Conceptual and Methodological Challenges in Producing Research Syntheses for Decision-and Policy-Making: An Illustrative Case in Primary Healthcare

Abstract

This article presents and discusses five challenges encountered in conducting a knowledge synthesis on primary healthcare, commissioned by the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation. These challenges are (1) conceptualizing, defining and operationalizing complex interventions; (2) integrating quantitative and qualitative studies and assessing strength of evidence; (3) incorporating expert opinions and decision-makers’ viewpoints; (4) producing timely results; and (5) presenting the results in a concise yet understandable form. We also propose methods and operational tools to deal with these issues, particularly regarding integration of qualitative and quantitative evidence and incorporation of expert opinions into syntheses. The major challenge of the synthesis was to provide pertinent and useful information for decision- and policy-makers, while maintaining an acceptable level of scientific rigour. This approach seems promising for knowledge syntheses, which sustain a deliberative process that leads to more enlightened decision and policy-making.