Evidence Mapping As an Approach to Systematic Review: Application to 20 Years of Sibling Research

Background

 

Evidence mapping is an emerging systematic approach to reviewing large bodies of research. While systematic reviews and meta-analysis are well-established approaches to understanding specific research questions, these methods are limited in their ability describe the current state of evidence for a particular topic or social problem. Evidence mapping allows investigators to summarize large bodies of research, quantify the amount of attention devoted to particular areas of study, conduct a general assessment of rigor, and identify gaps and areas for future research.

This presentation will provide a detailed overview of evidence mapping methodology and illustrate its application using twenty years of empirical research related to the influence of siblings on children’s social, emotional, and behavioral development. The purpose of the investigation was to both summarize the current state of sibling-focused developmental research as well as identify gaps where additional empirical attention may be warranted.

Methods

Five electronic social service databases were searched for peer-reviewed articles which focused on the influence of siblings on children’s social, emotional and behavioral development. Search terms, an inclusion checklist, and abstract coding sheet were developed a priori to inform the identification, selection, and subsequent coding of empirical studies. Studies about children, siblings, social, cognitive, and behavioral development that were published between 1997-2017 were eligible for review. Abstracts of studies subsequently selected for inclusion were then coded according to the predefined coding criteria, and inter-rater reliability checks were conducted across studies before analysis and reporting.

Results

A total of 1548 peer reviewed articles were initially identified. Application of inclusion criteria resulted in 987 studies whose abstracts were subsequently coded, checked, and summarized. The largest category of sibling research was about siblings and social development (62.7%, n=619), and most commonly investigated family relationships (72.1% n=446) and least commonly investigated child maltreatment (2.7%, n=17). Studies of cognitive development (55.8%, n=551) most commonly investigated children’s emotions (36.5%, n=201) and least commonly investigated language (2%, n=11). Studies of behavioral development (52.9%, n=522) most commonly examined externalizing behavior (28.9%, n=151), with a significant portion of behavioral studies (26.8%, n=140) coded as “other.” The majority of studies in the sample crossed areas of inquiry; research on social development included behavioral (65.3%, n=430) and cognitive (63.2%, n= 416) components, cognitive studies included social (75.3%, n=416) and behavioral (63.2%, n=349) components, and behavioral studies included social (82.2%, n=429) and cognitive (66.9%, n=348) components.

Implications

Evidence mapping is an emerging approach to the systematic review of large bodies of empirical research. This technique, including the visual representations of results, may be particularly powerful for researchers who are interested in understanding the breadth and depth of research on a particular topic or social problem. The application of evidence mapping methodology to sibling research suggests that while substantial work has been conducted regarding the developmental influence of siblings on children's social, cognitive, and behavioral development, additional areas of investigation (e.g., maltreatment, language, behavior) is indicated.