Six Types of Reviews Have Been Identified Here As Research and Evaluation Tools

Literature Reviews

The term “literature review” is commonly used to describe a synthesis of published research and theories to date, on a given topic. The extent of the published work included in the review, and the approach used to synthesize the literature, are two key factors that differentiate reviews. The reader needs certain information to uphold the integrity of the process and report.

The starting point for a review of research literature is establishing the rationale for the review, making its purpose explicit, and determining the parameters that restrict your work. The decision on what kind of review to conduct may be an iterative process that depends on a number of factors that may change over the course of your project. For example, you may start out doing a rapid review but then, because of what you find or because of a changing need, you may additionally do an interjurisdictional scan or perhaps a full-blown literature review.

Six types of reviews have been identified here as research and evaluation tools.

1.Rapid Review

A rapid reviewis a quick scan of published material to determine the volume of literature on a given topic and/or to identify the major issuesrelated to a particularpolicy issue and help refine keywords for further searches. It provides early information about the nature of the problem, any relevant issues and developments elsewhere; highlights issues for further investigation and jurisdictions to approach for more information; and identifies resources and supports that have been utilized elsewhere.

2.Interjurisdictional Scan

An interjurisdictional scanis a check (in more or less detail) of what is being done in other cities, school boards, provinces and/or countries on a given topic or policy issue.

3.Annotated Bibliography

An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief (usually about 150 words) descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the sources cited.[1]

4.Literature Review

A literature reviewis a comprehensive analysis of a segment of a published body of knowledge through summary, classification, and comparison of prior research studies, reviews of literature, and theoretical articles.

5. Meta-analysis

A meta-analysisis:

(1) A statistical methodology consisting of a set of statistical procedures designed to combine the numerical results of primary research studies addressing similar research questions. A meta-analysis essentially averages the results from a number of studies using a statistical method that gives the greatest weight to the studies with the smallest standard errors, which usually means the largest studies. This approach is common in reviews of controlled trials of the efficacy of treatments in health care and is not common in the social sciences.

Source: University of London, Institute of Education

Citation/URL: Gough D (2007) Weight of evidence: a framework for the appraisal of the quality and relevance of evidence In J. Furlong, A. Oancea (Eds.) Applied and Practice-based Research. Special Edition of Research Papers in Education, 22, (2), 213-228.

(2) Meta-analysis is a collection of systematic techniques for resolving apparent contradictions in research findings. Meta-analysts translate results from different studies to a common metric and statistically explore relations between study characteristics and findings.

Gene Glass first used the term "meta-analysis" in 1976 to refer to a philosophy, not a statistical technique. Glass argued that literature review should be as systematic as primary research and should interpret the results of individual studies in the context of distributions of findings, partially determined by study characteristics and partially random. Since that time, meta-analysis has become a widely accepted research tool, encompassing a family of procedures used in a variety of disciplines.

(3) A way of statistically combining the results of a set of research studies on the same general topic to get an overall ‘bottom line’ conclusion as to what the literature shows.

Source:

Citation/URL: Article: Meta-Analysis in Educational Research. Bangert-Drowns, Robert L. & Rudner, Lawrence M. (1991). Meta-analysis in educational research. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 2(8). Retrieved July 10, 2007 from

6. Systematic Review

A systematic reviewcombines the qualities of a meta-analysis with a literature review. It begins with studies that have evidence of impact (meta-analysis) and explores the themes that cut across these studies, in relation to explanatory theoretical literature to identify the most promising contributors to success.[2],[3]

[1]How to Prepare an Annotated Bibliography, Cornell University Library

[2]Klassen, Terry P.; Jahad, Alejandro R. & Moher, David (1998). Guides for reading and interpreting systematic reviews. Archives of Pediatric & Adolescent Medicine, 152(7), 700-704.

[3]For a good example see: Hattie, J. (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. London, UK: Routledge