Realist Review: I’ve found the swamp, now what?
Rebecca Hunter – Tuesday 8th February 1.30pm

This session will focus on a recent paper which introduces how to do a realist review.  Realist research is incredibly rewarding but can be a little off-putting because of the lack of methodological guidance.  Going ‘off-road’ without a map may be especially daunting for someone at the beginning of their research journey.  This paper does not claim to provide a definitive guide on how to do a realist review but- to flog the metaphor further- it may offer a compass and torch. 

 Published paper: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1750984X.2021.1969674

Rebecca Hunter is a PhD student at the University of Highlands and Islands, and a Pain Specialist Physiotherapist at NHS Highland.  She is passionate about helping people who are living with persistent pain and the potential that digital technology has for providing equitable access to healthcare in remote and rural locations. Rebecca is undertaking realist research into digital self-management programmes for chronic low back pain.

References and Resources

Concept mining

Shearn, K., Allmark, P., Piercy, H., & Hirst, J. (2017). Building realist program theory for large complex and messy interventions. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 16(1), 1609406917741796.

Rycroft-Malone, J., McCormack, B., Hutchinson, A. M., DeCorby, K., Bucknall, T. K., Kent, B., ... & Wilson, V. (2012). Realist synthesis: illustrating the method for implementation research. Implementation Science, 7(1), 1-10.

Coding

Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook. sage.

Coding, Configuring and Conveying in Realist Analysis Module A October 29th, 2020 Delivered by: Justin Jagosh, Ph.D Centre for Advancement in Realist Evaluation and Synthesis (CARES)

Realist interviews

Pawson, R. (1996). Theorizing the interview. British Journal of Sociology, 295-314.

Mukumbang, F. C., Marchal, B., Van Belle, S., & van Wyk, B. (2020). Using the realist interview approach to maintain theoretical awareness in realist studies. Qualitative Research, 20(4), 485-515.

Manzano, A. (2016). The craft of interviewing in realist evaluation. Evaluation, 22(3), 342-360.

Realist literature search

Booth, A., Harris, J., Croot, E., Springett, J., Campbell, F., & Wilkins, E. (2013). Towards a methodology for cluster searching to provide conceptual and contextual “richness” for systematic reviews of complex interventions: case study (CLUSTER). BMC medical research methodology, 13(1), 1-14.

The “realist search”: A systematic scoping review of current practice and reporting Andrew Booth  Simon Briscoe  Judy M. Wright First published: 12 November 2019 https://doi.org/10.1002/jrsm.

Nottingham Realism Group. Realist (and Realistic!) Searching - Where do I start and how far do I go? Dr Andrew Booth, Oct. 12th 2020 https://mediaspace.nottingham.ac.uk/media/Nottingham+Realism+Group_+Realist+(and+Realistic!)+Searchi...

Wong, G. (2018). Data gathering in realist reviews: looking for needles in haystacks. Doing realist research. London: SAGE, 131-45.

Theoretical saturation

Booth A, Carroll C, Ilott I, Low LL, Cooper K. Desperately seeking dissonance: identifying the disconfirming case in qualitative evidence synthesis. Qualitative health research. 2013 Jan;23(1):126-41.

Malterud, K., Siersma, V. D., & Guassora, A. D. (2016). Sample size in qualitative interview studies: guided by information power. Qualitative health research, 26(13), 1753-1760.

Varpio, L., Ajjawi, R., Monrouxe, L. V., O'Brien, B. C., & Rees, C. E. (2017). Shedding the cobra effect: problematising thematic emergence, triangulation, saturation and member checking. Medical education, 51(1), 40-50.

 Theory

 Davidoff, F., Dixon-Woods, M., Leviton, L., & Michie, S. (2015). Demystifying theory and its use in improvement. BMJ quality & safety, 24(3), 228-238.

Westhorp, G. (2012). Using complexity-consistent theory for evaluating complex systems. Evaluation, 18(4), 405-420

 Twitter

Ahmed, W., Bath, P. A., & Demartini, G. (2017). Using Twitter as a data source: An overview of ethical, legal, and methodological challenges. The ethics of online research.

McKee, R. (2013). Ethical issues in using social media for health and health care research. Health policy, 110(2-3), 298-301.

Golder, S., Ahmed, S., Norman, G., & Booth, A. (2017). Attitudes toward the ethics of research using social media: a systematic review. Journal of medical internet research, 19(6), e7082.

How to create a Twitter Moment : https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/how-to-create-a-twitter-moment

 Software

Citation Gecko: https://www.citationgecko.com/

Connected Papers: https://www.connectedpapers.com/

Factiva: https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/file/bc2dc71d-013f-4edc-860a-4bf4f995565b/1/Factiva.pdf

Publish or Perish: https://harzing.com/resources/publish-or-perish

Roam Research: https://roamresearch.com/

Research Rabbit: https://www.researchrabbit.ai/

Xmind: https://www.xmind.net/

Links to recordings of previous events

 ‘Realist (and Realistic!) Searching - Where do I start and how far do I go?’ presented by Dr Andrew Booth, 12th October 2020

·       https://mediaspace.nottingham.ac.uk/media/t/1_jwja39kt

 ‘Practical advice on conducting a Realism Synthesis_ Lessons learnt from  the MEMORABLE study’ presented by Dr Ian Maidment, 20th January 2021

·       https://mediaspace.nottingham.ac.uk/media/t/1_e49o5vkm

 ‘How do you keep community groups and activities for people affected by dementia going_ The SCI Dem realist review.’ presented by Thomas Morton, 25th March 2021

·       https://mediaspace.nottingham.ac.uk/media/t/1_vc1ys4dm

 ‘The development of a middle range theory as part of a realist(ic) evaluation’ presented by Dr Kate Jack, 20th April 2021

·       https://mediaspace.nottingham.ac.uk/media/t/1_x4dem3u9

‘Funding for realist research projects’ presented by Dr Brian Crosbie, Dr Nicola Clibbens and Professor Jo Rycroft-Malone, 6th May 2021

·       https://mediaspace.nottingham.ac.uk/id/1_oplt3ls8?width=400&height=285&playerId=13724441

‘The Realist PhD Viva’, panel event with Dr Andrew Booth, Dr Vicky Booth, Dr Rob Goodwin and Dr Kate Jacks, 7th July 2021

·        https://mediaspace.nottingham.ac.uk/media/Nottingham+Realism+Group+-+The+Realist+PhD+Viva/1_p2fw9nq0

 ‘Journey through a realist synthesis: travel companions, the path, diversions and destinations’, Dr Karen Luetsch, 8th September 2021

·       https://mediaspace.nottingham.ac.uk/media/Notts+Realism+Group+-+Journey+Through+a+Realist+Synthesis/1_go8csxjn

 ‘A journey through data analysis – from extraction to theories of middle range’

 Dr Brynne Gilmore – Thursday 9th December 1.30pm

·  https://mediaspace.nottingham.ac.uk/media/Notts+Realism+Group_+A+journey+through+data+analysis+%E2%80%93+from+extraction+to+theories+of+middle+range+-+Dr+Brynne+Gilmore/1_yfhheyds

‘Opening the black-box of retroductive theorizing’ Dr Ferdinand Mukumbang – Thursday 20th January 2022, 1.30pm

·  https://mediaspace.nottingham.ac.uk/media/t/1_pdg9j7kf#:~:text=https%3A//mediaspace.nottingham.ac.uk/media/Nottingham%2BRealism%2BGroup_Opening%2Bthe%2Bblack%2Dbox%2Bof%2Bretroductive%2Btheorizing_Dr%2BFerdinand%2BMukumbang/1_pdg9j7kf