Table 4 Methodology papers of knowledge user engagement in knowledge synthesis

Cottrell 2014 [46]; USA

High-income, Applied research settings

24 articles, 34 Key informant interviews

Wide variety

• Additional time and resources

• Selection of stakeholders/achieve representativeness

• Reliability/consistency in participation

• Maintain confidentiality

• Manage and support stakeholdersOvercome tokenism

• Engage stakeholders early in the process to establish credibility

• Anticipate controversies in stakeholder opinions

• Ensure transparency and accountability

Guise 2013 [48]; USA

Low, middle and high income, Applied research settings

56 articles, 13 Key informant interviews

• One-on-one interviews

• Focus groups

• Citizen juries

• Town meetings

• Workshops/symposia/conferences

• Ranking and Delphi/Nominal group techniques

• Lack of time on the part of stakeholders (busy)

• Lack of release time and compensation for members of the public

• Researcher need for quick response (time frame too short for community to weigh in)

• Stakeholder needs not met in previous engagement

• Engage stakeholders early in the process

• Clearly detail expectations (e.g., timelines, tasks)

• Maintain ongoing relationships to building trust and credibility

• Provide opportunities for people to ask questions before meetings

• Provide pre-meeting information materials

• Pre-meeting “icebreakers,” especially when engaging stakeholders with differing experiences/perspectives

• Include someone with similar training as the stakeholder can be helpful

• Respect and welcome all stakeholder opinions

• Follow-up presentation of results is important to stakeholders

• Be clear about the stakeholder roles, do not expect community members to do academic duties

• Be sensitive to the time constraints of all stakeholders

Oliver 2016 [47]; UK

High-income, Various policy settings

18 Key informant interviews

• Knowledge broker to facilitate conversations

• Advisory panel and Expert panel for consultations

• Lack of knowledge and understanding between researchers and policy-makers

• Considerable time required to negotiate review questions with policy-makers

• Researchers lacking experience with stakeholder engagementIdentifying appropriate stakeholder to engage

• Managing timelines, resources and costs associated with engagement

• Engage stakeholders early in the process

• Manage stakeholder expectations

• Maintain appropriate communication and transparency

• Face-to-face meetings were more successful than telephone calls (not formally evaluated)