Enhancing rigor and practice of scoping reviews in social policy research: considerations from a worked example on...

There is increasing theoretical consideration about the use of systematic and scoping reviews of evidence in informing disability and rehabilitation research and practice. Indicative of this trend, this journal published a piece by Rumrill, Fitzgerald and Merchant in 2010 explaining the utility and process for conducting reviews of intervention-based research. There is still need to consider how to apply such rigor when conducting more exploratory reviews of heterogeneous research.

This article explores the challenges, benefits, and procedures for conducting rigorous exploratory scoping reviews of diverse evidence.

The article expands upon Rumrill, Fitzgerald and Merchant's framework and considers its application to more heterogeneous evidence on the impact of social policy.

A worked example of a scoping review of the Americans with Disabilities Act is provided with a procedural framework for conducting scoping reviews on the effects of a social policy. The need for more nuanced techniques for enhancing rigor became apparent during the review process.

There are multiple methodological steps that can enhance the utility of exploratory scoping reviews. The potential of systematic consideration during the exploratory review process is shown as a viable method to enhance the rigor in reviewing diverse bodies of evidence.