Systematic Review Synthesis Methods

The main subject areas covered on this course

• types of synthesis: debates and methods
• framework synthesis
• meta-ethnography
• statistical meta-analysis
• mixed-methods synthesis
• checking the robustness of the synthesis
• interpreting synthesis results

This course is run by the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI-Centre), part of UCL Institute of Education (IOE). The EPPI-Centre is recognised worldwide for its work developing methods for diverse kinds of systematic review and for the production of policy-relevant research.

Who the course is for

• students at Masters level or above who are planning a career in research or policy
• experienced researchers, policymakers and practitioners in public and voluntary services.

This is a methods course and there is no focus on a specific discipline. Those taking this course have a wide range of interests, including (but not limited to) health and social care, education, international development, social work, and criminology.

Course content

During this course you’ll cover:

• Selecting an appropriate synthesis method.
• Statistical methods for synthesis in systematic reviews, including data extraction and calculating effect sizes, heterogeneity and statistical model choice.
• The synthesis of ‘qualitative’ research, including data extraction, the ‘translation’ of concepts, and ‘line of argument’ synthesis.
• Combining different types of study in the same synthesis (both statistical and narrative approaches)
• Ensuring quality of the synthesis and communicating the findings.

Course structure and dates

Students learn online using the Virtual Learning Environment Moodle. All learning materials are provided for you through this site.

The course starts 11 January 2021 and finishes on 26 March 2021.

Students will be expected to spend approximately five hours per week working on this course, at any time of the day. The weekly course materials will usually be made available each Tuesday, with homework activities usually due on the following Monday.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course you should be able to:

• have a critical understanding of the types of analytical approaches underlying different forms of research synthesis and be equipped to choose between them
• know how to prepare data from primary studies for use in different types of synthesis
• be able to use aggregative, configurative and mixed methods approaches to synthesis
• be able to critically appraise and interpret cases where these approaches are used.

Entry requirements

You should have previously taken the UCL course ‘Systematic Review Design and Planning’ or an equivalent course, or have a working knowledge of systematic review methods. You will need access, from the start of the course, to a copy of the SAGE 2017 textbook, ‘An Introduction to Systematic Reviews - 2nd edition’, edited by David Gough, Sandy Oliver and James Thomas.

Certificates

You can request a certificate of attendance on completing the course. The course activities form part of a more complete Master’s-level module. Please contact the administrator if you would like further detail about studying for credit at Master-level.

Fees

£707 per participant.

How to register

This course is now closed and does not accept any more bookings. The next instance of this course will take place in the first part of 2022.

If you wish to be notified when this course will be available again, then register your interest here or email ioe.shortcourses@ucl.ac.uk for more details.

About the course leaders

Dr Alison O’Mara-Eves

Dr Alison O’Mara-Eves works in the UCL Institute of Education’s EPPI-Centre and specialises in methods for systematic reviews and meta-analysis. Prior to joining the EPPI-Centre in November 2010, Alison worked for a research consultancy conducting evidence reviews for policy and practice, and at the Oxford University Department of Education conducting quantitative research. Alison’s DPhil (completed 2009, Oxford University) focused on meta-analytic methods and the application of meta-analysis to research questions on self-concept and self-esteem.

Dr Mark Newman

Dr Newman’s background includes health, social sciences and education while he has worked in the NHS as well as in Higher Education. His academic interests span three inter-related areas:

1. Developing methods and processes for and producing systematic reviews for policy and practice decision making across different areas of social policy including education.
2. Capacity building amongst practitioners, researchers and policymakers to produce, critically appraise and utilize research evidence.
3. Methods for the design and evaluation of effective learning environments in professional and clinical education.

He combines these interests in his roles as a senior researcher in the EPPI-Centre , Programme Leader for the MA Clinical Education and as Doctoral supervisor.

Professor James Thomas

Professor Thomas is Director of the EPPI-Centre’s Reviews Facility for the Department of Health, England, which undertakes systematic reviews across a range of policy areas to support the department. He specialises in developing methods for research synthesis, in particular for qualitative and mixed methods reviews and in using emerging information technologies such as text mining in research. He leads a module on synthesis and critical appraisal on the EPPI-Centre’s MSc in Research for Public Policy and Practice and development on the Centre’s in-house reviewing software, EPPI-Reviewer.