3.5 Core definitions in meta-aggregative reviews
- Carolyn Phillips
The operational definitions that characterize meta-aggregation describe the data to be synthesized, and explain what each step looks like.
Finding:
A finding is a verbatim extract of the author’s analytic interpretation of their results or data.
In undertaking the synthesis component of a meta-aggregative review, each finding that is extracted from a paper is accompanied by an illustration.
An illustration is defined as
A direct quotation of a participant‘s voice, field-work observation or other supporting data from the paper.
For each extracted finding, a level of credibility is allocated, and this is completed in JBI SUMARI as the data for the finding and its accompanying illustration are entered. Levels of credibility are described in Section 2.7 of this chapter.
Category:
A category is a brief description of a key concept arising from the aggregation of two or more like findings and is accompanied by an explanatory statement that conveys the whole, inclusive meaning of a group of similar findings.
When two or more findings are combined to form a category, a category description is also created. A category description is defined as:
An explanatory statement that conveys the whole, inclusive meaning of a group of similar findings.
A category illustration is developed by the review team, it is an explanatory statement that conveys the whole inclusive meaning of a group of similar findings.
Synthesized finding:
A synthesized finding is an overarching description of a group of categorized findings. Synthesized findings are expressed as ‘indicatory’ statements that can be used to generate recommendations for policy or practice.
As with categories, a description is created for each synthesized finding. The description for a synthesized finding is defined as:
An explanatory statement that conveys the whole, inclusive meaning of a group of similar categories
These core definitions are the basis of meta aggregation and represent a goodness of fit with systematic review that is much closer than many other qualitative approaches to synthesis.