Synthesists should be rigorously transparent in design, write-up and provision of supplementary materials so others can check, replicate or modify syntheses¶

Design Method · All design methods
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

A design recommendation for research synthesis methodology: because bias is inherent in primary research and many synthesist choices are glossed over, the article urges that "Synthesists need to be rigorously transparent in designing their studies, writing up their results, and providing supplementary materials". Transparency allows others to check, replicate or modify syntheses as more research becomes available, and complements rather than replaces narrative syntheses, which the article calls "inevitably idiosyncratic".

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

A priori inclusion criteria and documented choices at all synthesis stages (field definition, study collection, data extraction, effect-size calculation)
Inter-rater reliability checks and funnel plots for publication bias where possible

Constraints¶

Quantitative studies do not capture the whole picture; narrative syntheses are needed alongside meta-analysis

Target Learners¶

researchers and synthesists in CALL and applied linguistics

Target Learning Objectives¶

rigorous, replicable research synthesis of learning-intervention effects

Claims¶

Examples¶

Follow transparent, replicable meta-analysis practices tailored to PBL: multiple databases, gray literature, full heterogeneity reporting, funnel plots with Egger's test, and RVE for dependent outcomes

Key Sources¶

Boulton, A. (2016). Quantifying CALL: significance, effect size and variation. In S. Papadima-Sophocleous, L. Bradley & S. Thouësny (Eds), CALL communities and culture – short papers from EUROCALL 2016 (pp. 55-60). Research-publishing.net. https://doi.org/10.14705/rpnet.2016.eurocall2016.538

Page metadata

Field	Value
`type`	`method`
`id`	`transparent-rigorous-research-synthesis-practice`
`title`	`Synthesists should be rigorously transparent in design, write-up and provision of supplementary materials so others can check, replicate or modify syntheses`
`description`	`A design recommendation for research synthesis methodology: because bias is inherent in primary research and many synthesist choices are glossed over, the article urges that "Synthesists need to be rigorously transpar...`
`status`	`review`
`generated`	by `process:wiki-ingest` on `2026-09-27`
`trust`	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
`sources`	1 — `boulton-2016`

Frontmatter is the page's machine-readable record — see the Schema & Guide.