Synthesis Review Toolkit Introduction: Synthesis Review Toolkit
Synthesis Review Toolkit
Researchers, graduate students, and healthcare professionals at some stage of knowledge inquiry may need to conduct a synthesis review. Whether it is a systematic review, realist review or other review type, embarking upon a synthesis review is no walk in the park - it is a marathon.
Synthesis reviews follow a predetermined, yet flexible, design and are an iterative process. To guide you on your journey, there are seven guides, each of which describes the key stages common to most synthesis reviews. While all stages are included, there is more detailed information on Stages 1 and 2.
Click on the "Stage" to navigate to the guide.
Stage 1 - Getting Started: Choosing what type of synthesis review is right for your research, developing your research question, scoping the literature, and writing and registering a review protocol
Stage 2 - Developing your Search: Identifying search terms, selecting databases, and creating a plan for documenting the search strategy
Stage 3 - Screening: Conducting initial waves of screening, choosing inclusion and exclusion criteria, and planning for citation disagreements
Stage 4 - Extracting Data: Organizing your data
Stage 5 - Assessing Quality: Assessment of individual quality and cumulative evidence of included sources
Stage 6 - Analysis & Synthesis: Choosing the type of data analysis to synthesize and analyze your included studies
Stage 7 - Writing your Review: Disseminating your research and structuring articles according to reporting standards
