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Synthesis |
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A key feature of the CPWF is to add value to project results by synthesising these and other relevant research results so as to develop a comprehensive and credible knowledge base on increasing water productivity in ways that effectively and efficiently contribute to poverty alleviation and to enhancing food, health and environmental security. This knowledge expands and changes with time, and CPWF’s synthesis reporting aims to keep up with these changes.
View Most Significant Change Synthesis [2008] (756Kb)
What is Synthesis research?
The Challenge Program on Water and Food defines Synthesis as the process of:
- Producing new insights by combining findings from different research outputs
- Combining different pieces of information into an integrated information on various aspects of the issue
Synthesis research is that research which appraises existing information and knowledge in order to generate new insights and/or develop integrated knowledge on an issue.
Why is Synthesis research needed?
CPWF deals with complex, diverse and dynamic systems for which there are a growing number of stakeholders generating information. Synthesis research is needed to collate, unify, organize, extract and distill the ideas, information and knowledge and allow information users to gain insights and deduce principles, concepts and cause and effect relationships.
CPWF synthesis research aims to:
- Identify emerging issues (problems and opportunities) in agricultural water productivity and their implications
- Draw attention to how CPWF addresses these issues and the progress it has made in terms of Outputs (insights, tools and methods), Outcomes (changes in the behaviour, relationships, activities, or actions of people) and Impacts (improvements in human welfare, environment, increases in knowledge base etc).
- Illustrate what has been learned that can be applied in the Benchmark Basins and elsewhere (what works and under what conditions).
How is it carried out?
Synthesis research involves drawing recommendations for action supported by points or arguments from a variety of credible sources. This calls for a systematic review based on clearly formulated questions and using systematic and explicit methods to identify, select and critically appraise relevant information. It therefore implies:
- Clearly stating the objectives of the research.
- Identifying studies that address issues from different perspectives and assembling the most complete literature set feasible.
- Analyzing this literature set to gain insights and deduce principles, concepts and cause-and-effect relationships.
- Assessing the limitations of the information generated from the synthesis and its recommendation domains; and
- Highlighting implications for policy, practice and research
The resulting Synthesis document should provide a critical assessment of the present state of theory and practice concerning some issue, identify future knowledge needs, and discuss the implications for key stakeholders.