Suggested steps for collecting and combining data.
- plan Synthesis - narrative, quantitative, integrative, meta analyasis
- list the data elements - participants, method, results, funding, application of findings, authors' conclusions.
- develop data collection methods - quality control, bias, amstar standards,
- develop form and collect data
- complete synthesis and explain findings - what are the patterns in the data, gaps in literature, strengths of the review, comparison with previous reviews, implications of the synthesis, limitations of the systematic review, studies missed.
Links to software tools for data collection/synthesis
- Campbell Collaboration
- Ahrq Agency for Health Care Research and Quality
- Cochrane grade
- Jbi FAME Feasibility, appropriateness, meaningfulness, effectiveness - Qualitative and quantitative analysis
- Distiller
- Systematic Review Data Repository
- Cerqual - Confidence in the Evidence from Reviews of Qualitative Research - Synthesizing evidence quality for Qualitative studies in clinical health
- Mix 2 meta analysis made easy
- Qdap Qualitative data Analysis Program from the University of Massachusetts amherst.
Articles on Meta Analysis
Basu Arindam How to conduct meta-analysis: A Basic Tutorial University of Canterbury
Introduction, comparison, and validation of Meta‐Essentials: A free and simple tool for meta‐analysis
Development and validation of MIX: comprehensive free software for meta-analysis of causal research data
