“Meta-Jeopardy”: The crisis of representation in qualitative metasynthesis

The surge of interest in qualitative metasynthesis coincides with qualitative researchers’ growing concern over the “crisis of representation.” Central to this crisis is the challenge to the assumption that any human subjects inquiry can ever authentically represent those subjects. The crisis of representation is intensified in qualitative metasynthesis projects because of the potentially large differences that can exist between lived and narrated lives, and between participants’ accounts and researchers’ accounts of those accounts, and because of the virtual lack of difference thought to characterize the relationship between reality and representation. This crisis can be offset by offering critical/discursive readings of research reports in addition to traditional empirical/analytical readings. Reviewers can thereby preserve both truth and representational humility as regulative ideals. Clinicians can thereby better appraise the utilization value of qualitative metasyntheses.