Here’s how Subject Librarians can help with your systematic review:
– Help formulate your PICO question
– Assist with developing search strategies across appropriate databases
– Provide advice on how to document the search for the methods section of your review
– EndNote support
– Research data management
Systematic reviews aim to find and evaluate all studies, published and unpublished, relevant to a research question. They use systematic methods to minimise bias and they also use transparent methods that allow for replication and verification
Key characteristics
• a clearly stated set of objectives with pre-defined eligibility criteria for studies;
• an explicit, reproducible methodology;
• a systematic search that attempts to identify all studies that meet the eligibility criteria;
• an assessment of the validity of the findings of the included studies, for example through the assessment of risk of bias
• a systematic presentation, and synthesis, of the characteristics and findings of the included studies.
Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. (2019). p.xxiii
A meta-analysis is an optional component of a systematic review. A meta analysis uses statistical methods to quantitatively evaluate pooled data from single studies.
If you are writing a systematic review, you need to decide whether it makes sense to include a meta analysis. This can be a difficult decision, see the books listed on this page for guidance.
For a description of the most commonly used review types in Health Sciences see:
Grant, M. J., & Booth, A. (2009). A typology of reviews: An analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 26(2), 91–108. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00848.x
The table below is adapted from this article.
|
Systematic review | Literature review | ||
Description |
Seeks to systematically search for, appraise and synthesise research evidence, often adhering to guidelines on the conduct of a review |
Generic term: published materials that provide an examination of recent or current literature. Can cover wide range of subjects at various levels of comprehensiveness. May include research findings |
||
Search |
Aims for exhaustive, comprehensive searching |
May or may not include comprehensive searching |
||
Appraisal |
Quality assessment may determine inclusion/exclusion |
May or may not include quality assessment. Relies on author's judgment |
||
Synthesis |
|
|
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Analysis |
What is known; recommendations for practice. What remains unknown; uncertainty around findings, recommendations for future research May include meta analysis |
Analysis may be chronological, conceptual, thematic, etc |