Strengths and Weaknesses
While systematic reviews are regarded as the strongest form of medical evidence, a review of 300 studies found that not all systematic reviews were equally reliable, and that their reporting could be improved by a universally agreed upon set of standards and guidelines.
A further study by the same group found that of 100 systematic reviews monitored, 7% needed updating at the time of publication, another 4% within a year, and another 11% within 2 years; this figure was higher in rapidly-changing fields of medicine, especially cardiovascular medicine. A 2003 study suggested that extending searches beyond major databases, perhaps into gray literature, would increase the effectiveness of reviews.
Systematic reviews are increasingly appearing in other fields, such as international development research. Subsequently, a number of donors – most notably the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and AusAid – are focusing attention and resources on testing the appropriateness of systematic reviews in assessing the impacts of development and humanitarian interventions.
Read more about this topic: Systematic Review
Famous quotes containing the words strengths and/or weaknesses:
“One of the strengths I derive from my class background is that I am accustomed to contempt.”
—Dorothy Allison (b. 1949)
“Never yield to that temptation, which, to most young men, is very strong, of exposing other people’s weaknesses and infirmities, for the sake either of diverting the company, or of showing your own superiority. You may get the laugh on your side by it for the present; but you will make enemies by it for ever; and even those who laugh with you then, will, upon reflection, fear, and consequently hate you.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)