How to Conduct a Systematic Review (A Summary of Key Steps From Three Research Papers)
Key Steps to Conduct a Systematic Review by Diana Tutschek, psychologist and researcher
The First Steps: Reviewers, Research Question, Protocol, Search Strategy, Screening Summary
1. At least two independent reviewers should conduct a systematic review working in parallel according to rigorous methodology.
2. A systematic review starts with defining a research question. This initial step remains the same whether it pertains to business, law, psychology, counselling, psychotherapy, or any other field. The most broadly used standard is based on the acronym PICO. It refers to the Population under study, the Intervention or treatment being assessed, the Comparison group of that intervention and the Outcomes (Caldwell & Bennett, 2020; Linares-Espinós et al., 2018).
3. A Protocol
PRISMA recommends forming an SR protocol before commencing a review, making it public and documenting it in a registry such as PROSPERO (Caldwell & Bennett, 2020). The protocol includes the rationale, hypothesis and methods of the SR (Siddaway et al., 2018). Methods comprise eligibility criteria for included studies, databases and sources to be searched, searching strategy, screening and selection of studies, data extraction, assessment of risks of bias of included studies, data analysis and synthesis (Caldwell & Bennett, 2020; Linares-Espinós et al., 2018). Furthermore, inclusion and exclusion criteria should consider the population, type of design, language and form of publication (Linares-Espinós et al., 2018).
4. Search Strategy
The best practice recommendation for conducting a search strategy is to use at least two distinct electronic databases (e.g., Medline, EMBASE). In addition, searching involves employing Boolean search operators, truncation and wildcard symbols. (Siddaway et al., 2018).
5. Screening Summary
Screening of abstracts and full texts is made according to the PRISMA framework and is summarized in a flowchart (Linares-Espinós et al., 2018).
Completing A Systematic Review: Data Extraction, Bias Assessment, Data Analysis, Synthesis, Presentation
6. Data Extraction
Data that are valuable to extract include study design, setting and duration and participant characteristics (inclusion criteria for the study, sample size, country, gender, age). Furthermore, data extraction includes interventions examined, outcomes of interest in the study (how they were assessed), results and conclusion (Caldwell & Bennett, 2020).
7. Bias Assessment
Bias assessment tools depend on the study type. Consequently, the tool may comprise the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool for systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for observational studies (Caldwell & Bennett, 2020).
8. Data Analysis and Synthesis
Analysis of data and data synthesis of systematic reviews are often associated with meta-analysis (MA), as the Cochrane Collaboration only allows RCTs (Linares-Espinós et al., 2018). Yet, in those instances where MA is not feasible, the results can be synthesised as narrative reviews (for quantitative studies) or meta-syntheses (for qualitative studies) (Siddaway et al., 2018).
9. Presentation
Researchers should present a systematic review according to the PRISMA checklist and the requirements of many journals. It should contain important parts of the introduction, methods, results, discussion and funding (Caldwell & Bennett, 2020)
References:
https://doi.org/10.1111/jpc.14853