Developing and Piloting a QUick Evaluation of Research Integrity for Evidence Synthesis in Educational Research (QUERIES-Edu)

The threat to evidence synthesis is becoming more prominent with increasing worries that the unexpected amounts of retrieved studies, questionable data and inconsistent findings are beginning to pollute the publication system and potentially bias meta-analytic conclusions. This paper presents an integrity assessment checklist (QUick Evaluation of Research Integrity for Evidence Synthesis in Educational Research; QUERIES-Edu) and a pilot study plan that provides an overview of research integrity status in special education research and assesses the feasibility of the checklist. The checklist consists of questions that evaluate the research integrity of a scientific study, as well as its journal and publisher. An expert panel will provide feedback and suggestions for the items, after which the final version will be implemented. The checklist will be evaluated by a user panel that will conduct the assessment on studies included in a large scoping review of educational interventions for students with intellectual disability. Our aim is that the checklist will enable authors of systematic reviews to conduct quick checks of studies before they are included in thorough quality appraisal, which in turn will facilitate evidence synthesis and ensure the trustworthiness of included studies.