This is called meta-analysis, and it represents a specialized subset of systematic reviews. Systematic reviews often use statistical techniques to combine data from the examined individual research studies, and use the pooled data to come to new statistical conclusions. Systematic reviews originated in the biomedical field and currently form the basis of decision-making in Evidence-Based Treatment (EBT) and evidence-based behavioral practice (EBBP).įor additional information, read this entry in the e-reference book The A-Z of Social Research: The comprehensive nature of a systematic review distinguishes it from traditional literature reviews which typically examine a much smaller set of research evidence and present it from a single author’s perspective.
A systematic review is often written by a panel of experts after reviewing all the information from both published and unpublished studies. In other words, it provides an exhaustive summary of scholarly literature related to a particular research topic or question.