We wish to warmly thank the members of our Project Advisory Group for their feedback, comments and time: Geoff Allan, Marjory Barton, Ian Gallagher, Lorna Neill, Veronica Saunders, Gordon Snedden and Anne Ward (lay members); and Andrew Booth, Nicky Britten, Rona Campbell, Margaret Cargo, Kate Flemming, Ruth Garside, Claire Glenton, Karin Hannes, Angela Harden, Gina Higginbottom, Christine Johnstone, Simon Lewin, George W Noblit, Sandy Oliver, Cathy Pope, Karen Ritchie, James Thomas, Meredith Vanstone and Geoff Wong (academics, other experts and professional end-users).
We would also like to thank Dr Sheena Blair, independent chairperson of the Project Advisory Group; Dr Kevin Swingler, Lecturer of Computing Science (eDelphi programmer); Steve Boulton, for technical support during online conferencing sessions; Lonnie Wright, for producing the training films; Gia Branciforte, for producing the George Noblit training film; Fiona Dawson, for developing the project website; and Sam Bain, for filming the Project Advisory Group meeting.
The systematic reviews were undertaken with the support of DECIPHer (Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement), a UK Clinical Research Collaboration Public Health Research: Centre of Excellence, we gratefully acknowledge this support.
Finally, we would like to thank the participants in the eDelphi studies.
Contributions of authors
All authors collaborated in the design, data gathering, critical analysis and interpretation throughout their involvement in the study.
Maggie Cunningham (Senior Research Fellow, Health Services Research) led stage 4, led manuscript writing and editing, and approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Emma F France (Senior Lecturer, Qualitative Research) was principal investigator of the project (1 June 2015 to 5 August 2016), a grant applicant, led stages 1, 2 and 3.1, contributed to manuscript writing and approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Nicola Ring (Associate Professor, Child Health Nursing) was a grant applicant, led stage 2.2 of the study, led development of the training materials (stage 4), contributed to manuscript writing and approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Isabelle Uny (Research Fellow, Qualitative Health Research) managed stage 1, contributed to manuscript writing and approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Edward AS Duncan (Associate Professor, Applied Health Research) was principal investigator of the project (5 August 2016 to 14 June 2017), a grant applicant, led stage 3.2, contributed to manuscript writing and approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Rachel J Roberts (Research Fellow, Qualitative Research) managed stage 2.1, contributed to manuscript writing and approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Ruth G Jepson (Reader, Systematic Review and Evaluation Research) was a grant applicant and approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Margaret Maxwell (Professor, Health Services and Mental Health Research) was a grant applicant and approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Ruth L Turley (Research Fellow, Systematic Review Research) was a grant applicant and approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Jane Noyes (Professor, Health and Social Services Research) was a grant applicant, contributed to manuscript writing and approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Publications
France EF, Ring N, Noyes J, Maxwell M, Jepson R, Duncan E, et al. Protocol-developing meta-ethnography reporting guidelines (eMERGe). BMC Med Res Methodol 2015;15:103.
Uny I, France EF, Noblit GW. Steady and delayed: explaining the different development of meta-ethnography in health care and education. Ethnogr Educ 2017;12:243–57.
France EF, Cunningham M, Ring N, Uny I, Duncan EAS, Jepson RG, et al. Improving reporting of meta-ethnography: the eMERGe reporting guidance [published online ahead of print January 15 2019]. J Adv Nurs 2019.
France EF, Cunningham M, Ring N, Uny I, Duncan EAS, Jepson RG, et al. Improving reporting of meta-ethnography: the eMERGe reporting guidance [published online ahead of print January 15 2019]. Psycho-oncology 2019.
France EF, Cunningham M, Ring N, Uny I, Duncan EAS, Jepson RG, et al. Improving reporting of meta-ethnography: the eMERGe reporting guidance [published online ahead of print January 15 2019]. Review of Education 2019.
France EF, Cunningham M, Ring N, Uny I, Duncan EAS, Jepson RG, et al. Improving reporting of meta-ethnography: the eMERGe reporting guidance. BMC Med Res Methodol 2019;19:25.
France EF, Uny I, Ring N, Turley RL, Maxwell M, Duncan EAS, et al. A methodological systematic review of meta-ethnography conduct to articulate the complex analytical phases. BMC Med Res Methodol 2019; in press.
Data-sharing statement
There are no data available for further access or sharing owing to the nature of the study. All available data are contained within the report. All queries should be submitted to the corresponding author: ku.ca.rits@ecnarf.amme.
Disclaimers
This report presents independent research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The views and opinions expressed by authors in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the NHS, the NIHR, NETSCC, the HS&DR programme or the Department of Health and Social Care. If there are verbatim quotations included in this publication the views and opinions expressed by the interviewees are those of the interviewees and do not necessarily reflect those of the authors, those of the NHS, the NIHR, NETSCC, the HS&DR programme or the Department of Health and Social Care.
