ppsych-literature-synthesis

Research

Use when systematically gathering and synthesizing literature across psychology sub-areas for a Perspectives on Psychological Science (PoPS) integrative review, theoretical statement, or meta-science piece — coverage discipline, and for meta-science the systematic evidence about the field's practices. Builds the evidence corpus; it does not impose the analytical spine (ppsych-organizing-framework) or audit balance (ppsych-comprehensiveness-and-balance).

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Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/brycewang-stanford/Awesome-Journal-Skills/blob/HEAD/Perspectives-on-Psychological-Science-Skills/skills/ppsych-literature-synthesis/SKILL.md

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Literature Synthesis (ppsych-literature-synthesis)

When to trigger

The topic/proposal is set and it is time to read across the relevant sub-areas thoroughly
Reading feels unsystematic; you fear missing work a psychologist from an adjacent area would expect
You have many papers but no way to weigh, compare, or reconcile their findings across paradigms
For meta-science: you need systematic evidence about the field's practices, not just substantive findings

Coverage discipline: read across areas, not one literature

A PoPS piece's credibility rests on the reader's belief that you read across the relevant sub-areas, not only your home paradigm — and PoPS reviewers are often drawn from the very areas being integrated, so siloing is noticed. Build coverage systematically:

Seed set. Start from the proposal's key references and each sub-area's canonical pieces.
Forward + backward snowball. Backward: every paper's reference list. Forward: who cites the seeds (Google Scholar / Scopus / Web of Science). Iterate until new searches stop turning up unseen important work (saturation).
Database + keyword sweep. Search PsycINFO/APA PsycNet, plus PubMed and discipline databases for adjacent fields (neuroscience, methods), by topic keywords and by the terms each sub-area uses for the same construct — different areas name the same phenomenon differently.
Preprints + adjacent fields. A current PoPS piece must include recent preprints (PsyArXiv) and the bordering literatures the argument draws on, or referees flag staleness and siloing.
Saturation log. Record when each sub-area's search stops yielding new must-cite work — your evidence of comprehensiveness for ppsych-comprehensiveness-and-balance.

Meta-science: systematic evidence about the field's practices

If the piece is meta-science (about replication, reporting, power, bias, or methods as practiced), the "literature" includes the field's outputs as data: prevalence of a practice, distributions of statistics, registered-report rates, sharing rates. Treat the search as a systematic protocol:

Pre-specify the sampling frame (journals, years, article filter) and inclusion/exclusion rules — ideally preregistered (see ppsych-transparency-and-reproducibility).
Pilot and document the coding scheme (what counts as a preregistration, an open-data badge, an underpowered design).
Report search dates, hit counts, and screening outcomes (a PRISMA-style flow) so a reader can audit the corpus.
Plan double-coding and inter-rater reliability for any subjective extraction.

From reading to synthesis (not summary)

Summarizing restates each paper; synthesizing makes papers from different areas talk to each other. Maintain an evidence matrix:

Column	What to capture
Study	author–year, the result/claim you will cite it for
Sub-area / construct	which area + how it operationalizes the construct (so non-comparable work is not pooled)
Method/sample	design and sample (so you can weight credibility)
Finding	direction + magnitude (effect sizes/CIs where available)
Credibility	identification, power, replication status — your appraisal
Tension	which other studies/areas it agrees or conflicts with, and why

This matrix feeds the organizing framework, the summary exhibits, and the even-handed treatment of controversies. You appraise the primary work; you do not re-run it (unless the piece is a meta-analysis with a superordinate message — then its data/code must be reproducible).

Checklist

Seed set drawn from each sub-area's canonical pieces + proposal references
Forward and backward snowball iterated to saturation in every sub-area
PsycINFO/PsycNet + adjacent databases swept by keyword and each area's construct terms
Recent preprints (PsyArXiv) and bordering literatures included (no staleness, no silo)
Saturation log records where each area's searches stopped yielding new must-cites
Meta-science: sampling frame + coding scheme pre-specified (ideally preregistered); PRISMA-style flow
Evidence matrix captures construct + method + finding + credibility + cross-area tension
Non-comparable constructs flagged as such (not pooled into a false "the literature finds…")

Anti-patterns

Citing from one's home paradigm only (predictable cross-area gaps the integrated areas will spot)
Summarizing paper-by-paper instead of synthesizing across areas
Pooling studies that measure different constructs into one "the field finds…" claim
Ignoring preprints (looks stale) or adjacent fields (looks siloed) in a broad journal
Meta-science with an undocumented, unreplicable search — the reform critique applies to your own piece
Re-running or "correcting" primary studies in a non-meta-analytic review — you appraise, you don't re-estimate

Output format

【Seed set】<canonical pieces per sub-area + proposal references>
【Snowball status】backward/forward iterated to saturation across areas? Y/N
【Databases swept】PsycINFO/PsycNet + adjacent — by keyword + construct terms? Y/N
【Preprints + adjacency】PsyArXiv + bordering literatures included? Y/N
【Meta-science protocol】sampling frame + coding scheme pre-specified; PRISMA flow? Y/N · N/A
【Saturation evidence】<where searches stopped yielding new must-cites>
【Evidence matrix】rows ready with construct / method / finding / appraisal / tension? Y/N
【Coverage risks】<any area/author an omission referee could name>
【Next step】→ ppsych-organizing-framework (impose the analytical spine on the matrix)