INSTRUCTIONS

appraise a systematic review or meta-analysis that matches your topic of interest, but if you have not been able to find one, then please find one on a related topic. When using the “PRISMA” checklist this week, you only need to list the page numbers on the PRISMA checklist.

So, what is a systematic review?  In short, this is a type of research wherein the researcher(s) gather all of the published evidence on a given topic or issue, review it, and summarize it.  It is not primary research where an “experiment” is performed and the results are measured.  It’s kind of like a really comprehensive review of literature except that the literature is all based on primary research.  This type of reading is often helpful when you are trying to learn about a specific issue as it summarizes what is known about the issue.  Reading a systematic review may actually help you avoid reading each and every research article about a given topic.  It may also guide you to read specific research reports that will give you more detail.

A meta-analysis is similar in that it will summarize the research that has been done on a topic.  However, in a meta-analysis, the researcher(s) will look at the all of the raw data that was obtained through various individual studies and then convert it so that new statistical analyses can be run on all of the data combined.

Be sure to upload a copy of the article with your PRISMA checklist.