Ststematic Reviews & Meta-analysis

Question 1

What is a collection of all existing data on a focused research question in order to establish the truth called?

Answer 1

Systematic review.

Question 2

What is a statistical combination of all existing data to derive an aggregate measure of association called?

Answer 2

Meta-analysis.

Question 3

Describe the process of a systematic review…

Answer 3

1. Identification - records and data-bases
2. Screening - duplicates are removed
3. Eligibility - eligible articles are included, ineligible articles are excluded with reasons
4. Inclusion - qualitative synthesis

Question 4

Quantitative synthesis of systematic reviews?

Answer 4

Meta-analysis.

Question 5

What can a systematic review do?

Answer 5

It allows us to determine whether research findings for a particular topic are generalisable across populations, strata, settings, and treatment methods.

Question 6

What are the benefits of a meta-analysis?

Answer 6

It is more ethically viable and relatively more cost effective than conducting new studies as data already exists.

Question 7

How does a meta-analysis generate results?

Answer 7

They statistically combine the data collected, i.e. they take apart the data from each study and combine them to create a larger sample size.