Government Social Research
Last Updated: 16/9/2008
Once studies have been identified through searching, the next stage is to screen them to check that they meet the inclusion criteria.
Screening is usually a two stage process, the first involves reviewing the abstracts and the second, reviewing the full studies.
This involves reading the abstracts that have been found through the searching. Each abstract should be compared against the inclusion criteria and if the abstract meets the criteria then the full study should be read.
Not all studies will have abstracts and some will not contain information on all the inclusion criteria (this is particularly a problem with electronic searching). In these cases, decisions need to be made on whether or not to include the study on the information available.
In systematic reviews all references are typically screened by two people working independently, this is also desirable in an REA but where resources are particularly limited it can be carried out by a single person.
This involves reading the full report or article and comparing it against the inclusion criteria. The key information from each study needs to be coded using the data extraction form (see describing studies).
Screening and selecting studies: how will it be rapid?