Understanding Research Evidence Reviews: Systematic Approaches and Literature Summaries

Systematic Reviews:

• Approach: Structured and rigorous synthesis with defined methodologies.
• Meta-Analysis: May or may not include statistical synthesis for quantitative estimate.
• Steps: Define research question, search strategy, screening, data extraction, synthesis, reporting.
• Publication Bias Consideration: Aims to reduce bias by including all relevant studies.

Meta-Analysis:

• Purpose: Quantitative estimation of effect size across studies.
• Heterogeneity Assessment: Examines variations among studies for pooling data.
• Statistical Pooling: Combining data for an overall effect size estimate.
• Common Usage: Often used in systematic reviews but not mandatory.

Literature Reviews:

• Types: Narrative, scoping, systematic, integrative, umbrella.
• Synthesis Methods: Focus on summarizing and describing existing literature without statistical analysis.
• Overview: Summary of existing literature lacking the systematic approach of systematic reviews.

Types of Research Evidence Reviews by Rigor:

• Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis
• Systematic Review without Meta-Analysis
• Integrative Review
• Narrative Review

This structured flow outlines the methodologies, approaches, and types within research evidence reviews, providing a clear differentiation between systematic reviews, meta-analyses, literature reviews, and their variations.