Systematic Reviews of Impact Evidence
A range of organizations are working to coordinate the production of systematic reviews. Systematic reviews aim to bridge the research-policy divide by assessing the range of existing evidence on a particular topic, and presenting the information in an accessible format. Like rigorous Impact Evaluations, they are developed from a study Protocol which sets out a priori the criteria for study inclusion, search and methods of synthesis. Systematic reviews involve five key steps: determination of interventions, populations, outcomes and study designs to be included; searches to identify published and unpublished literature, and application of study inclusion criteria (relating to interventions, populations, outcomes and study design), as set out in study Protocol; coding of information from studies; presentation of quantitative estimates on intervention effectiveness using forest plots and, where interventions are determined as appropriately homogeneous, calculation of a pooled summary estimate using meta-analysis; finally, systematic reviews should be updated periodically as new evidence emerges. Systematic reviews may also involve the synthesis of qualitative information, for example relating to the barriers to, or facilitators of, intervention effectiveness.
Organizations supporting the production of systematic reviews include the Cochrane Collaboration, which has been coordinating systematic reviews in the medical and public health fields since 1993, and publishes the Cochrane Handbook which is definitive systematic review methodology guide. In addition, the Campbell Collaboration has coordinated the production of systematic reviews of social interventions since 2000, and the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (in partnership with the Campbell Collaboration) is funding systematic reviews of social programs in developing countries. Other organizations supporting systematic reviews include the Institute of Education’s EPPI-Centre and the University of York’s Centre for Reviews and Dissemination.
The body of evidence from systematic reviews is large and available through various online portals including the Cochrane library, the Campbell library, and the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination. The available evidence from Reviews of development interventions in low- and middle-income countries is being built up by organisations such as the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation's synthetic reviews programme.
Read more about this topic: Impact Evaluation
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