research synthesis
Dr keloki reborn
TheSynthesisMatrixMiniVideo.pptxThe Synthesis Matrix: A Grid of Common Points to Synthesize Research
California State University, Dominguez Hills
Welcome to the PEGS mini video tutorial for creating a synthesis matrix. We hope this video will provide you with a brief and comprehensible explanation of the purpose, use, and creation of a synthesis matrix.
Narration: “A common strategy for synthesizing sources is to create a synthesis matrix or a ‘grid of common points.’”
Animation: [While the narrator reads this, the next slide begins to visually supplant this slide]
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Purpose of the Synthesis Matrix
Academic assignments like literature reviews, theses, and dissertations require a thorough synthesis of the relevant literature of a topic.
This means that one must locate the different research sources regarding a topic, compare the research, and identify where there may be similarities, gaps, or inconsistencies of themes.
A synthesis matrix is a useful tool for synthesizing sources to compare studies.
It is also commonly used to find areas of research that require additional study.
You may be wondering about the purpose of a synthesis matrix.
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Use of the Synthesis Matrix
The synthesis matrix can be used to compare and contrast components of a research study (i.e., methodology, research participants, results, etc.)
Or it can be used to compare and contrast themes across studies.
Oftentimes, it useful to create two separate synthesis matrices during the research process: one for comparing components of studies, and one for comparing themes.
Narration: See slide
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Creating a Synthesis Matrix
Author #1
Author #2
Author #3
Author #4
Author #5
Author #6
Theme A
Theme B
Theme C
Theme D
Narration: “A ‘grid of common points’ is simply an array of columns and rows [rows pop up individually with animation] … in the form of a chart that allows us to group our source material into specific categories, and these categories can help us organize our sources.”
Narration: “We can start, for example, by listing all of our sources, making each source the header for a corresponding row [here, the list of generic authors is visually populated, one-at-a-time]; … Next, we can make each particular theme the header for a corresponding column [here, the list of generic themes is similarly populated]”
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Research question: What roles does capital punishment play in American society? Possible answers: Capital punishment plays the role of deterrence, revenge, oppression, and political leverage.
Stenhouse, B.
(1969)
Patterson, J.
(2010)
Zaman, H.
(2010)
Fryckenberg, A.
(2013)
Lystne, N.
(2013)
Ochoa, O.
(2013)
Deterrence
Revenge
Oppression
Political Leverage
“Capital punishment strongly deters crime” p. 16
“The death penalty does not discriminate” p. 2
“All too many politicians will agree to kill another man in order to remain in power” p. 44
“Using capital punishment only sanctions revenge” p. 8
“Many offenders are not even aware of the capital punishment laws in their states” p. 45
“Research indicates that capital punishment is not a statistically significant deterrent of crime” p. 12
“Capital punishment only serves to provide a model for murder” p. 56
“New research shows that grieving families would prefer that offenders suffer in jail” p. 56
“The death penalty does not add any significant deterrent effect above that of long-term imprisonment” p. 1
“It is illogical to kill others to prove killing is wrong” p. 30
“The death penalty is used against the poor, oppressed, mentally ill, juveniles, foreign nationals, and mentally retarded.” p. 5
“States without the death penalty have consistently lower murder rates” p. 4
“Children as young as 16 can be put to death. Some lawmakers are working to bring the age down to just 11 years old” p. 44
“Capital punishment is not justice: it is revenge” p. 17
“Politicians are unconcerned with the lives lost so long as their job is not” p. 55
“Capital punishment is just one more method of oppression in disguise” p. 23
“Local politicians support capital punishment” p. 7
“Death penalty critics question whether racial discrimination exists since 80 percent of those who are put to death had white victims” p. 1
Narration: “At this point, of course, we will need to have already: A) listed all our sources [here, the names of the sources are visually populated, one-at-a-time] B) identified common themes among and between them [here, each theme is visually populated, one-at-a-time] & C) generated a research question, however tentative [here, the research question appears at the top, front & center below the title: Grid of Common Points]”
“As can be seen, our research question has a number of different possible answers, depending upon the source or sources, but we have organized our synthesis thematically; now, all we need to do is fill in each cell by cross-referencing each source with each particular theme. In the blank cells, we write down what each author said about each theme. Some cells, of course, may be blank, but the more complete we can make our matrix, the more well developed our final paper will be.”
Those blank cells may provide possible areas of future research.
[here, several cells will be populated with info (including page number[s]), one-cell-at-a-time until much of the grid is complete]
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