Systematic Reviews
Systematic Review Steps
Search Strategy & Quality
Meta-Analysis
Meta-Synthesis
100
Considered the cornerstone or basis of evidence-based practice.
What are systematic reviews or traditional, integrative reviews of the literature?
100
Identify a research question or hypothesis to be tested.
What is the first major step in a systematic review?
100
Cannot be found through conventional literature searches and includes studies completed but findings are not widely disseminated or formally published.
What is grey literature?
100
The evidence from each primary study in a meta-analysis is evaluated to determine this.
What is the quality of each study or the confidence place in each study's findings?
100
The bringing together and breaking down of findings, evaluating the findings and combining results to make a complete picture.
What is a definition for metasynthesis?
200
The individual research reports or studies.
What is the "participants" or "subjects" of a systematic review?
200
Identifying what works and what does not work or identifying needs for further research.
What is a potential benefit of a systematic review?
200
Publishers often do not accept manuscripts of research studies with non-significant results for publication; non-published studies are more likely to have no effects or weaker effects than published ones.
What is publication bias?
200
Explicit criteria, integration of statistical formulas, and objectivity.
What does meta-analysis involve?
200
Findings of a meta-synthesis are a unique interpretation of integrated findings of included studies.
What is the transformational process associated with meta-synthesis?
300
There is a limited number of studies that have been reported on the topic.
What is a research situation that is inappropriate for a systematic review?
300
Cochrane Collaboration, CINAHL, ProQuest, LexisNexis Academics.
What are databases commonly used in scientific research searches of the literature?
300
This major step is found in systematic, meta-analysis, and meta-synthesis reviews?
What is the development and implementation of a search strategy?
300
The research question hypothesis should be essentially the same across the studies; results can vary but not contradict each other.
What is the "fruit" issue or problem in meta-analysis?
300
May want to exclude low quality studies or can give more weight/value to high quality studies.
What is the fourth step of evaluating study quality in the meta-synthesis process?
400
Integration and synthesis of research evidence from primary research (original and individual studies). Includes both quantitative and qualitative research.
What is a systematic or integrative review of research?
400
Synthesis of findings across all the included studies.
What is the last major step in a systematic review?
400
Comparing and contrasting analyses between low- and high-quality studies to see if the effects differ.
What is one method to evaluate the quality of an individual study included in a systematic review?
400
Having enough studies of acceptable quality. Measures the strength and direction of the study results.
What is the effect size index for each study in a meta-analysis?
400
Noblit & Hare (meta ethnography), Peterson, Thorne, Canam, & Jillings, Sandelowski & Barroso.
What are commonly used meta-synthesis approaches?
500
To develop best practice guidelines, protocols, and procedures that require organization and evaluation of research evidence.
What is the primary purpose for performing a systematic review?
500
A systematic review is rigorous and scientific. All included studies need to be well-organized as well as this.
What is transparent?
500
Evaluation of quality, eligibility, and exclusion criteria.
What is included when developing and implementing a search strategy for studies to include in a systematic review of the literature?
500
An advantage of meta-analysis is objectivity. This is decreased because of objectivity when drawing conclusions.
What is bias in drawing conclusions?
500
Quality of the primary studies included in the review and the quality of the review itself.
What is how any systematic review of the literature is evaluated for quality?
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