Meta-synthesis : Helping Qualitative Research Take Its Rightful Place in the Hierarchy of Evidence

　With the ever increasing pressure to deliver evidence based practice, nurse researchers are turning to qualitative meta-synthesis to provide our discipline with the highest level of evidence obtained from qualitative research studies. Meta-synthesis will help qualitative research take its rightful place and elevate it within the hierarchy of evidence. We have an obligation to “produce knowledge that is accessible to researchers, clinicians, and the general public that can be translated for practice” (Thorne, Jensen, Kearney, Noblit, & Sandelowski, 2004, p.1360). Systematic reviews have been likened to a pre-flight instrument check which helps to ensure that a plane is airworthy prior to it taking off (Pawson, 2006). A systematic review such as a meta-synthesis follows a rigorous sequence of steps to help ensure the trustworthiness of its results prior to being utilized in clinical practice or to inform health policy.

　Forty years ago Glaser and Strauss (1971) warned that findings from separate qualitative studies would stay as “respected little islands of knowledge separated from others” (p.181) only to be sporadically visited by other researchers unless a method to build a cumulative body of knowledge is used. Meta-synthesis is one such approach. Sandelowski, Docherty, and Emden (1997) also stressed to qualitative researchers not to contribute to “analytic interruptus” where we work in isolation from others.