Literature Review Flashcards
What is a review?
- An overview & critical analysis of current knowledge & evidence
on a specific topic - Type of secondary research (second-hand; existing data)
- E.g. published studies, government records, textbooks v.s. interviews,
surveys, observations (first-hand data, primary research) - Purpose
- Give an overview of what is known
- Highlight the significance of topic
- Justify the need for our research
- Support or help to explain your research findings (discussion section)
Purpose of literature review
Provide context/background
information, not meant to answer
research question.
Protocol of literature review
No protocol
Search of literature review
well-defined, comprehensive search strategy
methodological appraisal of literature review
internal validity is judged by various tools (eg. ROB)
synthesis of literature review
narrative, meta-analysis, meta-synthesis
findings of literature review: reproducible or not?
reproducible
purpose of systematic review
identifies, selects, synthesises and appraises studies that meet prespecified inclusion criteria to answer a research question
protocol of systematic review
a-priori protocol is developed and published (PROSPERO)
search strategy of systematic review
NIL, normally includes well-known articles
methodological appraisal of systematic review
NIL
synthesis of systematic review
usually narrative
findings of systematic review: reproducible or not?
not reproducible
steps to perform a systematic review
find a good topic
formulate clear and well-defined research question
develop systematic review protocol
conduct systematic search strategy
TiAb and full-text screening using eligibility criteria
methodological appraisal
data extraction and organisation
data analysis
evidence quality appraisal
write: integrate, synthesie, summarize
how to find a good research topic?
start with an interest
read and dig up a lot of background info
think about the impact/significance/usefulness/purpose
scope: eg. examine all types of physical exercises or just Taichi?
how to develop your research question (RQ)?
decide if it’s regarding diagnosis? aetiology? treatment? prevention? subjective meaning?
identify what kind of research design can give the highest level of evidence for evidence based practice (EBP)
quantitative research question format
PICO
Population and/or problem (eg. patients with heart failure)
Intervention/exposure (eg. behaviour change program)
Comparison (eg. no behaviour change program)
Outcome (eg. self-care behaviours, quality of life, depression, anxiety)
qualitative research question format
PICo
Population and/or problem (eg. university nursing students)
Interest (eg. experience/meaning of stress)
Context (eg. university in singapore)
steps to develop search strategy
- Identify possible keywords from PICO use the keywords to
search for more relevant keywords by:
* Trying search key terms in few databases related to your topic
* e.g. PubMed & CINAHL for medicine and nursing related
* Identifying index terms e.g. MeSH terms, Emtree terms - Using the identified keywords, conduct systematic search of
databases using Boolean operators - Search reference list of selected articles
Boolean operators and their functions
AND - (narrow) both terms included
OR - individual terms + both terms included
NOT - eliminate one term
What is the purpose of eligibility criteria & selecting studies?
To select relevant and useful studies to answer your
research question
Selecting studies
Report selection process using PRISMA flowchart
Download all your references into citation
management software
* e.g. Endnote, RefWorks, Mendeley, Zotero
Remove duplicates
Title & abstract screen based on eligibility
criteria
Full-text screen
What is the purpose of methodological/critical appraisal?
To assess trustworthiness of each article’s findings based on the study design methods etc.
Appraisal checklists for their study designs:
General checklists:
- Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP)
- Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) critical appraisal tool
- Risk of Bias Tool (ROB) -> RCT
- Newcastle-Ottawa scale (NOS) -> case control or cohort studies
- IHE Case Series Studies Critical Appraisal Checklist -> case series
Data extraction & organisation
Decide on data elements to be extracted
* E.g. Record number (you assign for tracking purpose), Author, year,
country of origin, title, aims, research question, sample characteristics,
methods, intervention, outcomes, results
Create data extraction form using e.g. Microsoft Excel or Word
Pilot test the form on ~5 articles improve form
Best is to have two independent data extractors to minimise chances of human error and bias
write: integrate, synthesize, summarise
Critical thinking: integrate (mix well), evaluate (judge) &
synthesize (create new knowledge)
- Integrate & interpret: identify consistencies, inconsistencies,
revolutionary theories or studies, trends, patterns etc. - Analyse & evaluate: what could be the reasons for the
contradictions?
* Different sample characteristics? Methodology? Measurement tool?
* What are the respective strengths & weaknesses? - Synthesize: based on current evidence/findings & your analysis,
* What new information/idea can you add to the scientific world?
* What research gaps can you identify?
What are the elements of a good literature review?
3Cs - clear, concise, coherent
shows critical thinking
adds value to current knowledge
highlights implications (eg. nursing practice, policy, education, research)
