Evidence Synthesis: Doing research / performing knowledge

• Check your reading lists and the Library's A to Z listing for databases.
• Run preliminary searches (also called scoping) in databases to contextualise the research area to help you to identify search terms to describe the research question.
• Use a spreadsheet to capture the frequency and use of key terms, to understand terminology and to pattern match.

Building Search Terms.

Grey literature is information which is not formally published in books and journals such as theses, conference proceedings and trial registers.

Source examples include: DART-Europe E-Theses Portal, Google Scholar, Lenus.ie, Open Grey, Scopus, Web of Science

Why use grey literature?

• Reduce bias
• Present a more balanced body of research
• Find sources for new evidence or published literature which database searches may have missed

Searching grey literature

• Less developed functionality for searching
• Combination of keywords already developed through database searches

Further reading:

CADTH Grey Matters - free online.

Clearinghouses compile research findings about an intervention, assess the quality and strength of the available evidence, and summarize these findings.

They advance evidence-based interventions by encouraging the adoption of effective interventions and discouraging the adoption of interventions that have shown negative effects or have not been well studied. 

Examples:

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

Campbell Collaboration

Epistemonikos: Database of the best Evidence-Based Health Care

Whatworks- Sharing knowledge, Improving Children’s Futures -

What Works Network - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) 

Further reading:

Clearinghouse Standards of Evidence on the Transparency, Openness, and Reproducibility of Intervention Evaluations | SpringerLink

Hirsch, B.K., Stevenson, M.C. & Givens, M.L. Evidence Clearinghouses as Tools to Advance Health Equity: What We Know from a Systematic Scan. Prev Sci 24, 613–624 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-023-01511-7

The What works network Five years on

Selecting the relevant evidence-based sources depends on the type of question you have and the synthesis that is most appropriate for that question.

This is key to finding high quality evidence-based papers and it is important to understand the differences between sources and why you use them.

Books, journals, databases, websites, grey literature, clearing houses, grey literature, preprints and repositories are all sources for evidence. 

Sources can also consist of different types of information such as clinical guidelines.

National Clinical Guidelines

WHO Guidelines

Trial registries can include results of finished but unpublished clinical trials which can be help to identify trials which may not be findable and also provide more details for published trials.

The websites for some drug companies may also have trial registries displayed on their websites but the quality can differ.

ClinicalTrials.Gov

Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials

World Health Organization (WHO) International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRIP).

Guidelines for reporting randomised trials

CONSORT

A database is a platform for searching across a number of information sources such as journal articles, book chapters and conference proceedings.

Choose databases for your subject area to focus your search from the beginning.

The Library subscribes to a wide range of databases across a number of platforms such as EBSCO, Elsevier and Proquest.

Check the help area of a database to understand how it works and to be aware that functionalities may be different across platforms.

Repositories - are open access platforms where researchers and their collaborators can share their research output and data which is created during the course of their research.

UL Research Repository is an example of an institutional repository where UL researchers and their collaborators can share research output and data.

OpenDOAR - a quality assured worldwide directory of open access repositories. 

OpenAire - European project supporting open access infrastructure and will harvest UL's research repository as part of the NORF (National Open Research Forum).

CORE  a search engine providing access to a global collection of open access papers.

Preprints- are now being used more extensively as supplementary material to speed up the process for publishing in journals.

They are not peer reviewed and can help remove barriers to open access and enable researchers to share their research findings. 

Europe PMC - indexes preprints from servers with publicly available content.

Server examples for preprints:

Research Square - multidisciplinary and author service platform

medRxIv - health sciences

PsyArXiv - psychological sciences

Feedback platforms:

Review Commons - provide authors with high quality refereed preprint / facilitate submission to affiliated journals.