Chapter 20: Qualitative research and Cochrane reviews Authors: Jane Noyes, Jennie Popay, Alan Pearson, Karin Hannes and Andrew Booth on behalf of the Cochrane Qualitative Research Methods Group. Copyright © 2008 The Cochrane Collaboration. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd under “The Cochrane Book Series” Imprint. This extract is made available solely for use in the authoring, editing or refereeing of Cochrane reviews, or for training in these processes by representatives of formal entities of The Cochrane Collaboration. Other than for the purposes just stated, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP, UK, without the permission in writing of the copyright holders. Permission to translate part or all of this document must be obtained from the publishers. This extract is from Handbook version 5.0.1. For guidance on how to cite it, see Section 20.4. The material is also published in Higgins JPT, Green S (editors), Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions (ISBN 978-0470057964) by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex PO19 8SQ, England, Telephone (+44) 1243 779777; Email (for orders and customer service enquiries): cs-books@wiley.co.uk. Visit their Home Page on www.wiley.com. Key points • Evidence from qualitative studies can play an important role in adding value to systematic reviews for policy, practice and consumer decision-making. • It is likely that outcome studies included in Cochrane reviews will have qualitative research embedded within, or associated with, them. • Qualitative research can contribute to Cochrane Intervention reviews in four ways: o informing reviews by using evidence from qualitative research to help define and refine the question, and to ensure the review includes appropriate studies and addresses important outcomes; o enhancing reviews by synthesizing evidence from qualitative research identified whilst looking for evidence of effectiveness; o extending reviews by undertaking a search to specifically seek out evidence from qualitative studies to address questions directly related to the effectiveness review; and o supplementing reviews by synthesizing qualitative evidence within a stand-alone, but complementary, qualitative review to address questions on aspects other than effectiveness. • There are many methods of qualitative evidence synthesis that are appropriate to the aims and scope of Cochrane Intervention reviews. • The synthesis of qualitative research is an area of debate and evolution. The Cochrane Qualitative Methods Group provides a forum for discussion and further development of methodology in this area. 20.1