Skip to Main Content
University of Texas University of Texas Libraries

Systematic Reviews & Evidence Synthesis Methods

Home

What is a Systematic Review?

A systematic review gathers, assesses, and synthesizes all available empirical research on a specific question using a comprehensive search method with an aim to minimize bias.

Or, put another way

A systematic review begins with a specific research question.  Authors of the review gather and evaluate all experimental studies that address the question.  Bringing together the findings of these separate studies allows the review authors to make new conclusions from what has been learned.

 

The key characteristics of a systematic review are:

*Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions; Version 5.1.0 (updated March 2011).  J. P. T. Higgins and S. Green eds.Cochrane Collaboration, 2011. https://handbook-5-1.cochrane.org/front_page.htm 
 

Things to Know Before You Begin . . .

  • Systematic reviews are usually done as a team project, requiring cooperation and a commitment of (lots of) time and effort over an extended period.

  • A systematic review requires a research question that is already well-covered in the primary literature.  That is, if there has been little previous work on the topic, there will be little to analyze and conclusions hard to find.

  • A narrowly-focused research question may add little to the knowledge of the field of study.

  • Team members will need to use research databases for searching the literature.  If these databases are not available through library subscriptions or freely available, their use may require payment or travel.

  • Team members should expect that methods used in past studies to investigate the research question will vary.  Preparing for a systematic review includes planning for what can be accepted and what should be excluded.

Librarians

Lynn Bostwick: Nursing, Nutrition, Pharmacy, Public Health

Meryl Brodsky: Communication and Information Studies

Hannah Chapman Tripp: Biology, Neuroscience

Carolyn Cunningham: Human Development & Family Sciences, Psychology, Sociology

Larayne Dallas: Engineering

Liz DeHart: Marine Science

Grant Hardaway: Educational Psychology, Kinesiology & Health Education, Social Work

Janelle Hedstrom: Special Education, Curriculum & Instruction, Ed Leadership & Policy

Susan Macicak: Linguistics

Imelda Vetter: Dell Medical School

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic License.