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Systematic Reviews (Open Learning)

Stages of a systematic review

The Cochrane Collaboration (cited in Kings College London, 2020) describe the 8 stages as follows:

1.  Defining the review question and developing criteria for including studies
2.  Searching for studies
3.  Selecting studies and collecting data

4.  Assessing risk of bias in included studies
5.  Analysing data and undertaking meta-analyses
6.  Addressing reporting biases
7.  Presenting results and “summary of findings” tables
8.  Interpreting results and drawing conclusions

This guide focuses on the first two stages, with some guidance on the third.

This video from The Evidence Synthesis Academy at Brown University talks through the basic steps of conducting a systematic review.