Integrative Review Capstone Toolkit

The purpose of the topic formulation phase is to:

• define the review’s objective and concepts of interest
• articulate what question(s) the review will seek to answer
• situate the review in broader disciplinary conversations

Guidance

For published guidance about this phase, also see:

• Toronto & Remington, Chapter 2
  • Melillo, K. D. (2020). Formulating review question. In C. E. Toronto & R. Remington (Eds.), A Step-by-Step Guide to Conducting an Integrative Review (pp. 11–20). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37504-1_2 
• Whittemore & Knafl, "Problem identification stage" (p. 548)
  • Whittemore, R., & Knafl, K. (2005). The integrative review: updated methodology. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 52(5), 546-553.

Core Activities

As you move through this phase, you will be:

• brainstorming and reflecting on personal and professional interests
• scoping for existing literature
  • saving useful sources (both as background, and for potential inclusion as a study that you include in your synthesis)
• reading (a lot), taking notes, mind mapping and asking questions
• defining concepts and variables
• developing expertise in particular area of literature 
• drafting and refining potential review questions

Goals & Outcomes

When this phase is complete, you should have:

• A strong background in your topic overall, and justification for why this review is important
• A review question with variables that are clearly defined
• Conceptual and operational definitions for variables of interest
• A clearly defined eligibility (inclusion/exclusion) criteria that will help you search for and select literature to address this question
• A handful of sentinel articles (a few articles that fit your eligibility criteria and exemplify the type of literature you want to find with your comprehensive search)

Foundational Skills & Knowledge Required

To formulate a review question effectively, you will need to understand:

• the core topics, definitions, trends, concepts, and controversies that relate to your area of interest
• the landscape of the scholarly literature on your topic (who writes on this topic, what kind of research is typically done, what are the important journals in the field?)

Planning Questions to Consider

• What topic would you be excited to immerse yourself in for the next ~6 months?
• What questioning framework makes sense for the topic you’re interested in pursuing?
• With a review question in mind - what are the characteristics of the literature that could address that question?
  • These characteristics will form the basis for your review’s eligibility criteria: a description of the elements need to be present in papers for them to be eligible to be included in your synthesis

When you write up your review paper, the following information from this phase will be important to include:

• a clearly defined review purpose/question
• the position and justification of the review topic in the current literature
• a detailed eligibility (inclusion/exclusion) criteria