8.4 Developing a mixed methods review protocol

This section outlines the components of a mixed methods systematic review protocol and provides guidance on the information that each section should address. Specifically, it provides guidance on each of the following components: title, introduction, review question(s), inclusion criteria, methods (search strategy, study selection, assessment of methodological quality, data extraction, data synthesis), references, and appendices.

As discussed in Section 8.3, JBI focuses exclusively on the convergent approach to mixed methods reviews and as such the nature of the question(s) posed dictates the approach reviewers take with their synthesis. While the main steps undertaken in a systematic review are universal, there are some elements between the two approaches for mixed methods systematic reviews that will differ. For this reason, the following section is divided into the two approaches. Reviewers will need to be clear on the type of question(s) (and subsequently the type of synthesis) their proposed review is attempting to answer and follow the corresponding guidance provided below.