Course Descriptions:
The course will equip students with the principles, methods and critiques of systematic reviews. The course will also explain the difference between a systematic review and a meta-analysis, and outline the criteria by which to judge whether these are any good. The concept of the study heterogeneity will be introduced as a way of justifying the random-effects model. Risk of bias and publication bias will also be discussed.
This course will take the students through the process of doing a systematic review and will focus on the practicalities rather than the theory. It will consider the practical aspects of:
- question formulation
- study identification
- appraisal of risk of bias
- data extraction and collection
- statistical synthesis
- reporting
The course will take place around 16 sessions. Students will be encouraged to identify a topic for a systematic review that they would like to discuss in detail during the course.