REA Toolkit
What is a Rapid Evidence Assessment?
Methods for reviewing evidence
There are a number of different methods for reviewing existing evidence. This section discusses six main types of review to help you decide which one is most appropriate for your research needs. Below is an overview of these methods and what they aim to do. The timings are only a rough guide and each project will be different depending on the resources available and how the method is implemented.
Literature review
- Not Systematic. Collates relevant studies and draw conclusions from them.
- Time taken: 1 week to 2 months
Quick scoping review
- Not Systematic. Quick overview of research undertaken on a (constrained) topic
- Time taken: 1 week to 2 months
Rapid Evidence Assessment
- Systematic. Quick overview of existing research on a (constrained) topic and a synthesis of the evidence provided by these studies to answer the REA question.
- Time taken: 2 to 6 months
Full systematic review
- Systematic. A broad review of existing research on a topic and synthesis of the evidence provided by these studies to answer the review question.
- Time taken: 8 to 12 months minimum
Multi arm systematic review
- Systematic. Full map and synthesis of different types of evidence to answer the review question.
- Time taken: 12 months minimum
Review of reviews
- Systematic. Same as any of the above methods but only includes reviews of other reviews.
- Time taken: Often quicker than other types of full systematic review.
REA toolkit index
