The European journal of general practice
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This article, the seventh in a series aiming to provide practical guidance for qualitative research in primary care, introduces qualitative synthesis research for addressing health themes in primary care research. Qualitative synthesis combines rigorous processes and authorial judgement to present the collective meaning of research outputs; the findings of qualitative studies - and sometimes mixed-methods and quantitative research - are pooled. We describe three exemplary designs: the scoping review, the meta-ethnography and the rapid realist review. ⋯ It addresses the question, 'what works, for whom, in what circumstances, and how?'We discuss these three designs' context, what, why, when and how. We provide examples of published studies and sources for further reading, including manuals and guidelines for conducting and reporting these studies. Finally, we discuss attention points for the research team concerning the involvement of necessary experts and stakeholders and choices to be made during the research process.