What is Critical About a Critical Review? A Methodological Reflection on Conducting 20 Research Syntheses in Digital Education.

This paper reflects on the use of critical reviews as a form of research synthesis in educational science. The analysis is based on 20 critical reviews conducted in the field of digital education including different areas of education, from early childhood education to adult education. By investigating the individual steps involved in a critical review, the paper explores what methodolo­gically defines this type of review and to what extent standards can be applied to it. Additionally, it examines whether the approach aligns more closely with other review types, such as systematic reviews. The findings provide insights into what is critical about critical reviews, highlighting both the strengths and weaknesses associated with this review type. Critical reviews offer the potential to respond to heterogeneous research fields and dynamic subject areas in educational research. They also allow researchers to contextualise findings within a comprehensive literature search. On the other hand, challenges include a reduced emphasis on assessing the quality of individual studies and the difficulties in comparing literature. As a result of these findings, this paper concludes that critical reviews in the analysed examples proved to be particularly suitable for developing broader overviews in a field of educational research.