Background
The type of information carriers we prefer to use to present and disseminate research findings are starting to shift from numerical and textual modes on printed pages toward more expressive forms like audiovisual productions, expositions, games, and plays. Material representations of scientific knowledge and artistically inspired modes of expression provide inspiration for public outreach efforts of review authors. They also challenge our current understanding of how multimodal types of evidence can be included in systematic reviews.
Objective
We aimed to reconsider more conventional epistemological underpinnings of systematic review conduct—based on the sensory nature of artistically inspired research—for the purpose of creating more comprehensive, emphatic, and inclusive systematic review projects.
Methods
We propose a meta-aesthetic approach to synthesis that helps us to improve quality of expression, through the adoption of a creative, multimodal approach in the various phases of systematic review projects.
Results
The examples we feature showcase an application of artistically inspired methods in the conceptual, analytical, and dissemination phases of review projects. More specifically, we provide examples on how to
(a) conceptualize review questions through art,
(b) extend review findings with art,
(c) replace a findings section with art, and
(d) translate review findings into art.
Conclusion
The 5 strengths we identified as a team in our meta-aesthetic approaches to synthesis include the adoption of a playful attitude toward approaching review projects, the ability to trust your own preferred review author skill set, the collaborative process of sensitively exploring the possibilities of creative practice and different ways of knowing, the welcoming of artists into the systematic review community to improve public outreach efforts, and the capacity of artistically inspired review projects to contribute to a more compassionate healthcare and social welfare system.