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. 2012 Nov 27:12:181.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2288-12-181.

Enhancing transparency in reporting the synthesis of qualitative research: ENTREQ

Allison Tong, Kate Flemming, Elizabeth McInnes, Sandy Oliver, Jonathan Craig

Enhancing transparency in reporting the synthesis of qualitative research: ENTREQ

Allison Tong et al. BMC Med Res Methodol. .

Abstract

Background: The syntheses of multiple qualitative studies can pull together data across different contexts, generate new theoretical or conceptual models, identify research gaps, and provide evidence for the development, implementation and evaluation of health interventions. This study aims to develop a framework for reporting the synthesis of qualitative health research.

Methods: We conducted a comprehensive search for guidance and reviews relevant to the synthesis of qualitative research, methodology papers, and published syntheses of qualitative health research in MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL and relevant organisational websites to May 2011. Initial items were generated inductively from guides to synthesizing qualitative health research. The preliminary checklist was piloted against forty published syntheses of qualitative research, purposively selected to capture a range of year of publication, methods and methodologies, and health topics. We removed items that were duplicated, impractical to assess, and rephrased items for clarity.

Results: The Enhancing transparency in reporting the synthesis of qualitative research (ENTREQ) statement consists of 21 items grouped into five main domains: introduction, methods and methodology, literature search and selection, appraisal, and synthesis of findings.

Conclusions: The ENTREQ statement can help researchers to report the stages most commonly associated with the synthesis of qualitative health research: searching and selecting qualitative research, quality appraisal, and methods for synthesising qualitative findings. The synthesis of qualitative research is an expanding and evolving methodological area and we would value feedback from all stakeholders for the continued development and extension of the ENTREQ statement.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Number of published synthesis of qualitative health research.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Word cloud of the methodological terms used in published synthesis of qualitative health research. Word clouds give more prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. The methodological terms were extracted from the title/abstract/full text of 381 published synthesis of qualitative health research (to 31st May 2011) and entered into Tagxedo, an online tool which generated a word cloud.
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