Leibniz Institute for Psychology (ZPID), Trier, Germany.
Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research (LIR), Mainz, Germany.
PLoS One. 2022 Jun 6;17(6):e0268789. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0268789. eCollection 2022.
Plain language summaries (PLSs) have been introduced to communicate research in an understandable way to a nonexpert audience. Guidelines for writing PLSs have been developed and empirical research on PLSs has been conducted, but terminology and research approaches in this comparatively young field vary considerably. This prompted us to review the current state of the art of the theoretical and empirical literature on PLSs. The two main objectives of this review were to develop a conceptual framework for PLS theory, and to synthesize empirical evidence on PLS criteria. We began by searching Web of Science, PubMed, PsycInfo and PSYNDEX (last search 07/2021). In our review, we included empirical investigations of PLSs, reports on PLS development, PLS guidelines, and theoretical articles referring to PLSs. A conceptual framework was developed through content analysis. Empirical studies investigating effects of PLS criteria on defined outcomes were narratively synthesized. We identified 7,714 records, of which 90 articles met the inclusion criteria. All articles were used to develop a conceptual framework for PLSs which comprises 12 categories: six of PLS aims and six of PLS characteristics. Thirty-three articles empirically investigated effects of PLSs on several outcomes, but study designs were too heterogeneous to identify definite criteria for high-quality PLSs. Few studies identified effects of various criteria on accessibility, understanding, knowledge, communication of research, and empowerment. We did not find empirical evidence to support most of the criteria we identified in the PLS writing guidelines. We conclude that although considerable work on establishing and investigating PLSs is available, empirical evidence on criteria for high-quality PLSs remains scarce. The conceptual framework developed in this review may provide a valuable starting point for future guideline developers and PLS researchers.
自然语言摘要（PLS）被引入以向非专业受众以可理解的方式传达研究内容。已经制定了编写 PLS 的指南，并对 PLS 进行了实证研究，但是该相对较新领域的术语和研究方法差异很大。这促使我们回顾 PLS 的理论和实证文献的现状。本次审查的两个主要目的是为 PLS 理论制定概念框架，并综合 PLS 标准的实证证据。我们首先在 Web of Science、PubMed、PsycInfo 和 PSYNDEX 上进行了搜索（最后一次搜索时间为 2021 年 7 月）。在我们的综述中，我们纳入了 PLS 的实证研究、PLS 开发报告、PLS 指南以及涉及 PLS 的理论文章。通过内容分析制定了概念框架。对研究 PLS 标准对明确结果的影响的实证研究进行了叙述性综合。我们确定了 7714 条记录，其中 90 篇文章符合纳入标准。所有文章均用于为 PLS 制定概念框架，该框架包括 12 个类别：PLS 目标的 6 个类别和 PLS 特征的 6 个类别。有 33 篇文章从实证角度研究了 PLS 对多个结果的影响，但是研究设计差异太大，无法确定高质量 PLS 的明确标准。很少有研究确定各种标准对可及性、理解、知识、研究传播和赋权的影响。我们没有发现支持我们在 PLS 写作指南中确定的大多数标准的实证证据。我们的结论是，尽管已经有大量关于建立和研究 PLS 的工作，但有关高质量 PLS 标准的实证证据仍然很少。本综述中制定的概念框架可为未来指南制定者和 PLS 研究人员提供有价值的起点。
