AimsThe aim of this study was to provide guidance to improve the completeness and clarity of meta-ethnography reporting.BackgroundEvidence-based policy and practice require robust evidence syntheses which can further understanding of people’s experiences and associated social processes. Meta-ethnography is a rigorous seven-phase qualitative evidence synthesis methodology, developed by Noblit and Hare. Meta-ethnography is used widely in health research, but reporting is often poor quality and this discourages trust in and use of its findings. Meta-ethnography reporting guidance is needed to improve reporting quality.DesignThe eMERGe study used a rigorous mixed-methods design and evidence-based methods to develop the novel reporting guidance and explanatory notes.MethodsThe study, conducted from 2015 to 2017, comprised of: (1) a methodological systematic review of guidance for meta-ethnography conduct and reporting; (2) a review and audit of published meta-ethnographies to identify good practice principles; (3) international, multidisciplinary consensus-building processes to agree guidance content; (4) innovative development of the guidance and explanatory notes.FindingsRecommendations and good practice for all seven phases of meta-ethnography conduct and reporting were newly identified leading to 19 reporting criteria and accompanying detailed guidance.ConclusionThe bespoke eMERGe Reporting Guidance, which incorporates new methodological developments and advances the methodology, can help researchers to report the important aspects of meta-ethnography. Use of the guidance should raise reporting quality. Better reporting could make assessments of confidence in the findings more robust and increase use of meta-ethnography outputs to improve practice, policy, and service user outcomes in health and other fields. This is the first tailored reporting guideline for meta-ethnography. This article is being simultaneously published in the following journals: Journal of Advanced Nursing, Psycho-oncology, Review of Education, and BMC Medical Research Methodology.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12874-018-0600-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

As nurse researchers endeavour to understand experiences in light of their health and life situations, focused ethnography enables them to understand the interrelationship between people and their environments in the society in which they live.

Focused ethnographies can have meaningful and useful application in primary care, community, or hospital healthcare practice, and are often used to determine ways to improve care and care processes. They can be pragmatic and efficient ways to capture data on a specific topic of importance to individual clinicians or clinical specialties. While many examples of focused ethnographies are available in the literature, there is a limited availability of guidance documents for conducting this research. This paper defines focused ethnographies, locates them within the ethnographic genre, justifies their use in healthcare research, and outlines the methodological processes including those related to sampling, data collection and maintaining rigour. It also identifies and provides a summary of some recent focused ethnographies conducted in healthcare research. While the emphasis is placed on healthcare research, focused ethnographies can be applicable to any discipline whenever there is a desire to explore specific cultural perspectives held by sub - groups of people within a context - specific and problem - focused framework.

Aims The aim of this study was to provide guidance to improve the completeness and clarity of meta‐ethnography reporting. Background Evidence‐based policy and practice require robust evidence syntheses which can further understanding of people's experiences and associated social processes. Meta‐ethnography is a rigorous seven‐phase qualitative evidence synthesis methodology, developed by Noblit and Hare. Meta‐ethnography is used widely in health research, but reporting is often poor quality and this discourages trust in and use of its findings. Meta‐ethnography reporting guidance is needed to improve reporting quality. Design The eMERGe study used a rigorous mixed‐methods design and evidence‐based methods to develop the novel reporting guidance and explanatory notes. Methods The study, conducted from 2015 to 2017, comprised of: (1) a methodological systematic review of guidance for meta‐ethnography conduct and reporting; (2) a review and audit of published meta‐ethnographies to identify good practice principles; (3) international, multidisciplinary consensus‐building processes to agree guidance content; (4) innovative development of the guidance and explanatory notes. Findings Recommendations and good practice for all seven phases of meta‐ethnography conduct and reporting were newly identified leading to 19 reporting criteria and accompanying detailed guidance. Conclusion The bespoke eMERGe Reporting Guidance, which incorporates new methodological developments and advances the methodology, can help researchers to report the important aspects of meta‐ethnography. Use of the guidance should raise reporting quality. Better reporting could make assessments of confidence in the findings more robust and increase use of meta‐ethnography outputs to improve practice, policy, and service user outcomes in health and other fields. This is the first tailored reporting guideline for meta‐ethnography. This article is being simultaneously published in the following journals: Journal of Advanced Nursing, Psycho‐oncology, Review of Education, and BMC Medical Research Methodology.

While qualitative methodologies have increased in popularity over the past few decades, they have been criticised because of a lack of transparency in procedures and processes. While much of this criticism has been levied at analytical steps, many published qualitative studies give little information about the characteristics of the study sample or the type of sample employed or techniques used. In this paper, Gina Higginbottom aims to provide an overview of the complexity of sampling in qualitative research, and to provoke reflection and consideration of qualitative methodologies. It is hoped that this will encourage nurse researchers to seek out the primary texts and gain greater insight into the various philosophical underpinnings and sampling techniques in qualitative research.