Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23497061›Full record

SynthesisBMC medical research methodology2013

"Best fit" framework synthesis: refining the method.

Christopher Carroll, Andrew Booth, Joanna Leaviss, Jo Rick

Abstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in BMC medical research methodology, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 257 papers, 59 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
257citing papers in PubMed, 59 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

257 citing papers in PubMed, 59 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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197 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Christopher CarrollHealth Economics and Decision Science, School of Health and Related Research, Regent Court, Regent Street, Sheffield S1 4DA, UK. c.carroll@shef.ac.uk
Andrew Booth
Joanna Leaviss
Jo Rick

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundFollowing publication of the first worked example of the "best fit" method of evidence synthesis for the systematic review of qualitative evidence in this journal, the originators of the method identified a need to specify more fully some aspects of this particular derivative of framework synthesis. METHODS AND

resultsWe therefore present a second such worked example in which all techniques are defined and explained, and their appropriateness is assessed. Specified features of the method include the development of new techniques to identify theories in a systematic manner; the creation of an a priori framework for the synthesis; and the "testing" of the synthesis. An innovative combination of existing methods of quality assessment, analysis and synthesis is used to complete the process. This second worked example was a qualitative evidence synthesis of employees' views of workplace smoking cessation interventions, in which the "best fit" method was found to be practical and fit for purpose.

conclusionsThe method is suited to producing context-specific conceptual models for describing or explaining the decision-making and health behaviours of patients and other groups. It offers a pragmatic means of conducting rapid qualitative evidence synthesis and generating programme theories relating to intervention effectiveness, which might be of relevance both to researchers and policy-makers.

Indexed as

BenchmarkingEvidence-Based MedicineHealth PromotionDecision MakingHealth BehaviorHumansModels, TheoreticalQualitative ResearchResearch Design

Identifiers

PMID23497061
PMCPMC3618126

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.