Developing a question

Considerations

Whilst the systematic review is the most widely known review type there are many other types of review, that may be more appropriate in answering your question.

The review type you choose can determine many other factors in your project, so it is worth spending some time confirming that you have selected the most appropriate review type.  

Below are some suggested resources to help guide your decision.

If you are still unsure contact your local specialist health librarian.

Considerations:

Researchers are often looking at updating existing reviews.  In this case you will need to fully detail why this is appropriate - new technologies, different focus, new studies etc.

Undertaking a review that is too similar to existing publications may affect your own publication chances.

Similarly you do not want to start undertaking a review project that you can see is already in progress elsewhere.

Here are some spaces that researchers register their review protocols. 

Considerations:

An underdeveloped question will raise problems later in the process, particularly in the screening stages.

If the question is too focussed there may not be enough studies to synthesise.  If it is too broad the review could become overwhelming.

Have you fully considered all the PICO elements in detail?  Particularly how the O element will be synthesised.

Undertaking some initial scoping searches can help to establish the size of a topic.

SA Health staff can request a literature search using this link.