This webinar, part of the Cochrane Rapid Reviews & Learning Live webinar series, focused on rapid qualitative evidence synthesis (rQES), increasingly used to explore acceptability of interventions and barriers to implementation. Speeding up how we plan, do and/or share the results of QES, by simplifying or omitting review procedures, can be particularly challenging given the iterative nature of synthesis methods and the interpretative nature of that synthesis and analysis.

This webinar rehearsed important considerations when planning and conducting an rQES before outlining a variety of approaches used to tackle these challenges. The presenter, Professor Andrew Booth, brought together current thinking from the Rapid Reviews Group with insights drawn from over a decade as a current convenor of the Cochrane Qualitative and Implementation Methods Group.

The session was delivered in February 2024 and below you will find the videos from the webinar, together with the accompanying slides to download [PDF] and the published article on "Rapid reviews methods series: guidance on rapid qualitative evidence synthesis."

Part 1: Introduction to rapid QES
Part 2: Recommendations for rapid QES
Part 3: Questions & answers

Presenter Bio

Professor Andrew Booth is Professor in Evidence Synthesis in the Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research (SCHARR) at the University of Sheffield and an adjunct Professor at the University of Limerick. He is a co-convenor of the Cochrane Qualitative and Implementation Methods Group, a member of the GRADE-CERQual core team and a research associate of Evidence Synthesis Ireland and Cochrane Ireland. Andrew is a Chartered Information Professional (UK CILIP). He obtained his PhD by Publications from the University of Sheffield (2013) and his MSc (1996) and Diploma in Librarianship with Distinction (1983) from the University of Wales (Aberystwyth), having previously gained a BA with First Class Honours from the University of Reading (1982).

Andrew is a prolific trainer in synthesis methods and delivers regular short courses in qualitative evidence synthesis and rapid reviews. Since 2015 he has been the world’s most prolific author/co-author in the methodology and published examples of qualitative evidence synthesis and he is currently contributing multiple chapters to the forthcoming Cochrane-Campbell Handbook of Qualitative Evidence Synthesis. In 2020 he collaborated with Evidence Synthesis Ireland to provide methodological support to the first ever Cochrane Rapid Qualitative Evidence Synthesis. Together with colleagues at SCHARR he has co-authored the key text Systematic Approaches for a Successful Literature Review, now in its 3rd edition.