what do i do with the literature when i’ve found it? alison brettle, lecturer (information...
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What do I do with the literature when I’ve found it?
Alison Brettle, Lecturer (Information Specialist)School of Nursing and Midwifery
University of Salford
Session Overview
Challenges, techniques and tools for managing and presenting your literature
Practical Discussion Toolkit/Wiki
Exercise
In groups List 3
challenges to managing your information
Identify 3 solutions
Solution 1: Be systematic
Can still be systematic even if not doing a systematic review
Borrow some of the systematic review principles and approaches
Borrow/adapt tools that you would use in a systematic review
Systematic review process
Define/focus the question Develop a protocol Search the literature (possibly 2 stages scoping
and actual searches) Refine the inclusion/exclusion criteria Assess the studies (data extraction tools, 2
independent reviewers) Combine the results of the studies to produce
conclusion– can be a qualitative or quantitative (meta-analysis)
Place findings in context – quality and heterogeniety of studies, applicability of findings
Ways to be systematic
Develop a protocol Provides a methodology for you to
follow Keeps you focussed and on track Keeps a record (good evidence for your
thesis)
Solution 2: Clarity
What are you trying to achieve with your lit review?
What questions are you trying to answer? Clarity about this will help
You to work out what you need to get out of the papers
How you can focus and structure your report/chapter/paper
Solution 3: Make use of technology
Use a reference management package
Need to invest some time up front this will be returned later (in the really stressful stages of your thesis writing)
Import direct from databases
Organise within the software
Cite as you write Organise bibliographies
and reference lists
Solution 4: Break it down
Break your review/work into chunks
Searching Screening Refining your question
and your search Extracting/appraising Synthesising
Searching
Quick and dirty (scoping)
Refine Comprehensive search
(of databases) – load all onto reference management package (don’t go through)
After screening – Refine and additional sources
Screening
Establish some criteria/rationale/framework – based on aims (and apply to all)
Screen by title and abstract
Screen by full text Use a screening tool Update and record on
reference management software
Extraction/critical appraisal
Need to extract what is relevant to your review and critique it (back to your aims)
Make use of pre-defined tools (adapt accordingly)
Assessing quality – systems available – be explicit if you are going to do this
Think how you are going to record them/use them (hard copy or electronic)
Think how you are going to store them
Synthesise
Begin with an overview – summary (volume, nature and quality of evidence)
What are your themes? Think back to your aims
and what you are trying to achieve
Report on the parts of the papers that speak to these aims – remember to critique rather than simply be descriptive
What is your end message?
Exercises
In groups – choose a topic and draft a protocol
In a group – choose a topic and draft a screening tool
Individually – outline your inclusion/exclusion criteria and draft a screening tool
Individually – articulate your aims and map out the themes for your literature review
Systematic review models
Medical/Health care Cochrane Collaboration, NHS Centre for
Reviews and Dissemination Usually includes “high quality” research
evidence – RCTs Often includes meta-analysis (mathematical
synthesis of results of 2+ studies that addressed same hypothesis in same way)
Social care/Social Sciences SCIE, EPPI Centre, Campbell Collaboration Often include wider range of studies including
qualitative Often narrative synthesis of evidence
Useful resources – systematic reviews
Cochrane Collaboration http://www.cochrane.org/ http://www.cochrane.org/docs/irmg.htm
Centre for Reviews and Dissemination http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/
handbook for conducting systematic reviews, http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/methods.htm Searching for systematic reviews http://
www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/revs.htm EPPI-Centre – Stages of a review
http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Default.aspx?tabid=89 SCIE - The conduct of systematic research reviews for SCIE
knowledge reviews http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/details.asp?
pubID=111
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