We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Scoping reviews in health professions education: challenges, considerations and lessons learned about epistemology and methodology.
- Authors
Thomas, Aliki; Lubarsky, Stuart; Varpio, Lara; Durning, Steven J.; Young, Meredith E.
- Abstract
Scoping reviews are increasingly used in health professions education to synthesize research and scholarship, and to report on the depth and breadth of the literature on a given topic. In this Perspective, we argue that the philosophical stance scholars adopt during the execution of a scoping review, including the meaning they attribute to fundamental concepts such as knowledge and evidence, influences how they gather, analyze, and interpret information obtained from a heterogeneous body of literature. We highlight the principles informing scoping reviews and outline how epistemology-the aspect of philosophy that "deals with questions involving the nature of knowledge, the justification of beliefs, and rationality"-should guide methodological considerations, toward the aim of ensuring the production of a high-quality review with defensible and appropriate conclusions. To contextualize our claims, we illustrate some of the methodological challenges we have personally encountered while executing a scoping review on clinical reasoning and reflect on how these challenges could have been reconciled through a broader understanding of the methodology's philosophical foundation. We conclude with a description of lessons we have learned that might usefully inform other scholars who are considering undertaking a scoping review in their own domains of inquiry.
- Subjects
MEDICAL personnel; METHODOLOGY; THEORY of knowledge; MEDICAL education; SCHOLARLY method; RESEARCH; RESEARCH methodology; MEDICAL cooperation; EVALUATION research; COMPARATIVE studies; INTELLECT
- Publication
Advances in Health Sciences Education, 2020, Vol 25, Issue 4, p989
- ISSN
1382-4996
- Publication type
journal article
- DOI
10.1007/s10459-019-09932-2