Library Research Guides: Systematic reviews: Built environment

This page contains information for conducting a systematic review in Built Environment studies. This includes formal guidelines, reporting standards, protocol development and registration information, search construction and analysis, critical appraisal as well as recommended method books, chapters and papers.

For database and search translation advice, please see the relevant Library Research Guides for your subject area:

Guidelines

This section contains guidelines for conducting a systematic review of studies of the Built Environment.

Guidelines and standards for evidence synthesis in environmental management
Produced by the Collaboration for Environmental Evidence (CEE). The latest guidelines for the planning and conduct of CEE Evidence Syntheses in environmental management.
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Collaboration for Environmental Evidence. 2018. Guidelines and Standards for Evidence synthesis in Environmental Management. Version 5.0 (AS Pullin, GK Frampton, B Livoreil & G Petrokofsky, Eds) www.environmentalevidence.org/information-for-authors.
Rapid reviews for the built environment: Methodology and guidelines
A guideline to conducting a 'rapid review' as an alternative synthesis method for research in the Built Environment field. Contains editable templates of tables and diagrams you can use in your review as well as evidence typology.
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Lagisz, M, Samarasinghe, G, Nakagawa, S (2018) Rapid reviews for the built environment -
Methodology and guidelines. CRCLCL. Sydney, Australia.
Knowledge synthesis for environmental decisions: An evaluation of existing methods, and guidance for their selection, use and development.
The EKLIPSE project formed an Expert Working Group on Knowledge Synthesis Methods to compile guidance on available KSMs, and develop a process for selecting among them. This report is the first output from the Expert Group on Knowledge Synthesis Methods. Provides recommendations on a broad variety of knowledge synthesis methods for environmental decision making.

Reporting standards

Reporting standards aim to improve the standards of reporting in evidence synthesis. Utilising reporting standards will ensure all the relevant methodological information is included for the peer-review process.

ROSES
Reporting standards for systematic evidence syntheses in environmental research. Also see ROSES flow diagrams to report the flow of articles through the searching, screening and data extraction phases.
ROSES RepOrting standards for Systematic Evidence Syntheses: pro forma, flow-diagram and descriptive summary of the plan and conduct of environmental systematic reviews and systematic maps.
Article on the limitations of PRISMA as a pre-submission checklist for Built Environment synthesis. Details ROSES as an alternative, and the rationale and testing behind its creation.
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Haddaway, N.R., Macura, B., Whaley, P. et al. ROSES RepOrting standards for Systematic Evidence Syntheses: pro forma, flow-diagram and descriptive summary of the plan and conduct of environmental systematic reviews and systematic maps. Environmental Evidence 7, 7 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13750-018-0121-7

Protocol development and registration

A review protocol defines the scope of a systematic review including the research question/s, populations, settings and outcomes. The search strategy for retrieving papers is also outlined in the protocol. Register your systematic review protocol to ensure your topic is not duplicated unknowingly by another researcher.

Open Science Framework (OSF)
Preregister your systematic review with OSF Registries.
Prospero
PROSPERO is an international database of prospectively registered systematic reviews in health and social care, welfare, public health, education, crime, justice, and international development, where there is a health-related outcome. If your review topic measures health-related outcomes, register your protocol with PROSPERO.

Search construction and analysis

Learn how to develop a database search that retrieves all the published literature on a research topic.

PRESS Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies: 2015 Guideline Statement
Detailed recommendation on search strategies for systematic reviews. Includes checklist and practical advice.

Critical appraisal

CASP Checklists
A set of eight critical appraisal tools that are designed to be used when reading research. CASP has appraisal checklists designed for use with Systematic Reviews, Randomised Controlled Trials, Cohort Studies, Case Control Studies, Economic Evaluations, Diagnostic Studies, Qualitative studies and Clinical Prediction Rule.
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Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (2022). CASP Checklists. https://casp-uk.net/casp-tools-checklists/

Method books, chapters and papers

A selection of books, book chapters and research papers on systematic review methods.

Meta-analysis and meta-regression
Chapter 10 of Advanced Quantitative Research Methods for Urban Planners. Details how to conduct a meta-analysis of planning research.
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Ewing, R., & Park, K. (Eds.). (2020). Advanced quantitative research methods for urban planners. Taylor & Francis Group.
A practical guide to question formation, systematic searching and study screening for literature reviews in ecology and evolution
A practical guide for ecologists on formulating a research question for a systematic review, and retrieving research articles that provide a representative sample of findings. Outlines clear steps with examples and training exercises.
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Foo, Y. Z., O’Dea, R. E., Koricheva, J., Nakagawa, S., & Lagisz, M. (2021). A practical guide to question formation, systematic searching and study screening for literature reviews in ecology and evolution. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 12(9), 1705–1720. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13654
Evaluation of systematic literature reviews in built environment research
Chapter 6 in the book Secondary Research Methods in the Built Environment. Discusses how systematic reviews are conducted in built environment research and proposes methodological improvements.
In this chapter, the authors recommend five primary steps and provide direct suggestions for best practices. These steps are: (a) formulate research question, (b) locate the literature, (c) select and evaluate the literature, (d) analyse and synthesise the studies, and (e) report the review results. These steps aim at providing guidance for conducting SLR in the area of built environment.
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Chelliah, V., Thounaojam, N., Devkar, G., & Laishram, B. (2021). Evaluation of systematic literature reviews in built environment research. What are we doing and how can we improve?. In Manu, E., & Akotia, J. (Eds.). Secondary Research Methods in the Built Environment (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi-org.ezproxy.bond.edu.au/10.1201/9781003000532
Taking STOX: developing a cross disciplinary methodology for systematic reviews of research on the built environment and the health of the public
Details information sources for cross-disciplinary reviews in Built Environment and Health Care and proposes a new model for the classification of evidence (STOX model).
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Weaver, N., Williams, J. L., Weightman, A. L., Kitcher, H. N., Temple, J. M., Jones, P., & Palmer, S. (2002). Taking STOX: developing a cross disciplinary methodology for systematic reviews of research on the built environment and the health of the public. Journal of epidemiology and community health, 56(1), 48–55. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.56.1.48