ABSTRACT
Scholars across disciplines (e.g., communication, nursing, medicine) are working to advance knowledge by synthesizing research findings through a variety of innovative methodologies (Cook, Mulrow, & Haynes, 1997; Estabrooks, 1999; Estabrooks, Field, & Morse, 1994; Harrison, 1996). Researchers have started using methodologies that organize, make sense of, and further develop existing bodies of data and theory in an effort to reduce “information anxiety” (Harrison, 1996, quoted in Sandelowski & Barroso 2007). Meta-analysis (Noar & Snyder, this volume) and meta-synthesis—the subject of this chapter—are two such methodologies that are commonly applied.
