7. Review Of Evidence

Question 1

What are narrative reviews?

Answer 1

Implicit assumptions, opaque methodology, not reproducible

Therefore biased and subjective

Question 2

What is a systematic review?

Answer 2

Explicit assumptions, transparent methodology, reproducible

Therefore unbiased and objective

Question 3

What is a meta-analysis?

Answer 3

A quantitative synthesis of the results of 2 or more primary studies that addressed the same hypothesis in the same way

Question 4

What is the purpose of meta-analysis?

Answer 4

To facilitate the synthesis of a large number of study results
To systematically collate study results
To reduce problems of interpretation die to variations in sampling
To quantify effect sizes and their uncertainty as a pooled estimate

Question 5

What are the problems with meta-analysis?

Answer 5

Heterogeneity between studies
Variable quality of the studies
Publication bias in selection of studies

Question 6

What is the fixed effect model?

Answer 6

Assumes that the studies are estimating exactly the same true effect size

Question 7

What is the random effects model?

Answer 7

Assumes that the studies are estimating similar but not the same true effect size

Question 8

What happens if fixed effect model and random effects model have very similar odds ratios?

Answer 8

Heterogeneity between studies was low