השוואת שיטות

	ניתוח מסמכים	שיטות לסינתזה של עדויות איכותניות
תחום	מחקר איכותני	מחקר איכותני
משפחה	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
שנת המקור	1920	1988
הוגה השיטה	Max Weber and Karl Mannheim	George Noblit and Dwight Hare
סוג	Method	Method
מקור מכונן	Scott, J. (1990). A Matter of Record: Documentary Sources in Social Research. Polity Press. ISBN: 978-0745608419	Noblit, G. W., & Hare, R. D. (1988). Meta-ethnography: Synthesizing Qualitative Studies. SAGE Publications. ISBN: 978-0803931725
כינויים	documentary analysis, textual analysis, content analysis of documents, archival research	qualitative meta-synthesis, meta-ethnography, thematic synthesis, systematic review of qualitative studies
קשורות	4	4
תקציר	Document analysis is a systematic qualitative research method for examining written, visual, or audiovisual sources—such as policy documents, historical records, organizational records, media reports, emails, social media posts, photographs, or videos—to extract meaning, identify patterns, and understand social phenomena. Developed by Weber and Mannheim in early 20th-century sociology, the method bridges historical research, content analysis, and textual interpretation. Document analysis is used across disciplines to understand organizational change, policy evolution, media representation, historical events, and cultural meaning. Documents provide evidence of what organizations, institutions, or societies value, decide, and communicate, often revealing contradictions between policy and practice.	Qualitative evidence synthesis (QES) is a systematic method for combining and interpreting findings from multiple qualitative research studies to generate higher-level understanding and theory. Different approaches—meta-ethnography, thematic synthesis, meta-narrative review, critical interpretive synthesis—each have distinct philosophical underpinnings and analytical procedures. Introduced by Noblit and Hare (1988) with meta-ethnography, qualitative synthesis has evolved alongside systematic reviews of quantitative research. Unlike quantitative meta-analysis, which pools numerical effect sizes, qualitative synthesis integrates concepts, themes, and interpretations from primary studies, identifying patterns, conflicts, and emergent theory. QES is increasingly used in health research, social sciences, and education to understand complex phenomena, translate research into practice, and identify gaps in evidence.