored a distinct qualitative metasynthesis strategy. By providing the reader a glimpse into the tradition of their various qualitative metasynthesis projects, these authors offer a finely nuanced examination of the tensions between comparison and integration, deconstruction and synthesis, and reporting and integration within the metasynthesis endeavor. In so doing, they account for many of the current confusions about representation and generalization within the products of these inquiries. Through understanding the bases of their unique angles of vision, the reader is invited to engage in their commitment to scholarly integrity and intellectual credibility in this emerging methodological challenge.

Key Words: qualitative metasynthesis • research integration • research synthesis

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