Frequently Asked Questions about the Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis Practical Course

Question 1

What does the Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis course cover?

Accepted Answer

The course covers protocol development, research-question formulation, literature searching, study screening, data extraction, risk-of-bias assessment, effect-size calculation, statistical synthesis, heterogeneity, publication bias, evidence interpretation, and manuscript preparation.

Question 2

Who should take this systematic review and meta-analysis course?

Accepted Answer

The course is suitable for postgraduate students, doctoral scholars, academic researchers, faculty members, clinicians, public-health professionals, biomedical scientists, social-science researchers, research supervisors, journal authors, and evidence-synthesis teams.

Question 3

What is a systematic review?

Accepted Answer

A systematic review uses a predefined, transparent, and reproducible method to identify, select, critically evaluate, and synthesize all relevant studies addressing a focused research question.

Question 4

What is a meta-analysis?

Accepted Answer

A meta-analysis statistically combines comparable results from multiple studies to estimate an overall effect, examine consistency, and improve the precision of evidence.

Question 5

How is a research question developed for a systematic review?

Accepted Answer

Research questions are commonly structured using frameworks such as PICO, PECO, PICOS, SPIDER, or related models that define the population, intervention or exposure, comparison, outcome, and study design.

Question 6

How should a systematic literature search be designed?

Accepted Answer

A systematic search should define databases, concepts, keywords, subject headings, Boolean operators, date limits, language limits, eligibility criteria, and documentation procedures before screening begins.

Question 7

What is study screening in a systematic review?

Accepted Answer

Study screening involves reviewing titles, abstracts, and full texts against predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria to determine which studies are eligible for evidence synthesis.

Question 8

What information is extracted from included studies?

Accepted Answer

Common data include study design, setting, sample characteristics, interventions or exposures, comparators, outcomes, follow-up periods, effect estimates, variability measures, funding, and methodological limitations.

Question 9

What is risk-of-bias assessment?

Accepted Answer

Risk-of-bias assessment evaluates whether study design, conduct, analysis, reporting, missing data, participant selection, measurement, or confounding may have distorted the reported findings.

Question 10

What is heterogeneity in meta-analysis?

Accepted Answer

Heterogeneity describes variation in effect estimates across studies that may arise from differences in participants, interventions, outcomes, methods, settings, or random sampling error.

Question 11

What is the difference between fixed-effect and random-effects models?

Accepted Answer

A fixed-effect model assumes that included studies estimate one common underlying effect, while a random-effects model allows the true effect to vary across studies.

Question 12

How is publication bias assessed?

Accepted Answer

Publication bias may be explored through funnel plots, statistical asymmetry tests, sensitivity analysis, trial registries, grey-literature searches, and comparison of published reports with protocols.

Question 13

What is a PRISMA flow diagram?

Accepted Answer

A PRISMA flow diagram summarizes how records were identified, screened, excluded, assessed for eligibility, and included in the final systematic review.

Question 14

Can a systematic review be published without a meta-analysis?

Accepted Answer

Yes. When studies are too diverse or data are unsuitable for statistical pooling, a systematic review may use structured narrative synthesis while still following transparent and reproducible methods.

Question 15

What skills can learners gain from this course?

Accepted Answer

Learners can develop skills in protocol planning, database searching, study screening, data extraction, quality assessment, effect-size interpretation, meta-analysis, heterogeneity analysis, evidence synthesis, manuscript writing, and journal submission preparation.

Brand	NSTC
Format	Recorded Lectures
Duration	3 Days (60-90 minutes per day)
Level	Intermediate
Domain	systematic review
Hands-On	Yes – Practical projects with industrial datasets
Tools Used	Zotero, Rayyan, CASP, JBI, RoB 2, ROBINS-I, PRISMA, Forest plot tools

Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis: A Practical Course for Research and Publication

About the Systematic Review Course

Program Highlights

Course Curriculum

Module 1: Day 1 – Planning the Review & Search Strategy

Module 2: Day 2 – Screening, Data Extraction & Quality Appraisal

Module 3: Day 3 – Evidence Synthesis & Meta‑Analysis Basics

Tools, Techniques, or Platforms Covered

Real-World Applications

Who Should Attend & Prerequisites