As healthcare policy turns toward the use of evidence-based medicine, there is a heightened need for resources that cover the process of research synthesis for the purpose of healthcare outcome improvement. The authors integrate the conceptual and procedural dimensions of research synthesis to produce step-by-step instructions for clinically applicable research syntheses.

"Comprehensive, thoughtful, and well-organized . . . an excellent guide to searching, evaluating, organizing, and reporting the results of information syntheses." --CANADIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH As healthcare policy and practice turn toward the use of evidence-based medicine, there is a heightened need for resources that cover the process of research synthesis for the purpose of healthcare outcome improvement. Healthcare Informatics and Information Synthesis integrates the conceptual and procedural dimensions of research synthesis in each of the five stages of the process to produce step-by-step instructions for clinically applicable research syntheses. Explicit instructions are given for tasks ranging from computing a kappa to aggregating effect sizes. The authors provide seven detailed meta-analytic examples that cover a variety of data types, ranging from mean differences to odds ratios, allowing the reader to replicate the results exactly.