Getting started in research: systematic reviews and meta-analyses

Stephen Kisely; Alice Chang; Jim Crowe; Cherrie Galletly; Peter Jenkins; Samantha Loi; Jeffrey C Looi; Matthew D Macfarlane; Ness McVie; Stephen Parker; Brian Power; Dan Siskind; Geoff Smith; Sally Merry; Stephen Macfarlane

doi:10.1177/1039856214562077

Getting started in research: systematic reviews and meta-analyses

Australas Psychiatry. 2015 Feb;23(1):16-21. doi: 10.1177/1039856214562077. Epub 2014 Dec 11.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Committee for Research, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP), Melbourne, VICUniversity of Queensland School of Medicine, Wooloongabba, QLD, Australia s.kisely@uq.edu.au.
² Committee for Research, RANZCP, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
³ Committee for Research, RANZCP, Melbourne, VICAcademic Unit for Psychiatry of Old Age, Saint Vincent's Health, Saint George's Hospital, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
⁴ Committee for Research, RANZCP, Melbourne, VICAcademic Unit of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, Australian National University Medical School, Canberra, ACTACT Health Directorate, Mental Health Service, Canberra Hospital, Woden, ACT, Australia.
⁵ Committee for Research, RANZCP, Melbourne, VICGraduate School of Medicine, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSWIllawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, NSW, Australia.
⁶ Committee for Research, RANZCP, Melbourne, VICSchool of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WASouth Metropolitan Area Health Service, Perth, WA, Australia.
⁷ Committee for Research, RANZCP, Melbourne, VICSchool of Medicine, University of Queensland, Wooloongabba, QLD, Australia.
⁸ Committee for Research, RANZCP, Melbourne, VICWA Centre for Mental Health Policy Research, School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, WACentre for Research into Disability and Society, Curtin University, Perth, WA Australia.
⁹ Committee for Research, RANZCP, Melbourne, VIC, AustraliaPsychological Medicine, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
¹⁰ Committee for Research, RANZCP, Melbourne, VICAged Psychiatry Service, Alfred Health, Caulfield, VIC, Australia.

PMID: 25504401
DOI: 10.1177/1039856214562077

Abstract

Objectives: Systematic reviews are one of the major building blocks of evidence-based medicine. This overview is an introduction to conducting systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

Conclusions: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) represent the most robust form of design in the hierarchy of research evidence. In addition, primary data do not have to be collected by the researcher him/herself, and there is no need for approval from an ethics committee. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses are not as daunting as they may appear to be, provided the scope is sufficiently narrow and an appropriate supervisor available.

Keywords: evidence-based medicine; meta-analysis; research; statistics; systematic review; training.

MeSH terms

Humans
Mentors
Meta-Analysis as Topic*
Psychiatry
Research Design / standards*
Review Literature as Topic*