Appraising, extracting and synthesising qualitative research findings using the Qualitative Assessment and Review Instrument (QARI)
Alan Pearson, PhD, Joanna Briggs Institute, Adelaide, Australia
Although there are a number of methodologies described in the literature to extract and synthesise text (in the form of qualitative research findings or in policy and opinion documents) there is a high degree of similarity. The QAR instrument embodies a generic, three-step approach to meta-synthesis, involving the extraction of themes, findings or conclusions; the categorisation of these data on the basis of similarity in meaning; and developing synthesised findings or conclusions representing an aggregation of categories. This brief presentation will describe the instrument’s generic critical appraisal, extraction and synthesis components.