Integrative Reviews go beyond traditional boundaries of
systematic reviewing by welcoming experts as valid sources of evidence and as providers of continuous data collection and synthesis
• Development of a robust Integrative Review (IR) protocol is crucial for preserving confidence in the process and quality assurance
• IRs are characterised by an underpinning positivist ontology, acknowledging that certain sources of evidence can be treated as real; yet IR furthers that position by acknowledging that such reality is socially constructed, thus allowing a more fluid epistemology to emerge, more aligned to a post-positivist perspective. This aligns IR processes with a Critical Realism traditio
