Literature Review and Evidence Synthesis

The EQUATOR Network = The Enhancing the Quality and Transparency of health research Network is an international initiative aimed at promoting transparent and accurate reporting of health research studies to enhance the value and reliability of medical research literature. This site provides reporting guidelines for the various types of research found in health care studies. 

Critical Review
Aims to demonstrate writer has extensively researched literature and critically evaluated its quality. Goes beyond mere description to include degree of analysis and conceptual innovation.  Typically results in hypothesis or mode.

Grant, M. J. and Booth, A. (2009), A typology of reviews: an analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 26: 91–108. doi:10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00848.x

Rapid Review
A process-limited systematic review designed to provide timely evidence-based support for policy decisions.

Lorenzetti, D. L., Pethrick, H., Nowell, L., Lorenzetti, L., Jacobsen, M., & Oddone-Paolucci, E. (2020). Mentorship in medical residency education: Anatomy of a systematic review. SAGE Research Methods Cases. doi:10.4135/9781529714180

Mixed Methods Review
Mixed-methods systematic reviews can be defined as combining the findings of qualitative and quantitative studies within a single systematic review to address the same overlapping or complementary review questions.

Harden A.  Mixed-Methods Systematic Reviews: Integrating quantitative and qualitative findings.  NCDDR:FOCUS. 2010.

Integrative Review
A review method that summarizes past empirical or theoretical literature to provide a more comprehensive understanding of a particular phenomenon or healthcare problem.

Broome, M. E. (2000). Integrative Literature Reviews for the Development of Concepts. In B. Rodgers & K. Knafl (Authors), Concept Development in Nursing (pp. 231-250). Philadelphia, PA: W.B. Saunders Company.

Realist review
A theory-driven method for exploring complex social processes and how they work.

Lorenzetti, D. L., Pethrick, H., Nowell, L., Lorenzetti, L., Jacobsen, M., & Oddone-Paolucci, E. (2020). Mentorship in medical residency education: Anatomy of a systematic review. SAGE Research Methods Cases. doi:10.4135/9781529714180

State‐of‐the‐art review
Tend to address more current matters in contrast to other combined retrospective and current approaches. May offer new perspectives on issue or point out area for further research

Grant, M. J. and Booth, A. (2009), A typology of reviews: an analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 26: 91–108. doi:10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00848.x

• Advances in Rapid Reviews

  This collection covers recent advancements in methods, including full rapid review research articles and methodologies, as well as particular developments to facilitate the timely production of systematic reviews.

• Expediting systematic reviews: methods and implications of rapid reviews

  This review sought to examine methods used for rapid reviews, as well as implications of methodological streamlining in terms of rigour, bias, and results.

• Meeting the review family: exploring review types and associated information retrieval requirements.

  This study aims to characterise health related reviews by type and to provide recommendations on appropriate methods of information retrieval based on the available guidance.

• Mixed-Methods Systematic Reviews: Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Findings

  An article describing a mixed-methods systematic review.

• Text‐in‐context: a method for extracting findings in mixed‐methods mixed research synthesis studies

  Our purpose in this paper is to propose a new method for extracting findings from research reports included in mixed‐methods mixed research synthesis studies.

• A typology of reviews: an analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies.

  The expansion of evidence-based practice across sectors has lead to an increasing variety of review types. However, the diversity of terminology used means that the full potential of these review types may be lost amongst a confusion of indistinct and misapplied terms. The objective of this study is to provide descriptive insight into the most common types of reviews, with illustrative examples from health and health information domains.