Social work
This page contains information for conducting a systematic review in social work. 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.
Guidelines
Comprehensive guides to conducting a systematic review in Social Work from protocol development to reporting the results.
- MECCIR Conduct Standards (docx)
Methodological Expectations of Campbell Collaboration Intervention Reviews (MECCIR) are standards for the conduct of Campbell systematic reviews of intervention effects. - SCIE systematic research reviews: Guidelines
A comprehensive guide to undertaking a systematic review in Social Work from The Social Care Institute for Excellence.
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.
- MECCIR Reporting Standards
Methodological expectations of Campbell Collaboration intervention reviews: Reporting standards
Details the methodological expectations of the Campbell Collaboration in reviewing intervention effect. Includes an editable table to record and track methods in your study.
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. - PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses)
PRISMA is an evidence-based minimum set of items for reporting in systematic reviews and meta-analyses. PRISMA primarily focuses on the reporting of reviews evaluating the effects of interventions, but can also be used as a basis for reporting systematic reviews with objectives other than evaluating interventions (e.g. evaluating aetiology, prevalence, diagnosis or prognosis). Includes checklists and PRISMA flow diagram templates.
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. - Searching for studies: A guide to information retrieval for Campbell Systematic Reviews.
A comprehensive guide to information sources, search planning, search strategies, reference management, text mining, and reporting and documenting the search.
- PRISMA-S for SearchingPRISMA-S is an extension to the PRISMA Statement for Reporting Literature Searches in Systematic Reviews. Use the checklist to ensure your literature search is adequately reported in your review document. Covers information sources and methods, search strategies, peer review and managing records.
Critical appraisal
Critical appraisal tools are frameworks used to evaluate the quality of studies included in your review. Decide how you will critically appraise the studies before you begin your review, and use them to inform the inclusion and exclusion criteria.
- Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) Evidence Standards
Evidence standards for interventions in social work. Details the criteria that are used to determine the evidence rating for a programme during an assessment by the Early Intervention Foundation. - GRADE-CerQual
Confidence in the Evidence from Reviews of Qualitative Research. A method for assessing the confidence of evidence from systematic reviews of qualitative evidence.
Method books, chapters and papers
A selection of books, book chapters and research papers on systematic review methods.
- Meta-analysis and systematic reviews, aggregating research results
Chapter in the book - Evidence-based Practice in Clinical Social Work.
Step 3 of EBP: Part 3—Meta-analysis and Systematic Reviews, Aggregating Research Results by James W. Drisko & Melissa D. Grady pp. 155-176. - Meta-Analyses
Chapter 16 in The Handbook of Social Work Research Methods by Jacqueline Corcoran & Julia H. Littell. - Systematic Reviews
Chapter 10 of the book - An Introduction to Evaluation.
General introduction to systematic reviews. - Systematic reviews in social policy evaluation
Chapter 6 in the Handbook of Social Policy Evaluation.