SUMMARIZING RESEARCH FINDINGS: SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS

The explosion of biomedical publishing makes keeping up with the primary studies an impossible task. The often disparate,confusing and contradicting findings of individual studies makes healthcare professionals turn to review articles whereknowledge has been collated and published in summaries. Narr...

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Main Author: Wong Li Ping
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Academy of Family Physicians of Malaysia 2007-01-01
Series:Malaysian Family Physician
Online Access:http://www.e-mfp.org/2007v2n1/pdf/Summarizing_research_findings_systematic_review_and_meta-analysis.pdf
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author Wong Li Ping
author_facet Wong Li Ping
author_sort Wong Li Ping
collection DOAJ
description The explosion of biomedical publishing makes keeping up with the primary studies an impossible task. The often disparate,confusing and contradicting findings of individual studies makes healthcare professionals turn to review articles whereknowledge has been collated and published in summaries. Narrative reviews lack rigorous, systematic and reproduciblesynthesis. In contrast, systematic reviews are conducted using systematic and explicit methods to identify, select and criticallyappraise relevant research, and to collect and analyse data from the studies that are included in the review. The finalpathway for systematic review is a statistical summary of the results of primary studies, or meta-analysis. This article providessome guidelines to health care providers in understanding the key aspects of systematic review and meta-analysis. Stepsinvolved in systematic review are discussed. The potential pitfall of meta-analysis was also explored.
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spelling doaj.art-6156271ebf6c46a4b7818133bc94deef2022-12-22T02:51:17ZengAcademy of Family Physicians of MalaysiaMalaysian Family Physician1985-207X1985-22742007-01-0121812SUMMARIZING RESEARCH FINDINGS: SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSISWong Li PingThe explosion of biomedical publishing makes keeping up with the primary studies an impossible task. The often disparate,confusing and contradicting findings of individual studies makes healthcare professionals turn to review articles whereknowledge has been collated and published in summaries. Narrative reviews lack rigorous, systematic and reproduciblesynthesis. In contrast, systematic reviews are conducted using systematic and explicit methods to identify, select and criticallyappraise relevant research, and to collect and analyse data from the studies that are included in the review. The finalpathway for systematic review is a statistical summary of the results of primary studies, or meta-analysis. This article providessome guidelines to health care providers in understanding the key aspects of systematic review and meta-analysis. Stepsinvolved in systematic review are discussed. The potential pitfall of meta-analysis was also explored.http://www.e-mfp.org/2007v2n1/pdf/Summarizing_research_findings_systematic_review_and_meta-analysis.pdf
spellingShingle Wong Li Ping
SUMMARIZING RESEARCH FINDINGS: SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS
Malaysian Family Physician
title SUMMARIZING RESEARCH FINDINGS: SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS
title_full SUMMARIZING RESEARCH FINDINGS: SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS
title_fullStr SUMMARIZING RESEARCH FINDINGS: SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS
title_full_unstemmed SUMMARIZING RESEARCH FINDINGS: SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS
title_short SUMMARIZING RESEARCH FINDINGS: SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS
title_sort summarizing research findings systematic review and meta analysis
url http://www.e-mfp.org/2007v2n1/pdf/Summarizing_research_findings_systematic_review_and_meta-analysis.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT wongliping summarizingresearchfindingssystematicreviewandmetaanalysis