In January 2018 additional guidance was issued on the use of CERQual for assessing confidence in synthesised findings from qualitative evidence syntheses. The series of seven papers covers issues of wider concern to producers of qualitative syntheses such as methodological limitations, relevance and dissemination bias:
1. Lewin S, Booth A, Glenton C, Munthe-Kaas H, Rashidian A, Wainwright M, et al. Applying GRADE-CERQual to qualitative evidence synthesis findings: introduction to the series. Implementation Science; 2018 Jan;13(S1). Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13012-017-0688-3
2. Lewin S, Bohren M, Rashidian A, Munthe-Kaas H, Glenton C, Colvin CJ, Garside R, Noyes J, Booth A, et al. Applying GRADE-CERQual to qualitative evidence synthesis findings—paper 2: how to make an overall CERQual assessment of confidence and create a Summary of Qualitative Findings table. Implementation Science; 2018 Jan;13(S1). Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13012-017-0689-2
3. Munthe-Kaas H, Bohren MA, Glenton C, Lewin S, Noyes J, Tunçalp Ö, Booth A et al. Applying GRADE-CERQual to qualitative evidence synthesis findings—paper 3: how to assess methodological limitations. Implementation Science; 2018 Jan;13(S1). Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13012-017-0690-9
4. Colvin CJ, Garside R, Wainwright M, Munthe-Kaas H, Glenton C, Bohren MA, Carlsen B, Tunçalp Ö, Noyes J, Booth A et al. Applying GRADE-CERQual to qualitative evidence synthesis findings—paper 4: how to assess coherence. Implementation Science; 2018 Jan;13(S1). Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13012-017-0691-8
5. Glenton C, Carlsen B, Lewin S, Munthe-Kaas H, Colvin CJ, Tunçalp Ö, Bohren MA, Noyes J, Booth A et al. Applying GRADE-CERQual to qualitative evidence synthesis findings—paper 5: how to assess adequacy of data. Implementation Science; 2018 Jan;13(S1). Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13012-017-0692-7
6. Noyes J, Booth A, Lewin S, Carlsen B, Glenton C, Colvin CJ, et al. Applying GRADE-CERQual to qualitative evidence synthesis findings–paper 6: how to assess relevance of the data. Implementation Science; 2018 Jan;13(S1). Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13012-017-0693-6
7. Booth A, Lewin S, Glenton C, Munthe-Kaas H, Toews I, Noyes J, Rashidian A, Berg RC, Nyakango B et al. Applying GRADE-CERQual to qualitative evidence synthesis findings–paper 7: understanding the potential impacts of dissemination bias. Implementation Science; 2018 Jan;13(S1). Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13012-017-0694-5
Click here for Seminar on the GRADE-CERQual Approach - an approach to qualitative evidence syntheses analysis from our lead convenor Professor Jane Noyes.
The GRADE-CERQual Approach is explained in an overview article in PLOS Medicine: Lewin S, Glenton C, Munthe-Kaas H, Carlsen B, Colvin CJ, Gülmezoglu M, et al. Using Qualitative Evidence in Decision Making for Health and Social Interventions: An Approach to Assess Confidence in Findings from Qualitative Evidence Syntheses (GRADE-CERQual). PLoS Med. 2015 Oct;12(10):e1001895+. Available from:http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001895.