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Systematic Reviews for Social Sciences

Develop the Question

A well-defined research question helps identify the concepts to search to answer your question.  

  • Clearly state the objectives of the review (what question are you trying to answer?)
  • Ask yourself if you've considered the FINER components:
    • Feasibility: Is the question answerable? Is it doable?
    • Interesting: Is  your question interesting to others besides yourself?  Does it fill a meaningful gap in the literature?
    • Novel: Is your question novel? New? Looking at a different population?
    • Ethical: Is it ethical?
    • Relevant: Is it relevant or practical for policy and/or /practice?

Search Frameworks

Search frameworks help you create a research question by suggesting elements you to consider. Not all questions are suited for a single framework. Common frameworks for the interdisciplinary research are found below. For health/medical topics, please see the USF Health Libraries Systematic Review guide.

PIECES

  • Planning-  the methods of the systematic review are generally decided before conducting it.  
  • Identifying- searching for studies which match the preset criteria in a systematic manner
  • Evaluating- sort all retrieved articles (included or  excluded) and assess the risk of bias for each included study
  • Collecting/combining: each study is coded with preset form, either qualitatively or quantitatively synthesize data.
  • Explaining:  placed results of synthesis into context, strengths and weaknesses of the studies 
  • Summarizing: report is provides description of methods and results in a clear and transparent manner

ECLIPSE

  • Expectation - Why is the information needed?
  • Client Group - Who needs, or will use, the information?
  • Location - Where is the service taking place?
  • Impact - What is being evaluated? How will success be measured?
  • Professionals - Who provides the service?
  • Service - What is the service being evaluated?