Access the search filter paper in the box on the right.
What is the main objective of this paper?
What is the desired performance of the filter in terms of precision, sensitivity or another measure?
How did the authors find the search filters they tested?
How did the authors identify the validation set of records? What questions would you ask them about their approach?
Why didn't the authors report precision for the handsearched items?
Do the authors report precision for the meta-analysis test set?
How did the authors identify the meta-analyses?
How did the authors update the filter? Would you be able to replicate the methods the authors used?
What do the authors mean in the discussion when they discuss low prevalence - why might this be an issue?
Are there any questions you would ask the authors about the validation set?
This is the paper we are going to appraise:
Geersing G-J, Bouwmeester W, Zuithoff P, Spijker R, Leeflang M, Moons K (2012) Search Filters for Finding Prognostic and Diagnostic Prediction Studies in Medline to Enhance Systematic Reviews. PLoS ONE 7(2): e32844. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0032844