Narrative Review
Literature (Narrative) Review
A broad term referring to reviews with a wide scope and non-standardized methodology.
- Search strategies, comprehensiveness, and time range covered vary and do not follow an established protocol.
Evidence Synthesis
- According to the Royal Society, 'evidence synthesis' refers to the process of bringing together information from a range of sources and disciplines to inform debates and decisions on specific issues.
- They generally include a methodical and comprehensive literature synthesis focused on a well-formulated research question.
- Their aim is to identify and synthesize all of the scholarly research on a particular topic, including both published and unpublished studies. Evidence syntheses are conducted in an unbiased, reproducible way to provide evidence for practice and policy-making, as well as to identify gaps in the research.
- Evidence syntheses may also include a meta-analysis, a more quantitative process of synthesizing and visualizing data retrieved from various studies.
Evidence syntheses are much more time-intensive than traditional literature reviews and usually require a multi-person research team. Systematic Reviews are one type of evidence synthesis. Before embarking on an evidence synthesis, it's important to clearly identify your reasons for conducting one.
Other Types of Evidence Synthesis
Scoping Review
Systematically and transparently collect and categorize existing evidence on a broad question of policy or management importance.
- Seeks to identify research gaps and opportunities for evidence synthesis rather than searching for the effect of an intervention.
- May critically evaluate existing evidence but does not attempt to synthesize the results in the way a systematic review would.
- May take longer than a systematic review.
- See: JBI for methodological guidance
- See PRISMA Scoping Review for reporting guidelines
Rapid Review
Applies systematic review methodology within a time-constrained setting.
Umbrella Review
Reviews other systematic reviews on a topic.
- Often defines a broader question that is typical of a traditional systematic review.
- Most useful when there are competing interventions to consider.
Meta-Analysis
Statistical technique for combining the findings from a disparate quantitative studies.
- Uses statistical methods to objectively evaluate, synthesize, and summarize results.
- May be conducted independently or as part of a systematic review.
Source: A typology of reviews: an analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Grant MJ & Booth A. Health information and Libraries Journal year: 2009 26(2):91 -108. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00848.x.
