Literature Review Flashcards
Discuss the advantages of a systematic review
o Reduces bias
o Replicability
o Resolve controversy between conflicting studies
o Identifies gaps in current research
o Provides reliable basis for decision making
Discuss the limitations of a systematic review
o Results may still be inconclusive
o There may be no trials/evidence
o The trials may be of poor quality
o The intervention may be too complex to be tested by a trial
o Practice does not always change just because you have the evidence of effect/effectiveness
Define a systematic review
A review of evidence on a clearly formulated question that uses systematic and explicit methods to identify, select and critically appraise relevant primary research, and to extract and analyse data from the studies that are included in the review
Explain narrative reviews
A comprehensive summary of a topic, organised thematically, focuses on identifying key concepts and gaps.
It uses informal and subjective methods to collect and interpret information (i.e. at the author’s discretion).
Narrative reviews are often used to provide a broad overview of a topic, where there is a large volume of literature that is difficult to synthesise using a structured approach.
Explain scoping reviews
Scoping reviews identify the breadth and depth of the available literature (i.e. to map the literature). It can help identify key research areas and inform the design of future studies or assess the feasibility of conducting systematic reviews.
Explain rapid reviews
A streamlined version of systematic reviews aims to provide a quick and efficient summary of a literature topic using a limited number of inclusion/exclusion criteria.
Explain how non-systematic reviews differ from systematic reviews
Non-systematic reviews have a less systematic approach, where the author decides the inclusion criteria, any database is searched, methods are not usually specified, uses a narrative summary, and cannot be replicated.
Explain PICO
An evidence-based practice framework that includes:
A description of populations.
An identified intervention.
An explicit comparison.
Relevant outcomes.
Provide 3 examples of MESH terms
Truncation - to pick up various forms of a word
Adjacent (to term) - retrieves two terms within x number of words to each other
Wild cards - for different spellings of the same word.
Define literature reviews and explain their purpose
Literature reviews are a comprehensive and critical summary of published literature on a specific research topic.
Purpose:
- Identify and evaluate relevant sources
- Synthesise and analyse information
- Provide a summary and critical analysis about a topic
- Identify gaps in knowledge that need to be addressed in further research
