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REA Toolkit

What is a Rapid Evidence Assessment?

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.

This method only includes existing reviews, preferably systematic, rather than primary studies. It can be used where there has already been considerable research and a number of research reviews undertaken in a particular area. The limitation is that it will obviously not pick up research outside of existing reviews. Also, reviews are of variable quality and each will still need to be screened to assess how systematic and comprehensive it is.

Methods for reviewing evidence index