Book Review: Systematic Reviews in the Social Sciences: A Practical Guide
| Date | 01 March 2009 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1035719X0900900111 |
| Author | Harsh Suri |
| Published date | 01 March 2009 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK REVIEWS
Evaluation Journal of Australasia, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2009
62
Title: Systematic Reviews in the Social Sciences: A Practical Guide
Authors: Mark Petticrew and Helen Roberts
Publisher/year: Blackwell (an imprint of Wiley), Malden, Massachusetts, 2006
Extent/type: 336 pages, hardback
Price: A$82.95/NZ$92.99 from Wiley Australia which offers a 15% discount to AES members, phone 1800 777 474
(within Australia), 0800 448 200 (from NZ only), +61 7 3354 8444 (from overseas),
email <custservice@johnwiley.com.au>, website <http://www.johnwiley.com.au>
ISBN: 978-1-4051-2110-1
With a substantial increase
in the number of studies
published on any given topic
of research, systematic reviews
are becoming popular in several
disciplines such as health
care, social sciences, public
policy and education. Like
most systematic reviewers,
Petticrew and Roberts also
emphasise involvement of key
stakeholders in identifying an
appropriate hypothesis for the
review, a priori review protocol,
explicit inclusion-exclusion
criteria, explicit criteria for
evaluating methodological
quality of individual studies,
comprehensive searches for all
relevant studies, and objectivity
and transparency throughout the
review process. Many systematic
reviewers reserve the term
‘systematic reviews’ exclusively
for reviews that statistically
integrate findings of quantitative
studies. However, Petticrew and
Roberts belong to the group of
systematic reviewers who are
open to the notion of including
qualitative studies in systematic
reviews. They make a significant
contribution by providing useful
practical guidelines on when and
how to include both quantitative
and qualitative studies in
systematic reviews (Suri &
Clarke 2009).
The practical emphasis of
this book makes it particularly
useful for evaluators with
different levels of understanding
of the processes involved
in a systematic review. I
liked their discussion of the
purposes that are best served
by systematic reviews as well
as the purposes that are more
amenable to other forms of
reviews or methods. They
include a realistic discussion
of time and resources required
for a systematic review. A
comprehensive listing of various
forms of publication biases
and search biases is useful for
novices in the field. In describing
a range of search strategies
for locating relevant studies,
they sensibly acknowledge the
difficulties involved in locating
methodologically diverse studies
along with some suggestions
for improving efficiency of
such searches. I particularly
liked their distinction between
the quality of reporting and
the quality of study and a
discussion of issues arising
from the inadequacies at each
of these levels. They provide
useful references to various
criteria suitable for appraising
reports with different study
designs, particularly quantitative
studies. The book includes
a rich discussion of effective
strategies for identifying suitable
audiences and reaching them.
Their discussion of different
myths associated with systematic
reviews is refreshing.
Even though they endorse
inclusion of qualitative studies in
systematic reviews, they don’t go
far enough to appreciate the shift
in world view that is required for
such reviews to be truly inclusive
of qualitative research. They
have quite an extensive reference
list. However, they have not
referred to the recent writings that
discuss in-depth the complexities
inherent in synthesising qualitative
research, such as the book on
meta-study by Paterson and her
colleagues (Paterson et al. 2001).
Although they have referred
to my work on this topic from
1999, they have not referred to
any of my writings since then,
some which are easily accessible
from the Internet and discuss
these issues in much greater depth
(e.g. Suri 2004). In general, they
have used qualitative research
as an umbrella term with little
recognition of the diversity and
complexity within qualitative
research. Most of their discussion
of qualitative research appears
to be situated within a realist or
a neo-realist epistemology with
inadequate recognition of the
complexities associated with
synthesising critical, emancipatory
and participatory research. This
appears to be the case in several
sections of the book, especially
in their discussion of appraisal
criteria for individual studies,
evaluation criteria for reviews and
strategies for synthesising findings
across studies.
Despite some of these
caveats, the book is an excellent
resource for evaluators
wishing to conduct or
evaluate systematic reviews of
quantitative and qualitative
research. Logical discussion
of key decision points in
a systematic review with
references to several electronic
resources, practical tips and
real-life examples of systematic
reviews make it an easy read.
A summary of key points at the
end of each chapter also helps in
following the main argument.
References
Paterson, BL, Thorne, SE, Canam, C
& Jillings, C 2001, Meta-study
of qualitative health research: a
practical guide to meta-analysis
and meta-synthesis. Sage,
Thousand Oaks, California.
Suri, H 2004, ‘Synthesising research
for diverse purposes: moving
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