Step 1: Completing the pre-review tasks below will help you prepare for conducting a systematic review. During this step you will:
Refer to the rest of this page to see what you should know about PRISMA for this step, different question frameworks, who to have on your systematic review team, and how a librarian can help you complete pre-review tasks.
Purpose:
By using a systematic approach to assessing primary research, systematic reviews aim to provide an up-to-date summary of the state of research knowledge on an intervention, diagnostic test, prognostic factor or other health or healthcare topic. These reviews aim to minimize bias using pre-specified research questions and methods that are documented in protocols, and by basing their findings on reliable research. Systematic reviews were developed out of a need to ensure that decisions affecting people's lives can be informed by an up-to-date and complete understanding of the relevant research process (Lasserson et al., 2023).
Process:
The seven steps in this guide will outline the process of a systematic review. For more information to gain understanding on the process or purpose of these types of reviews, please see the two resources below:
In this stage, the librarian on your team can help you:
PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) are reporting guidelines. PRISMA details what should be reported about your systematic review. Below are helpful documents for the pre-review stage, you can familiarize yourself with the PRISMA checklist and flow diagram. For more information on PRISMA, you can refer to the PRISMA website (linked below).
When building your systematic review team, consider these points:
For quantitative research topics (therapy, diagnosis, prognosis, etiology/harm, and prevention) the PICO question framework is useful. The PICO framework helps refine your research question using four concepts: population, intervention, comparison, and outcome.
| PICO | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Patient/Population/Problem | Who is my question focused on? | Infants diagnosed with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) |
| Intervention | What is the proposed new intervention? | Early enteral refeeding |
| Comparison (optional) | What is the current or alternative state? | Late enteral re-feeding |
| Outcome | What is the measurable outcome being impacted? | NEC recurrence |
Research question based on PICO framework: In infants diagnosed with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), what is the effect of early enteral refeeding on NEC recurrence compared with late enteral refeeding?
The PEO format is useful for qualitative research topics. It uses three concepts: population, exposure, and outcome.
| PEO | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Population | Who is my question focused on? |
mothers |
| Exposure | What is the issue I'm interested in? | postnatal depression |
| Outcome | What, in relation to the issue, do I want to examine? | daily living experiences |
Research question based on PEO framework: What are the daily living experiences of mothers with postnatal depression?
The SPIDER question format can be used for qualitative or mixed methods research topics focusing on "samples" rather than populations. SPIDER questions use five concepts: sample, phenomenon of interest, design, evaluation, and research type.
| SPIDER | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Sample | Who is the group of people being studied? | young parents |
| Phenomenon of Interest | What are the reasons for behavior and decisions? | attendance at antenatal education classes |
| Design | How has the research been collected (e.g. interview, survey)? | interviews |
| Evaluation | What is the outcome being impacted? | experiences |
| Research Type | What type of research (qualitative or mixed methods)? | qualitative studies |
Research question based on SPIDER framework: What are the experiences of young parents in attendance at antenatal education classes?
For qualitative research topics in which the goal is to evaluate the outcomes of a service, project, or intervention the SPICE question format can be used. The SPICE format uses five concepts: setting perspective, intervention/exposure/interest, comparison, and evaluation.
| Element | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Setting | the context for the question (where) | South Carolina |
| Perspective | The users, potential users, or stakeholders of the service (for whom) | teenagers |
| Intervention/Interest/Exposure | the action taken for the users, potential users, or stakeholders (what) | provision of Quit Kits to support smoking cessation |
| Comparison | the alternative actions or outcomes (compared to what) | no support or "cold turkey" |
| Evaluation | the results or measurement that will determine the success of the intervention (what is the results, how well) | number of successful attempts to give up smoking with Quit Kits compared to number of successful attempts with no support |
Research question based on SPICE framework: For teenagers in South Carolina, what is the effect of provision of Quit Kits to support smoking cessation on number of successful attempts to give up smoking compared to no support ("cold turkey")?
Lasserson TJ, Thomas J, Higgins JPT. Chapter 1: Starting a review. In: Higgins JPT, Thomas J, Chandler J, Cumpston M, Li T, Page MJ, Welch VA (editors). Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions version 6.4 (updated August 2023). Cochrane, 2023. Available from www.training.cochrane.org/handbook.
Image used on this page was found on the UNC Systematic Review LibGuide
The design of this page was adapted in part from Research: By Course, Subject, or Topic, by University of Arizona Libraries, © 2020 The Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of The University of Arizona, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.