Grey Lines in Grey Literature: Incorporating grey literature value into the research, development and evaluation of public policy and the social sciences

Grey literature offers significant value in assessing, contextualising, and critiquing policy and program efficacy, as well as advancing academic exploration of policy interventions. Despite its advantages, the rigorous integration of grey literature into research and analysis is hindered by challenges related to its quality, variability, and manageability.

This paper evaluates grey literature as a research material and introduces the novel concept of comfort to enhance confidence and consistency in its appraisal and synthesis. Comfort is framed as a measure of reliability and appropriateness, derived from evaluating a holistic set of characteristics. By reconceptualising grey literature through this lens, the paper aims to address existing gaps in methodology and promote its consistent and adaptive use in both academic and policy contexts where rigid frameworks are inappropriate or infeasible.

The primary contribution of this article is the development of a heuristic methodology for assessing grey literature, offering an accessible and adaptive to more consistently integrate grey literature into policy evidence and research.