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Systematic Reviews

Extract Data from Included Studies

Step 6: Now that the team has completed screening, extracting data from the final included studies will be conducted by two, blinded reviewers to reduce bias and ensure data quality control.

Next steps:

  1. Make sure full text of all included studies are collected.
  2. Develop extraction form/table based on your inclusion criteria and what data you want to collect and synthesize. This information should be outlined in your review's protocol.
  3. Decide what method/resource will be used for data collection (Covidence, excel spreadsheet, Qualtrics, RevMan, etc.)
  4. Pilot the form, train team members on how to use it.
  5. Adjust data collection form as needed.
  6. Begin extracting!
  7. Review data for errors/clean up table for final manuscript

How a librarian can help

In step 6 a librarian can advise you on data extraction for your systematic review, including: 

  • What the data extraction stage of the review entails
  • Finding examples in the literature of similar reviews and their completed data tables
  • How to choose what data to extract from your included articles 
  • How to create a randomized sample of citations for a pilot test
  • Best practices for reporting your included studies and their important data in your review

Covidence Extraction Templates

To try out these template versions in Covidence, go to demo review to explore their features to help decide which one best suits your needs. Just go to the "Your Reviews" page and scroll to the bottom to see this option. The demo review is pre-populated with some test data and resets regularly.

Credits

This page was based on pages from the University of North Carolina Health Sciences Library and Duke University Medical Center Library & Archives guides on screening in systematic reviews. We are grateful for their support and assistance.