Research synthesis

Abstract Synthesis of research evidence drives an academic field forward through reviewing existing research, suggesting future research directions, and appraising methodological rigour of published research. Research synthesis refers to the use of a structured and principled approach to identifying and re-analysing/interpreting published evidence. In this chapter, I introduce research synthesis and its relationship with online/internet-based methodology in applied linguistics. I provide a list of research questions that can be answered by different types of research synthesis. Focusing on implementation, I introduce the Synthesis Methods and Reporting Tool (SMART) that outlines the key stages of conducting a research synthesis. I illustrate these methodological stages through five published research syntheses in applied linguistics. This is followed by a discussion of relevant ethical and methodological issues, as well as how future research syntheses can contribute to applied linguistics research as a whole.