The Campbell Collaboration's Conduct Standards recommend that researchers search "as extensive as possible to reduce the risk of publication bias and to identify as much relevant evidence as possible." For engineering education reviews this may mean searching both scientific databases as well as educational or psychological databases.
For assistance in selecting databases, you can contact your librarian.
A systematic review is a research method that is designed to answer a research question(s) by identifying, coding, appraising, and synthesizing a group of studies investigating the same question(s). This method is utilized in disciplines such as education, behavioral and social sciences, medicine, public health, and others to answer a variety of questions: effectiveness of an intervention or policy, prevalence, tests/diagnosis, and more.
It is common to confuse systematic and literature reviews as both are used to provide a summary of the existent literature or research on a specific topic. Even with this common ground, both types vary significantly. Please review the following chart (and its corresponding poster linked below) for the detailed explanation of each as well as the differences between each type of review.
Systematic Review | Literature Review | |
---|---|---|
Definition | High-level overview of primary research on a focused question that identifies, selects, synthesizes, and appraises all high quality research evidence relevant to that question | Qualitatively summarizes evidence on a topic using informal or subjective methods to collect and interpret studies |
Goals | Answers a focused clinical question Eliminate bias |
Provide summary or overview of topic |
Question | Clearly defined and answerable clinical question Recommend using PICO as a guide |
Can be a general topic or a specific question |
Components | Pre-specified eligibility criteria Systematic search strategy Assessment of the validity of findings Interpretation and presentation of results Reference list |
Introduction Methods Discussion Conclusion Reference list |
Number of Authors | Three or more | One or more |
Timeline | Months to years Average eighteen months |
Weeks to months |
Requirement | Thorough knowledge of topic Perform searches of all relevant databases Statistical analysis resources (for meta-analysis) |
Understanding of topic |
Value | Connects practicing clinicians to high quality evidence Supports evidence-based practice |
Provides summary of literature on the topic |
This table was created by Kat Phillips of PennState University, and is available on their Guide to Nursing.
A systematic review is a research method that is designed to answer a research question(s) by identifying, coding, appraising, and synthesizing a group of studies investigating the same question(s). This method is utilized in disciplines such as education, behavioral and social sciences, medicine, public health, and others to answer a variety of questions: effectiveness of an intervention or policy, prevalence, tests/diagnosis, and more.
P: Plan - Decide on the methods of the systematic review before conducting it.
I: Identify - Systematically search for studies using predetermined criteria.
E: Evaluate - Sort all retrieved articles into included or excluded categories; then assess the risk of bias for each included study.
C: Collect/Combine - Create a coding form to capture study characteristics; then synthesize data qualitatively or quantitatively.
E: Explain - Contextualize synthesis results, noting strengths and weaknesses of the studies.
S: Summarize - Report or describe methods and results in a clear and transparent manner.