Feasibility of Systematic Review
- Decide which review method is appropriate
- Define the scope of the review
- Find and evaluate related reviews
- Estimate the number of potential citations.
- Determine Feasibility
Finding systematic reviews
- identify existing studies - determine what research has being done in the field
- existing systematic reviews include the names of databases searched and the search strategies used for each database - these can be used to build a comprehensive search
- published reviews provide research articles and studies and researchers in the field.
- identifying areas that research has been conducted and new areas for enquiry
Register the protocol - obtain basic information and methodological information on the review
- develop a protocol to clearly define the objective, boundaries and search strategies
Bibliographic databases
Evaluation of systematic reviews
- Two ways a systematic review can be evaluated - transparency and appropriate methods.
- a systemic review can be reproducible if the literature search is fully documented
- Database used are identified
- inclusion / exclusion criteria included
- the processes for appraising and coding the studies should follow standards and validated methods.
Tools for appraising systematic review
AMSTAR - Measurment Tool to Assess Systematic REviews http://amstar.ca provides questions with guidelines for each area of a systematic review and a scoring system.
ROBIS - Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool https://www.riskofbias.info Risk of bias in systematic review - intervention effectiveness, etiology, diagnosis and prognosis https://www.bristol.ac.uk/population-health-sciences/projects/robis/robis-tool/ Training tool: https://training.cochrane.org/resource/rob-20-webinar
CEBM - centre for evidence based medicine www.cebm.net/critical-appraisal
SURE - http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/specialist-unit-for-review-evidence/resources/critical-appraisal-checklists
CASP - critical appraisal skills programme www.casp-uk.net
Articles:
- Arksey, H., & O'Malley, L. (2005). Scoping studies: towards a methodological framework. International journal of social research methodology, 8(1), 19-32, is a good place to start for understanding scoping study methods.
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Booth, A., Noyes, J., Flemming, K., Gerhardus, A., Wahlster, P., van der Wilt, G. J., ... & Rehfuess, E. (2018). Structured methodology review identified seven (RETREAT) criteria for selecting qualitative evidence synthesis approaches. Journal of clinical epidemiology, 99, 41-52.
- Bramer WM, de Jonge GB, Rethlefsen ML, Mast F, Kleijnen J. A systematic approach to searching: an efficient and complete method to develop literature searches. J Med Libr Assoc. 2018;106(4):531–541. doi:10.5195/jmla.2018.283
- Gates, Allison , Gates, Michelle , Duarte, Gonçalo , Evaluation of the reliability, usability, and applicability of AMSTAR, AMSTAR 2, and ROBIS: protocol for a descriptive analytic study Systematic Reviews 2018 7:85 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-018-0746-1
- Dugley S, Wade A, Thomas J, Mahood Q, Jorgensen AK, Hammerstrom K, et al. Searching for studies: a guide to information retrieval for campbell systematic reviews. in The Campbell Collaboration p. 1-76
- Hunt, Harriet Pollock, Alex , Campbell, Pauline An introduction to overviews of reviews: planning a relevant research question and objective for an overview , Systematic Reviews 2018 7:39 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-018-0695-8
- Ioannidis, JPA The mass production of redundant, misleading and conflicted systematic reviews and meta analysis The Milbank Quarterly 2016 94 (3) 485 - 514
- McGowan J. Sampson M, Salzwedel DM, Cogo E, Foerster V, Lefebvre C. PRESS peer Review of electronic search strategies 2015 guideline statement J Clin Epidemiol 2016 75 40-6
- Munn, Zachary , Peters, Micah D. J. , Stern, Cindy , Tufanaru, Catalin , McArthur, Alexa , Aromataris, Edoardo Systematic review or scoping review? Guidance for authors when choosing between a systematic or scoping review approach BMC Med Res Methodol. 2018; 18: 143. Published online 2018 Nov 19. doi: 10.1186/s12874-018-0611-x
- Munn, Zachary , Stern, Cindy , Aromataris, Edoardo , Lockwood, Craig , Jordan, Zoe What kind of systematic review should I conduct? A proposed typology and guidance for systematic reviewers in the medical and health sciences BMC Med Res Methodol. 2018; 18: 5. Published online 2018 Jan 10. doi: 10.1186/s12874-017-0468-4
- Tricco, Andrea C. , Lillie, Erin , Zarin, Wasifa , O'Brien, Kelly K. , Colquhoun, Heather , Levac, Danielle , Moher, David , Peters, Micah D. J. , Horsley, Tanya , Weeks, Laura , et al. PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR): Checklist and Explanation.Ann Intern Med. 2018 Sep 4 Published online 2018 Sep 4. doi: 10.7326/M18-0850
- Whiting Penny , Savović,Jelena , Higgins, Julian P.T. , Caldwell, Deborah M. , Reeves, Barnaby C. , Shea, Beverley , Davies, Philippa , Kleijnen, Jos , Churchill, Rachel ROBIS: A new tool to assess risk of bias in systematic reviews was developed , ROBIS group J Clin Epidemiol. 2016 Jan; 69: 225–234. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2015.06.005
- Khalil H, Peters M, Godfrey CM, McInerney P, Soares CB, Parker D.An Evidence-Based Approach to Scoping Reviews Worldviews Evid Based Nurs. 2016 Apr; 13(2):118-23. Epub 2016 Jan 28.
