These videos, originally part of the Qualitative Evidence Synthesis (QES) & Learning Live webinar series, start by briefly reviewing some of the question formulation frameworks for qualitative evidence synthesis, rehearsing the advantages and disadvantages of the alternative approaches.

The session then moved on to discussing how the chosen question framework fulfils an important role in subsequent stages of the review, such as deciding the scope, devising eligibility criteria, constructing the search strategy and even as a potential structure for data extraction. The remainder of the session focussed on methods for information retrieval of qualitative research highlighting the challenges, comparing and contrasting with intervention reviews and concluding with the important contribution of supplementary searching techniques.

The webinar was delivered in November 2021 and below you will find the videos from the webinar, together with accompanying slides to download [PDF].

Part 1: Question formulation
Part 2: Searching for qualitative evidence

Presenter Bios

Professor Andrew Booth is Professor in Evidence Synthesis in the School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR) at the University of Sheffield. He is a co-convenor of the Cochrane Qualitative and Implementation Methods Group (CQIMG). Andrew is a Chartered Information Professional (UK CILIP) and one of the most senior information specialists working in evidence synthesis. Andrew was awarded the prestigious Cyril Barnard Award for outstanding contribution to health librarianship in 2011. Andrew has been teaching and conducting systematic reviews for over 25 years, latterly specialising in qualitative evidence synthesis and realist synthesis. Between 2015 and 2021 he has been the world’s most prolific author/co-author of QES methodology and published examples of qualitative evidence synthesis. In 2020 he collaborated with Evidence Synthesis Ireland to support the first ever Cochrane Rapid Qualitative Evidence Synthesis. Andrew’s research focuses on methods of information retrieval and/or qualitative synthesis. He is responsible for many acronyms and mnemonics used in everyday reviewing practice (e.g. SPICE, SPIDER, PerSPE©TiFand RETREAT) and contributes to numerous modules and short courses including his own annual ESQUIRE course on Qualitative Evidence Synthesis.