Stansfield 2014

Appraisal of: Stansfield C, Brunton G, Rees R. Search wide, dig deep: literature searching for

qualitative research. An analysis of the publication formats and information sources used for

four systematic reviews in public health. Res Synth Methods. 2014 Jun;5(2):142-51.

Reviewer(s): 

Melissa Walter

Carolyn Spry

Full Reference: 

Stansfield C, Brunton G, Rees R. Search wide, dig deep: literature searching for qualitative research. An analysis of the publication formats and information sources used for four systematic reviews in public health. Res Synth Methods. 2014 Jun;5(2):142-51.

Short description: 

This article analyzes the search results from four systematic reviews on three different public health topics, all of which synthesize qualitative 'views studies'. The authors found that roughly a third of included studies in these systematic reviews were grey literature, most of which were categorized as research reports. Sources that retrieved the highest number of grey literature studies were bibliographic databases (particularly subject-specific ones) and individual websites. Roughly half of all journal articles were found in only one bibliographic database, and 21% of the published journal articles and the majority of books/book chapters were found outside databases, for example through website searching and reference checking.

Limitations stated by the author(s): 

All studies were recorded as being from only one source due to data limitations. Any study found in both database and supplementary (non-database) sources was recorded as being from a bibliographic database, so it is likely that supplementary sources actually retrieved higher numbers of included studies than recorded. Retrieval from supplementary sources may also be skewed based on the order in which they were searched, since studies subsequently found in another supplementary source were not counted more than once.

Limitations stated by the reviewer(s): 

The systematic reviews were specific to preference/beliefs studies in public health, so the results may not be generalizable to other review types. In particular, a high number of research reports were found in a non-health subject-specific bibliographic database (Transport), so it is possible that bibliographic databases are not as useful a source of grey literature in health topics. The topics of the reviews were also very broad (eg. experiences of becoming a mother).

Note: There is an error on p. 145, in which Table 2 and the second paragraph of the text state different numbers of records retrieved from reference checking and websites. As confirmed by the author, the correct numbers are those in Table 2 (websites 18 records; reference checking, including forward citation checking, 7).

Study Type: 

Single study

Related Chapters: 

Tags: 

• Grey literature

• Journal articles