The systematic review pulls together studies that answer the same question; thus, it is very important to carefully consider your research question.
Steps:
| A research question should be: | Characteristics of a good research question: |
A well-formulated question is one of the keys to a successful review and will assist with:
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Hulley, S. B., Cummings, S. R., & Browner, W. S. (2013). Designing clinical research. |
Additional letters (for PICOT, PICOS, PICOTS, PICOTTS)
Haynes, R. B., Richardson, W. S., Rosenberg, W., & Sackett, D. L. (1997). Evidence based medicine: How to practice and teach EBM. New York: Churchill Livingstone.
Booth, A. (2006). Clear and present questions formulating questions for evidence based practice. Library Hi Tech, 24(3), 355–368.
Methley, A. M., Campbell, S., Chew-Graham, C., McNally, R., & Cheraghi-Sohi, S. (2014). PICO, PICOS and SPIDER: A comparison study of specificity and sensitivity in three search tools for qualitative systematic reviews. BMC Health Services Research, 14(1), 579.
Moola, S., Munn, Z., Sears, K., Sfetcu, R., Currie, M., Lisy, K., Tufanaru, C., Qureshi, R., Mattis, P., Mu, P. & (2015). Conducting systematic reviews of association (etiology). International Journal of Evidence-Based Healthcare, 13 (3), 163-169. https://doi.org/10.1097/XEB.169.0000000000000064.
Cooke, A., Smith, D., & Booth, A. (2012). Beyond PICO: the SPIDER tool for qualitative evidence synthesis. Qualitative health research, 22(10), 1435–1443. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732312452938.
Booth, A., Noyes, J., Flemming, K., Moore, G., Tunçalp, Ö., & Shakibazadeh, E. (2019). Formulating questions to explore complex interventions within qualitative evidence synthesis. BMJ global health, 4(Suppl 1), e001107. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2018-001107.
It is important to make sure a review has not already been done on the topic. You should conduct a literature search for other knowledge synthesis that have been done in that area or are in the process of being published. There may be older reviews on your topic that are out of date, justifying the need for a new review or knowledge synthesis.
Where to look for systematic reviews:
Best Evidence Medical Education Collaboration (BEME)
