Systematic Review and Meta-analysis: A Hands-on Workshop

pre-specified eligibility criteria to answer a specific research question. Meta-analysis is a quantitative, formal, epidemiological study design used to systematically assess the results of previous research to derive conclusions about that body of research. All meta-analyses should be based on studies identified from a systematic review, but not every systematic review contains a meta-analysis. It is because the designs of the studies may be too different, the outcomes measured may not be sufficiently similar, or there may be concerns about the quality of the studies for an average result across the studies to be meaningful.

This workshop introduces the key concepts and techniques in systematic review and meta-analysis through case study-based presentations and hands-on programming demonstrations. By the end of the workshop, participants should be able to (1) Layout a systematic review protocol, (2) Define inclusion and exclusion criteria, (3) Design a keyword search algorithm and implement it in multiple databases; (4) Design a data extraction tool; (5) Use a study quality or bias assessment tool; and (6) conduct a fixed/random effect meta-analysis on a continuous or binary outcome using R.