A principled approach to methodological agility in research synthesis

Abstract

Editing this book has been a learning journey for me. I feel privileged to learn from the vast and diverse experiences of the contributors. At the same time, I am impressed by how much we have evolved as a field in terms of methodological diversity and innovation for research syntheses, compared to 20 years ago. As mentioned in the introductory chapter (

), this book is not a “how-to” guide for conducting different forms of research synthesis (although there are some mini-guides throughout the book); instead, it invites contributors and readers to consider ethical and methodological challenges and dilemmas, and how they are navigated. Reading the reflective narratives in this book does not provide the answer to methodological issues in research syntheses, but rather offers insight into how authors responded to these challenges, having considered their areas of research, contexts, and intentions for conducting a research synthesis. I begin this chapter by revisiting the major methodological and ethical challenges shared by authors and their responses. Then, I introduce a framework of “ethical methodological agility” and outline an ethics-first approach that can guide our response to the plethora of challenges associated with research synthesis methodologies.