ChatGPT and Medical Research: A Meta-Synthesis of Opportunities and Challenges

The utility of ChatGPT in research is ambiguous, serving as both a boon and bane and presenting challenges and opportunities. Accordingly, this study aimed to delineate the merits and demerits of ChatGPT within the realm of research.

A meta-synthesis methodology involving a seven-step process was adopted to pursue the research objectives. Data were collected from comprehensive studies across specialized research databases, such as Science Direct, Springer, Eric, Emerald, Sage Journals, Wiley Online Library, PubMed, and Google Scholar, within the time frame spanning from 2022 to 2023. A total of 57 articles were meticulously chosen for analysis through judgmental sampling. Subsequently, key concepts were distilled from these articles and categorized using the thematic analysis approach while considering Karl Llewellyn's octagonal model from 1963.

The outcomes underwent scrutiny employing the thematic analysis strategy devised by Wolcott. The results about the capabilities and constraints of ChatGPT encompass eight dimensions, including formulating the research problem, reviewing relevant literature, selecting an appropriate research design, defining the population and choosing the sample, collecting data, analyzing data, interpreting data, and discussing and drawing conclusions. The credibility of these dimensions was substantiated through adherence to the criteria established by Lincoln and Guba.

ChatGPT manifests myriad potentialities and constraints within the research purview based on the results. In light of the expeditious progression of artificial intelligence across multifarious domains, integrating this technological paradigm in research becomes an inexorable imperative, and excluding its use in research is untenable. Thus, policymakers and higher education strategists should devise policies that harness ChatGPT's potential in research endeavors, engendering many opportunities.