Reviews of literature have evolved and have become systematic over the years. Still, they have always provided a comprehensive way of analysing and summarising individual research studies and articles to expand and integrate knowledge about an existing topic. Their methodologies and techniques vary from the scope of research to the diversity of research designs available.
Additionally, some types of reviews, such as systematic reviews and qualitative syntheses, are only limited to empirical studies within a specified research design. However, many disciplines, such as healthcare and social sciences, require the usage of both empirical and theoretical studies to create a better understanding of a topic which is known as an integrative review. This article discusses what an integrative review is, the methodologies used, and some guidelines for conducting an integrative review.
Define Integrative Review
An integrative review is a specific review method that provides a comprehensive knowledge of a topic by summarising, synthesising, and including a broad range of findings from related research designs. It uses both theoretical and empirical research evidence to generate new insights by reviewing the links and patterns between numerous pieces of information.
The aim of an integrative review is to address the current state of evidence that is present, determine its quality and suggest future directions for any research gaps that have been evaluated and contribute to the development of theory. This type of review is mostly used in nursing as diverse data sources are sought to determine initiatives for nursing practices and care.
Characteristics Of An Integrative Review
Before we discuss the integrative literature review methodologies, it is necessary to understand the primary characteristics of an integrative review:
Broad Scope
An integrative review uses a wide range of academic research methodologies, such as qualitative and quantitative studies, theoretical papers, and more.
Literature Search
An integrative review conducts a rigorous and comprehensive search from online databases, bibliographic databases, and archives. Moreover, it also uses pieces of literature, conferences and research papers that have not been published by commercial means, known as gray literature.
Emphasis on Relationships
They follow a structured process, and a particular emphasis is placed on determining the relationship between two concepts or topics to obtain a better understanding.
Problem Identification
Similar to others, an integrative review begins with the identification and description of the problem or content of interest. This makes it easier to define what research studies need to be integrated into the review.
Transparency
The method of conducting the integrative review is quite descriptive and transparent. It allows other researchers to determine the value of your findings and assess the relevance of the methodologies used.
Integrative Review Methodology
It is difficult to define one particular integrative review method or a few methodologies for conducting an integrative review. The choice of methodologies can, however, differ because of various reasons, such as the quality and quantity of literature to be reviewed, the experience of researchers and reviewers, and the available resources.
Furthermore, it is comprehensive and allows for the integration of many approaches, including experimental and non-experimental methods. On the other hand, theoretical approaches use interviews, observations, and other theoretical data to develop their findings.
A Step-By-Step Guide To Conducting An Integrative Review
A systematic integrative review’s primary purpose is to offer a comprehensive understanding of a topic by examining and incorporating multiple studies related to it. They are valuable to research and literature as they identify new patterns and insights and help emphasise the gaps that need to be addressed. This guide provides a step-by-step process on how to conduct an integrative literature review:
Problem Identification
Just like any other review, an integrative review starts with the identification of the problem to be studied and the examination of the variables to be put under the scope. This defines the topic and the multiple studies that need to be extracted related to it. For instance, if you are conducting an integrative review for a healthcare problem then you need to address variables such as healthcare interventions, target population, socio-economic status, and patient outcomes.
Literature Search
To conduct a thorough search for data collection, bibliographic databases must be sought to gain access to digital literature such as published reports, conferences, journals, newspaper articles and patent records. It is equally imperative to identify grey literature, also known as fugitive literature – that is, unpublished pieces of research studies. Additionally, it is necessary to ensure that the literature search is conducted ethically without any illegal means.
Data Evaluation
The third step of an integrative review is evaluating the studies that have been selected. The quality of the studies is examined to discard any low-quality or unreliable pieces of research that could potentially impact the findings of the reviewer. Since both qualitative and quantitative studies are included in an integrative review, hence multiple methodologies are used to evaluate them.
Data Analysis
To ensure consistency and accuracy of findings, the selected studies undergo a thorough analysis where specific concepts and themes are synthesised and evaluated for the purpose of the review. Multiple methodologies are used to analyse the studies, such as simple counts, tallying, coding and thematic analysis. In some cases, a properly defined theoretical framework or existing model is used to conduct the data analysis. Popular frameworks for integrative reviews are Whittemore and Knalf’s research methodology and Hill & Santacroce’s framework for integrative reviews.
Conclusion & Presentation Of Findings
The last step of an integrative review presents the findings of the review with conclusions. To ensure that the validity of your findings is not questioned, it is necessary to report the findings according to the reporting guidelines of the chosen journal. Moreover, the reliability of your results is strengthened by quality checks at every step of the review by individual experts and reviewers of the related field.
Integrative Literature Review Vs Systematic Review
Integrative literature review and systematic review are well-designed studies that use different methodological approaches to advance academic research. Both of these reviews are highly used in biomedical, healthcare and clinical studies. However, there are prominent distinctions between the two. Here are the key differences between an integrative literature review and a systematic review:
| Integrative Review | Systematic Review | The integrative review meaning is to synthesise and analyse the current state of knowledge to generate new knowledge, perspectives and frameworks on the specified topic. | A systematic review is an academic method that aims to evaluate all relevant studies and literature to answer a question pertaining to a particular topic and derive conclusions from it. |
|---|---|
| For a review to be integrative, it must employ both experimental, non-experimental and theoretical studies. | A systematic review only includes experimental studies like randomised-controlled trials or qualitative studies but never both at the same time. |
| It develops new theories and insights in a narrative and conceptual manner using flexible and less rigid approaches. | Systematic reviews evaluate information on pre-defined protocols such as meta-analysis for quantitative analysis and thematic analysis for qualitative analysis. |
| The integration of multiple studies with different methodologies leads to a lack of consistency and accurate findings. | It produces evidence-based conclusions that are accurate and consistent. |
| Subjective interpretations are common, which can lead to biased results. | Reviewer research bias is minimised due to standardised protocols that lead to objective interpretations. |
Challenges In Conducting An Integrative Review
Every academic review and research method has certain limitations and challenges that can lead to inconsistent and poorly conducted reviews. Here are the challenges that occur during the process of an integrative review:
Time Constraints
Conducting an integrative interview is a pretty time-consuming process. It demands extensive research within a short time frame. Additionally, it requires resources that can be difficult to allocate and access, as there can be funding complications as well. This is a major challenge for reviewers looking to conduct an integrative review.
Subjectivity & Bias
Since the process of an integrative review is flexible and not rigorous, the data extraction and data analysis can be influenced by the personal biases of the researcher and reviewer. This means that subjective interpretations lead to biased and inaccurate findings. To avoid this, researchers must use transparent and rigorous approaches during the process of an integrative literature review.
Complexity Of Topics
Due to the presence of multiple studies from numerous sources and of different sample sizes, methodologies and studies can impact the generation of new findings. All these elements contribute to discrepancies during the synthesis of information and the studies.
Limited Guidance & Access To Studies
There is limited guidance for researchers and reviewers on how to conduct a good integrative review. This results in variations in the studies and poorly formulated methodologies for data analysis. Apart from this, some studies are not accessible due to journal guidelines, language barriers or difficulty in locating some research papers, which is another challenge foreseen while conducting an integrative review.
Integrative Review Example
Let’s explore an integrative literature review sample that is an excellent example of how to conduct an integrative review.
| Stage | Example |
|---|---|
| Problem Identification | Families with children with autism spectrum disorder face challenges and complications related to their child’s health, social life and overall psychological and physical well-being. The purpose of this integrative review was to identify management and care challenges, competent health interventions, growth and development issues and family response to ASD in children. |
| Literature Search | Under the guidance of a research librarian, the reviewers identified electronic databases (PubMed, CINAHL) to search for related studies using keywords and themes like family, ASD, autism, growth and development. |
| Data Evaluation | The data’s quality was evaluated using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklist, as it incorporates both qualitative and quantitative studies with multiple research designs and methodologies and has clearly defined criteria. |
| Data Analysis | The review team extracted data from studies by identifying common recurring themes and patterns. Moreover, they classified each study based on study purpose, sample size and research design |
| Presentation of Findings | 40 studies were included in their review, out of which 5 areas of focus for research were identified which were health and development issues due to ASD, family life experiences, family coping strategies, access to specialised education programs and managing and mitigating psychosocial crises. Results were summarised and discussed based on the review. |
Frequently Asked Questions
The format of an integrative review presents the five important steps of the review process, which are identifying the problem and preparing the research question, sampling the literature, data evaluation, data analysis, discussing and presenting the findings to contribute to new knowledge.
Meta-analysis focuses on studying and analysing quantitative studies while using statistical approaches to combine multiple studies, whereas integrative review includes both quantitative and qualitative studies. Moreover, it focuses on theoretical and experimental frameworks to analyse and synthesise multiple studies.
An integrative review is an academic method that is widely used in clinical and healthcare fields. Here are three major benefits of conducting an integrative interview:
- Provides a comprehensive overview of a specific topic
- Addresses any research gaps and develops new theories
- Offers future directions for research in the field
