Table of Contents

VOLUME ONE: AIMS, STRATEGIES, PERSPECTIVES AND CONTEXTS
Introduction - S. Oliver, J. Thomas and D. Gough
Part One: Aims of Research Synthesis
A Brief History of Research Synthesis - Iain Chalmers, Larry Hedges and Harris Cooper
Contextualizing the Twin Concepts of Systematicity and Transparency in Information Systems Literature Reviews - Guy Pare et al.
Formalization and Separation: A Systematic Basis for Interpreting Approaches to Summarizing Science for Climate Policy - Bohlin Sundqvist et al
The Meta-Analytic Big Bang - William Shadish and Jesse Lecy
How to Increase Value and Reduce Waste When Research Priorities Are Set - Iain Chalmers et al.
The Politics of Evidence and Methodology: Lessons from the EPPI-Centre - Ann Oakley et al.
Part Two: Strategies: A Spectrum of Methods; Pragmatism; Relevance; and Speed
Mapping the Mixed Methods–Mixed Research Synthesis Terrain - Margarete Sandelowski et al
Clarifying Differences between Review Designs and Methods - David Gough, James Thomas and Sandy Oliver
Complex Interventions and Their Implications for Systematic Reviews: A Pragmatic Approach - Mark Petticrew et al.
A Research and Development Agenda for Systematic Reviews that Ask Complex Questions about Complex Interventions - Jane Noyes et al.
Part Three: Perspectives
Consumer Involvement in Systematic Reviews of Comparative Effectiveness Research - Julia Kreis et al.
Public and Patient Involvement in Health Technology Assessment: A Framework for Action - Julia Abelson et al.
Producing Policy Relevant Systematic Reviews: Navigating the Policy-Research Interface - S. Oliver, M. Bangpan and K. Dickson
Part Four: Contexts: Reviews for Different Purposes; and in Different Contexts
Policy-relevant Systematic Reviews to Strengthen Health Systems: Models and Mechanisms to Support Their Production - Sandra Oliver and Kelly Dickson
Advancing Knowledge of Rapid Reviews: An Analysis of Results, Conclusions and Recommendations from Published Review Articles Examining Rapid Reviews - Robin Featherstone et al.
VOLUME TWO: FINDING, DESCRIBING AND MANAGING RELEVANT RESEARCH
Introduction - J. Thomas, D. Gough and S. Oliver
Part One: Identifying Studies
Methodological Developments in Searching for Studies for Systematic Reviews: Past, Present and Future? - Carol Lefebvre et al.
PICO, PICOS and SPIDER: A Comparison Study of Specificity and Sensitivity in Three Search Tools for Qualitative Systematic Reviews - Abigail Methley et al
Searching for Qualitative Research for Inclusion in Systematic Reviews: A Structured Methodological Review - Andrew Booth
Exploring Issues in the Conduct of Website Searching and Other Online Sources for Systematic Reviews: How Can We Be Systematic? - Claire Stansfield, Kelly Dickson and Mukdarat Bangpan
De-Duplication of Database Search Results for Systematic Reviews in EndNote - Wichor Bramer et al.
Core Keywording Strategy: Data Collection for a Register of Educational Research Version 0.9.4 - EPPI-Centre
A Systematic Map and Synthesis Review of the Effectiveness of Personal Development Planning for Improving Student Learning - David Gough et al.
Developing and Optimising the Use of Logic Models in Systematic Reviews: Exploring Practice and Good Practice in the Use of Programme Theory in Reviews - Dylan Kneale, James Thomas and Katherine Harris
A Systematic Review and Critical Appraisal of Qualitative Metasynthetic Practice in Public Health to Develop a Taxonomy of Operations of Reciprocal Translation - G.J. Melendez-Torres, Sean Grant and Chris Bonell
Part Two: Automating Reviews
Using Text Mining for Study Identification in Systematic Reviews: A Systematic Review of Current Approaches - Alison O’Mara-Eves et al.
Automating Data Extraction in Systematic Reviews: A Systematic Review - Siddhartha Jonnalagadda, Pawan Goyal and Mark Huffman
RobotReviewer: Evaluation of a System for Automatically Assessing Bias in Clinical Trials - Iain Marshall, Joel Kuiper and Byron Wallace
Enabling Living Systematic Reviews and Clinical Guidelines through Semantic Technologies - Laura Slaughter
VOLUME THREE: METHODS OF SYNTHESIS
Introduction - J. Thomas, S. Oliver and G. Gough
Part One: Introductions, Overviews and Cross-cutting Issues
Ongoing Developments in Meta-Analytic and Quantitative Synthesis Methods: Broadening the Types of Research Questions that Can Be Addressed - Alison O’Mara-Eves and James Thomas
Methods for the Synthesis of Qualitative Research: A Critical Review - Elaine Barnett-Page and James Thomas
Synthesizing Evidence on Complex Interventions: How Meta-Analytical, Qualitative, and Mixed-Method Approaches Can Contribute - Mark Petticrew et al.
Part Two: Synthesis Methods for Developing and Exploring Theories, Frameworks or Themes
Methods for the Thematic Synthesis of Qualitative Research in Systematic Reviews - James Thomas and Angela Harden
Using Meta Ethnography to Synthesise Qualitative Research: A Worked Example - Nicky Britten et al.
Evidence-based Policy: The Promise of ‘Realist Synthesis’ - Ray Pawson
Storylines of Research in Diffusion of Innovation: A Meta-Narrative Approach to Systematic Review - Trisha Greenhalgh et al.
Conducting a Critical Interpretive Synthesis of the Literature on Access to Healthcare by Vulnerable Groups - Mary Dixon-Woods et al.
Mapping the Mixed-Methods Research Synthesis Terrain - Margarete Sandelowski et al.
Using Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) in Systematic Reviews of Complex Interventions: A Worked Example - James Thomas, Alison O’Mara-Eves and Ginny Brunton
Part Three: Synthesis Methods for Combining and Configuring Quantitative Data
Meta-Analysis: Principles and Procedures - Matthias Egger, George Davey Smith and Andrew Phillips
A Basic Introduction to Fixed-Effect and Random-Effects Models for Meta-Analysis - Michael Borenstein et al.
How Should Meta-Regression Analyses Be Undertaken and Interpreted? - Simon Thompson and Julian Higgins
An Overview of Conducting Systematic Reviews with Network Meta-Analysis - Deborah Caldwell
Meta-Analysis of Individual Participant Data: Rationale, Conduct, and Reporting - Richard Riley, Paul Lambert and Ghada Abo-Zaid
Translating the Statistical Representation of the Effects of Education Interventions into More Readily Interpretable Forms - Mark Lipsey et al.
Multivariate Meta-Analysis: Potential and Promise - Dan Jackson et al.
Bayesian Methods in Meta-Analysis and Evidence Synthesis - Alex Sutton and Keith Abrams
Evidence Synthesis, Economics and Public Policy - Ian Shemilt et al.
VOLUME FOUR: QUALITY, RELEVANCE, AND USE
Introduction - D. Gough, J. Thomas and S. Oliver
Part One: Appraising Methods of Review
Extending the PRISMA Statement to Equity-Focused Systematic Reviews (PRISMA-E 2012): Explanation and Elaboration - Vivian Welch et al.
Development of AMSTAR: A Measurement Tool to Assess the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews - Beverley Shea et al.
ROBIS: A New Tool to Assess Risk of Bias in Systematic Reviews Was Developed - Penny Whiting et al.
Epidemiology and Reporting Characteristics of Systematic Reviews of Biomedical Research: A Cross-Sectional Study - Matthew Page et al.
A Systematic Review of the Content of Critical Appraisal Tools - Persis Katrak et al.
GRADE: What Is “Quality of Evidence” and Why Is It Important to Clinicians? - Gordon Guyatt et al.
Using Qualitative Evidence in Decision Making for Health and Social Interventions: An Approach to Assess Confidence in Findings from Qualitative Evidence Syntheses (GRADE-CERQual) - Simon Lewin et al.
A Matter of Taste: Evaluating the Quality of Qualitative Research - Margarete Sandelowski
Digging for Nuggets: How ‘Bad’ Research Can Yield ‘Good’ Evidence - Ray Pawson
Part Two: Appraising, Interpreting, and Using Evidence from Systemic Reviews
GRADE Guidelines: 17. Going from Evidence to Recommendations – Considering Resource Use and Modelling Evidence for Cost-Effectiveness - Ian Shemilt et al.
Evidence Based Medicine: What It Is and What It Isn’t - David Sackett et al.
How Can We Support the Use of Systematic Reviews in Policymaking? - John Lavis
The Many Meanings of Research Utilization - Carol Weiss

About the Author

David Gough is a Professor of Evidence Informed Policy and Practice, and Director of the EPPI-Centre, University College London. His early research focused on child protection services. For the last 20 years, he has concentrated on methods of research synthesis including a DfE centre on evidence informed education, a node of the ESRC National Centre for Research Methods, and a methods unit for NICE. His research on “research use” include the European Commission EIPPEE network, the Science of Using Science review for the Wellcome Trust, the experimental evaluation of the RISE project to encourage evidence use in schools, a study of the UK what works centres for ESRC, and a study of evidence standards in web evidence portals for the Centre for Homelessness Impact. He is a coinvestigator for DfID’s CEDIL project on developing evaluation methodology in international development. He was the comanaging editor of the journal Evidence and Policy from 2009 to 2017.




Sandy Oliver is Professor of Public Policy at UCL Institute of Education and Deputy Director of SSRU and its EPPI-Centre. For twenty five years her interests have focused on the interaction between researchers and people making decisions in their professional and personal lives. With this in mind she has been developing methods to collate knowledge from whole bodies of research – systematic reviews – not just single studies. Most recently this has been in the area of international development where she has conducted systematic reviews and built up a programme of support for research teams conducting reviews elsewhere. She works with DFID and the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research at WHO to build capacity in systematic reviewing in developing countries.

James Thomas is a Professor in Social Policy, Assistant Director of SSRU and Associate Director of the EPPI-Centre He directs the EPPI-Centre′s Reviews Facility for the Department of Health, England, and undertakes systematic reviews across a range of policy areas. He has specialized in developing methods for research synthesis, in particular for qualitative and mixed methods reviews and in using emerging information technologies in research. He leads a module on synthesis and critical appraisal on the EPPI-Centre′s MSc in Evidence for Public Policy and Practice and development on the Centre′s in-house reviewing software, EPPI-Reviewer.