Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Master the Gold Standard of Evidence-Based Research
About the Course
The Systematic Review and Meta-analysis is a rigorous, 4-session program designed to move researchers from clinical observation to high-impact evidence synthesis. This course bridges the gap between simple literature reviews and the gold standard of secondary research. You will master the systematic identification of studies, the use of specialized screening software like Rayyan, and the statistical power of pooling data to create Forest Plots. By the end of this course, you will have a complete roadmap to produce a manuscript that sits at the pinnacle of the evidence pyramid.
Course Modules
Conceptualization, PICO & Protocol Registration
• The Hierarchy of Evidence and the Role of Systematic Reviews: Understanding why SRs are the foundation of modern clinical guidelines and evidence-based medicine.
• Formulating Navigable Research Questions via PICO/PECO Frameworks: Defining precise Population, Intervention, Comparison, and Outcome parameters to minimize search noise.
• Protocol Development and PROSPERO Registration Requirements: Learning to pre-declare your methodology to ensure transparency and protect your research from duplication.
• PRISMA Statement Compliance and Reporting Standards: Aligning your study from day one with the international checklist required by high-impact journals.
Advanced Search Strategy & Title/Abstract Screening
• Building Complex Boolean Search Strings for Multiple Databases: Mastering proximity operators and MeSH terms to exhaustively search PubMed, Scopus, and Embase.
• Managing Bibliographic Data and Removing Duplicates: Using Mendeley or Zotero to organize thousands of results into a clean, workable library.
• Efficient Screening using Rayyan and AI-Assisted Tools: Collaborative techniques for blinded title and abstract screening to ensure inter-rater reliability.
• The PRISMA Flow Diagram and Full-Text Eligibility: Documenting the inclusion and exclusion process to maintain the rigorous standards of systematic reporting.
Quality Assessment & Data Extraction Matrices
• Evaluating Methodological Quality via Risk of Bias Tools: Utilizing the Cochrane RoB 2.0 for trials or Newcastle-Ottawa for observational studies to judge evidence certainty.
• Designing Standardized Data Extraction Forms: Building matrices that accurately capture both qualitative study characteristics and raw quantitative data.
• Handling Missing Data and Communicating with Authors: Professional strategies for managing incomplete datasets to prevent exclusion bias.
• Ensuring Consistency through Pilot Extraction: Techniques for calibrating extraction between multiple reviewers to minimize human error.
Quantitative Synthesis & Meta-analysis Software
• Statistical Foundations of Effect Sizes and Pooling Data: Understanding the mechanics of Mean Differences, Odds Ratios, and the Random-effects model.
• Generating and Interpreting Forest Plots and Heterogeneity: Using software like RevMan or R to visualize pooled results and calculate the $I^2$ statistic.
• Detecting Publication Bias via Funnel Plots and Egger’s Test: Learning to identify if small, negative studies have been suppressed in the existing literature.
• The GRADE Approach for Evidence Certainty: Summarizing the strength of your findings to make definitive clinical or policy recommendations.
Course Outcomes
Instructors
