gms | German Medical Science

G-I-N Conference 2012

Guidelines International Network

22.08 - 25.08.2012, Berlin

Making sense of complex data from a Realist Review: An interactive workshop

Meeting Abstract

  • M. Kastner - St. Michael's Hospital - Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, Toronto, Canada
  • J. Makarski - Department of Oncology - McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
  • L. Hayden - St. Michael's Hospital - Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, Toronto, Canada
  • L. Durocher - Department of Oncology - McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
  • A. Chatterjee - St. Michael's Hospital - Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, Toronto, Canada
  • M. Brouwers - Department of Oncology - McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
  • O. Bhattacharyya - St. Michael's Hospital - Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, Toronto, Canada

Guidelines International Network. G-I-N Conference 2012. Berlin, 22.-25.08.2012. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2012. DocP020

doi: 10.3205/12gin132, urn:nbn:de:0183-12gin1322

Published: July 10, 2012

© 2012 Kastner et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.


Outline

Text

Background: Most analysis techniques for organizing and synthesizing evidence on a complex topic are not well operationalized.

Learning objectives/goals: To demonstrate a process for organizing complex evidence in the context of findings from a realist review investigating guideline implementability.

Target group, suggested audience: Guideline developers, and health services and knowledge translation researchers with a methodological interest in learning a new strategy to work with and organize complex data sets emerging from knowledge synthesis methods.

Description of the workshop: The workshop will consist of 3 parts.

Part 1: A 30-minute presentation to introduce a novel method for organizing and synthesizing complex data in the context of a realist review aimed at identifying guideline attributes that affect their uptake. The session will also include a demonstration of the new analysis method using an online mapping tool called MindMeister.
Part 2: In a 25-minute small-group exercise, participants will have the opportunity to apply the analysis method using a data set from the example realist review. To facilitate interaction, each group will be provided with a laptop computer (equipped with the mapping tool) and a handout about the analysis method. At the end of this session, participants will be prompted to discuss their group findings and experience and to ask questions (20 minutes).
Part 3: We will wrap up the session by demonstrating how we organized the complex data set (10 minutes), and to administer a short evaluation survey to obtain feedback on the entire process (5 minutes).