Such diverse thinkers as Lao-Tze, Confucius, and U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have all pointed out that we need to be able to tell the difference between real and assumed knowledge. The systematic review is a scientific tool that can help with this difficult task. It can help, for example, with appraising, summarising, and communicating the results and implications of otherwise unmanageable quantities of data. This book, written by two highly-respected social scientists, provides an overview of systematic literature review methods: Outlining the rationale and methods of systematic reviews; Giving worked examples from social science and other fields; Applying the practice to all social science disciplines; It requires no previous knowledge, but takes the reader through the process stage by stage; Drawing on examples from such diverse fields as psychology, criminology, education, transport, social welfare, public health, and housing and urban policy, among others. Including detailed sections on assessing the quality of both quantitative, and qualitative research; searching for evidence in the social sciences; meta-analytic and other methods of evidence synthesis; publication bias; heterogeneity; and approaches to dissemination.

Such diverse thinkers as Lao-Tze, Confucius, and U.S. DefenseSecretary Donald Rumsfeld have all pointed out that we need to beable to tell the difference between real and assumed knowledge. Thesystematic review is a scientific tool that can help with thisdifficult task. It can help, for example, with appraisingsummarising, and communicating the results and implications ofotherwise unmanageable quantities of data.This book, written by two highly-respected social scientistsprovides an overview of systematic literature review methods:* * Outlining the rationale and methods of systematicreviews;* Giving worked examples from social science and otherfields;* Applying the practice to all social science disciplines;* It requires no previous knowledge, but takes the reader throughthe process stage by stage;* Drawing on examples from such diverse fields as psychologycriminology, education, transport, social welfare, public healthand housing and urban policy, among others.* Including detailed sections on assessing the quality of bothquantitative, and qualitative research; searching for evidence inthe social sciences;meta-analytic and other methods of evidence synthesis; publicationbias; heterogeneity; and approaches to dissemination.

Foreword (William R. Shadish).Acknowledgments.Preface.Chapter 1: Why do we need systematic reviews?Chapter 2: Starting the review: Refining the question anddefining the boundaries.Chapter 3: What sorts of studies do I include in the review?Deciding on the review's inclusion / exclusion criteria.Chapter 4: How to find the studies: The literature search.Chapter 5: How to appraise the studies: An introduction toassessing study quality.Chapter 6: Synthesising the evidence.Chapter 7: Exploring heterogeneity and publication bias.Chapter 8: Disseminating the review.Chapter 9: Systematic reviews: Urban myths and fairy tales.Glossary.Appendix 1: The review process (and some questions to ask beforestarting a review).Appendix 2: MOOSE Guidelines.Appendix 3: Example of flow diagram from a systematicreview.Appendix 4: Example data extraction form.Appendix 5: Variations in the quality of systematic reviews.Bibliography.Index.