2. Literature Reviews
4th Research Summer School
12 June 2012
Taghreed Justinia Msc PhD
Asst. Professor, Department of Health Informatics
Asst. Director, Information & Communication Technology
KSAU-HS, NGHA
Tel. +966 2 6240000 ext 26217 / 26210
Email: JustiniaT@ngha.med.sa
3. In this session…
Definition and understanding of a literature review
Important steps in literature review writing
Critical appraisal of journals, articles and websites
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4. Literature Search
The best way to find high quality information is to
carry out a literature search on one or more databases
and to download, copy or request relevant current
publications on the topic/s of interest.
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5. What is a research literature
review?
It is a systematic, explicit and reproducible method
for identifying, evaluating, and synthesizing the
existing body of completed and recorded work
produced by researchers, scholars, and practitioners.
Fink, A. (2005). Conducting Research Literature Reviews. London: Sage.
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6. Steps in
literature review writing
Selecting the research questions
Selecting the sources
Choosing search terms
Conducting the search
Applying practical screening criteria
Critically appraising the literature
Journals & Articles
Websites
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8. Research questions influence
search results
High =
lots of
articles Broad
Questions
Retrieval
(# of search
results)
Narrow
Questions
Low =
very few
articles
Low = mostly High = directly
irrelevant articles Relevancy relevant articles
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9. Possible research questions
Broad question:
What is the prevalence of bacterial meningitis?
Narrow question:
What costs are associated with hospitalization for bacterial
meningitis?
Very narrow question:
What strategies have been utilized in Saudi Arabia to reduce length
of stay for patients with bacterial meningitis?
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11. Literature review data sources
Online public bibliographic databases
Commercial bibliographic databases
Specialized bibliographic databases
Manual or “hand searches” of references lists
“Grey literature”
Web reports
Expert opinions
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12. Bibliographic Databases
Medicine
MEDLINE (PubMed or Ovid), EMBASE, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO
Multidisciplinary
Scopus
Web of Science
Nursing and Allied Health
CINAHL
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13. Websites
Associations, Organizations & Government
World Health Organization (WHO)
Health Canada
Canadian Medical Association
UK National Health Service (NHS)
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15. Citation List
Searching databases will result in a list of citations,
which include the information needed to locate the
articles in print journals and other sources
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17. Be Critical
Once you have obtained the papers most relevant to
your question you should consider a number of things
before using the results.
This applies even when the publications are from peer
reviewed journals.
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18. Publication Bias
Negative results don’t (often) get published – If you
want to carry out a detailed or systematic review of a
subject area, you might consider trying to get hold of
unpublished studies.
Reviewers may be biased against unconventional versus
conventional techniques (eg orthodox drug versus
alternative therapy).
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19. Authorship
Are the authors based at a well-established Centre of
Excellence?
Are there any issues of sponsorship or competing
interests?
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20. Journal Ranking &
Impact Factors
Impact Factor is:
A measure of the frequency with which the "average
article" in a journal has been cited in a particular year or
period
The impact factor of a journal is linked to its
popularity and accessibility
Journals with higher impact factors in a subject area
are generally more highly regarded
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21. Abstract Quality
Read the paper carefully; don’t rely on only the abstract
Many abstracts in peer reviewed journals have errors
Three common types of inaccuracies are:
data inconsistent in abstract and body of the paper,
tables, and figures
data or information in the abstract do not appear
elsewhere
conclusions in the abstract not substantiated in the paper
itself
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23. Be critical, be selective
The peer review system for journal articles provides a
degree of quality control.
However, anybody can put anything on the web (you
have to do your own critical appraisal).
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24. What to consider
Content
consider intended audience, purpose of site, accuracy
are the sources of information provided?
Source; Consider
author(s)
is it current and up to date?
depth/breadth of coverage
bias – are there any conflicts of interest
Structure; Consider
graphics, presentation, ease of use, clarity
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25. Don’t forget!
Your subject librarian can always help you. Don’t waste
that valuable resource.
Make an point to meet your medical/university
librarian to assist and advise you on your literature
searches and literature reviews.
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26. Useful References
Fink, A. (2005). Conducting Research Literature Reviews. London:
Sage.
Greenhalgh, T. (2006). How to read a paper (3rd ed.). London: BMJ
Publishing Group.
Sackett, D., Straus, S., & Richardson, W. (2000). Evidence-based
medicine (2nd ed.). Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone.
Wilson, P. (2002). How to find the good and avoid the bad or
ugly. A short guide to tools for rating quality of health
information on the internet. BMJ, 324, 598-602.
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27. Useful Sites
NHS Solutions for Public Health
http://www.sph.nhs.uk/what-we-do/public-health-workforce/resources
CADTH. Grey Matters: a practical search tool for evidence-based
medicine - http://cadth.ca/en/resources/grey-matters
Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews and Interventions -
http://www.cochrane-handbook.org/
IOM (Institute of Medicine). Finding what works in health care:
standards for systematic reviews -
http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2011/Finding-What-Works-in-Health-Care-Stan
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