Changing approaches to research synthesis affect social and intellectual structures of science

Abstract

Research synthesis methods, like collaboration and interdisciplinary research, comprise practices through which scholarly and scientific knowledge is integrated. The methods, which include meta-analysis and integrative or systematic review, are also arguably one of the most important contemporary methodological innovations in many social, medical, health, and perhaps other sciences. As an innovative research practice, research synthesis, like many innovations, may be associated with complex or unexpected consequences as it diffuses through the research system. This study examines the extent to which the diffusion of research synthesis methods has affected levels of collaboration and research use through comparison with literature reviews in five fields. In Social Work and Information and Library Science, more authors contributed to research syntheses than reviews. There was no difference in number of authors in the biological sciences examined: two to four authors typically contributed to both reviews and syntheses. Research syntheses were used more than reviews in Conservation Biology and Women's Studies. In Social Work, research syntheses and reviews were cited at similar levels, but production of reviews decreased as syntheses increased, suggesting that research synthesis was becoming the predominant approach to review, while traditional reviews remained valuable to researchers though in an increasingly narrow range of contexts. In Information and Library Science, research reviews were used more than research syntheses, and trends suggest that research reviews are a relatively rare but highly prized – or at least frequently used – resource. No difference was found between use of research syntheses and reviews in Evolutionary Biology. Future research should investigate relationships between different approaches to knowledge integration in the context of science fields, which would lead to a better understanding of integration, or synthesis, in science overall.