Types of Research Reviews: Selecting a Review Type

Selecting a Review Type: An Introduction
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This page provides basic definitions to aid in deciding the type of review to pursue and how types of evidence and study designs inform this decision process.

Literature Reviews

Literature review is an analysis of published scholarly research on a topic. It is primarily to:

• synthesize what is known on a topic or explain the background of a research
• identify critical gaps, controversies, or flawed methodology or theoretical approaches
• suggest unexplored ideas or further studies

Scoping Reviews

Scoping reviews identify and examine the literature on a topic to provide a synthesis of a research question. A scoping review can be conducted in preparation of a systematic review. They are designed:

• to identify knowledge gaps or the scope of a body of literature
• to clarify concepts
• to investigate research conduct

Systematic Reviews

Systematic reviews provide a synthesis of published studies that inform practitioners, policymakers, and researchers across various professional disciplines. They are most useful

• when there is a large body of published studies pertaining to a specific question
• when multiple published studies show contradictory or uncertain outcomes

They require a transparent and reproducible search methodology.

When appropriate a systematic review can include a meta-analysis. This is when data from multiple studies can be statistically synthesized and represented with a forest plot.

Hierarchy of Evidence
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Consider the Hierarchy of Evidence Pyramid in selecting the type of review appropriate for the stage of your research project.

Study Design Video
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1. Meta-Analysis of Multiple Randomized Trials (1:23)
2. Randomized Trials (2:20)
3. Prospective Cohort Studies (4:02)
4. Case-Control Studies (5:00)
5. Case Series (6:03)
6. Cross-Sectional Studies (6:13)

Study Design Books
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