MDCH630 - Designing Medical Education Research
This guide is designed to assist you with literature reviews of all types related to medical education research. Approaches, both quantitative and qualitative, are discussed, with links to relevant resources and tools.
Qualitative Review Methods
- SAGE researchmethods This link opens in a new windowSAGE Research Methods has many articles and chapters on research synthesis methods. Simply search terms such as "meta-synthesis," "meta-ethnography," or "qualitative synthesis."SAGE ResearchMethods is a tool created to help researchers, faculty and students with their research projects. Users can explore methods concepts to help them design research projects, understand particular methods or identify a new method, conduct their research, and write up their findings. Since SAGE Research Methods focuses on methodology rather than disciplines, it can be used across the social sciences, health sciences, and other areas of research.
Resources Specific to Medical Education Reviews
- Best Evidence Medical Education (BEME) CollaborationThe Best Evidence Medical Education (BEME) Collaboration (Harden et al., 1999) is an international group of individuals, universities and professional organisations committed to the development of evidence informed education in the medical and health professions. BEME publishes evidence-based reviews in the following categories: effectiveness of educational interventions; definitional reviews that contribute to practical and theoretical knowledge; and scoping reviews. Their web site also lists resources for conducting reviews in medical education.
- Bearman, M., & Dawson, P. (2013). Qualitative synthesis and systematic review in health professions education. Medical Education, 47(3), 252-260. doi:10.1111/medu.12092 Formal qualitative synthesis is the process of pooling qualitative and mixed-method research data, and then drawing conclusions regarding the collective meaning of the research. Qualitative synthesis is regularly used within systematic reviews in the health professions literature, although such use has been heavily debated in the general literature. This controversy arises in part from the inherent tensions found when generalisations are derived from in-depth studies that are heavily context-dependent. We explore three representative qualitative synthesis methodologies: thematic analysis; meta-ethnography, and realist synthesis. These can be understood across two dimensions: integrative to interpretative, and idealist to realist. Three examples are used to illustrate the relative strengths and limitations of these approaches.
- Polanin, J., Maynard, B., & Dell, N. (2016). Overviews in Education Research: A Systematic Review and Analysis. Review Of Educational Research. doi:10.3102/0034654316631117 Overviews, or syntheses of research syntheses, have become a popular approach to synthesizing the rapidly expanding body of research and systematic reviews. Despite their popularity, few guidelines exist and the state of the field in education is unclear. The purpose of this study is to describe the prevalence and current state of overviews of education research and to provide further guidance for conducting overviews and advance the evolution of overview methods. A comprehensive search across multiple online databases and gray literature repositories yielded 25 total education–related overviews. Our analysis revealed that many commonly reported aspects of systematic reviews, such as the search, screen, and coding procedures, were regularly unreported. Only a handful of overview authors discussed the synthesis technique and few authors acknowledged the overlap of included systematic reviews. Suggestions and preliminary guidelines for improving the rigor and utility of overviews are provided.
- Wong, G., Greenhalgh, T., Westhorp, G., & Pawson, R. (2011). Realist methods in medical education research: what are they and what can they contribute?. Medical Education, 46(1), 89-96. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2923.2011.04045.x Education is a complex intervention which produces different outcomes in different circumstances. Education researchers have long recognised the need to supplement experimental studies of efficacy with a broader range of study designs that will help to unpack the ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions and illuminate the many, varied and interdependent mechanisms by which interventions may work (or fail to work) in different contexts. One promising approach is realist evaluation, which seeks to establish what works, for whom, in what circumstances, in what respects, to what extent, and why. This paper introduces the realist approach and explains why it is particularly suited to education research. It gives a brief introduction to the philosophical assumptions underlying realist methods and outlines key principles of realist evaluation (designed for empirical studies) and realist review (the application of realist methods to secondary research).
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