HLSC122 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis, Cohort Study
2 Jun 2018
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Strengths of mixed methods
● One method offsets weaknesses of other
● Simultaneous asking of confirmatory and exploratory questions
● Data can be explored more deeply
● All available methods can be used
● Conclusions are more valid
What is a systematic review?
● Focus on a specific question
● Uses systematic methods
● Identifies ALL evidence on the topic
Types:
● Meta-analysis (quantitative)
● Integrative meta-analysis (qualitative)
● Systematic review (no meta-analysis) (quantitative)
Advantages of Systematic Review
● Improve the dissemination of evidence
● Hasten the assimilation of research into practice
● Assist in clarifying the uniformity of conflicting results between studies
● Establish generalisability of the overall findings
● Improve the understanding of a particular phenomenon or situation
● Can guide decision making
● Can set a research agenda (i.e gaps in existing research)
Systematic reviews for different types of clinical questions
● Effectiveness of interventions
○ Systematic reviews of randomised controlled trials
○ Most common types of systematic reviews
● Questions about diagnosis
○ Synthesis of studies about the accuracy of the test or treatment
● Questions about prognosis
○ Synthesis of cohort studies for questions about prognosis
● Systematic reviews of qualitative studies allow us to have a more comprehensive
understanding
How is a systematic review undertaken (quantitative)
1. Define the research question and plan the methods for undertaking the systematic
review
2. Determine the eligibility criteria for studies to be included in the review
3. Search for potentially eligible studies
4. Apply eligibility criteria to select studies
5. Assess the risk of bias in the included studies
6. Extract data from the included studies
7. Synthesise the data
8. Interpret and report the results
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Document Summary
Simultaneous asking of confirmatory and exploratory questions. Hasten the assimilation of research into practice. Assist in clarifying the uniformity of conflicting results between studies. Can set a research agenda (i. e gaps in existing research) Improve the understanding of a particular phenomenon or situation. Systematic reviews for different types of clinical questions. Synthesis of studies about the accuracy of the test or treatment. Synthesis of cohort studies for questions about prognosis. Systematic reviews of qualitative studies allow us to have a more comprehensive understanding. Highest level of review is a systematic review using meta-analysis. Literature reviews are not the same as systematic reviews. Literature reviews are used to look at all the suitable literature in a topic. They form the basis of any research and are written up in research papers. Some of your university assessments will involve you searching for literature and reading it to look for themes and information, then writing about them.
