EIPPEE Workshops: Introduction to Systematic Review Methods
- Published on Monday, 23 April 2012 11:54
On 15-16 March 2012 IBE hosted research methodology experts: Janice Tripney and Mark Newman from the Institute of Education of the University of London, who conducted a workshop on the methodology of systematic reviews.
Dr Mark Newman - Associate Director, EPPI-Centre, IoE - is a reader in evidence-informed policy and practice in education and social policy. He deals with problems concerning health, social sciences and education.His research interests focus on three interrelated areas: 1) developing methods for and conducting systematic reviews concerning the practice of decision-making in various areas of social policy, including education, 2) capacity building among practitioners, researchers and policymakers in producing systematic reviews, critical appraisal and utilizing research results, 3) methods for the design and evaluation of effective learning environments in professional and clinical education. Janice Tripney is a research officer in the Institute (Social Science Research Unit, EPPI-Centre). She specializes in historical research, including teaching history at secondary level. Her research interests include the history of the twentieth century (feminism and attitudes to citizenship and the welfare state) as well as research into policy and practice process including strengthening the relevance of history to contemporary policy-making. In 2011 she co-authored "Evidence Informed Policy in Education in Europe: EIPEE final project report."
The workshop, attended by almost 40 researchers from the Educational Research Institute, the Jagiellonian University and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education was co-organized by the Educational Research Institute and the Institute of Education of the University of London and funded by the European Commission network of institutions promoting the use of research results in educational policy and practice ("Evidence Informed Policy and Practice in Education in Europe", www.eippee.eu/cms/)
Systematic reviews rely on sythesizing of the results of primary research relevant to a particular issue checked against a pre-defined set of criteria for the selection, evaluation and the assessment of the results. The method, derived from medical sciences, is increasingly used in other fields of science, including educational research, providing an opportunity to make better use of existing knowledge in educational policy and practice. Worldwide, systematic reviews of research are the basis of analyses, evaluations and comparisons of interventions in various aspects of medical and social science, including education (evaluation studies, recommendations concerning educational practice, analyses, funding procedures as well as other programmes and initiatives).
The materials on systematic reviews are available on the EPPI-Centre (a research center of the Institute of Education, University of London, specializing since 1993 in the methodology, conduct and inventory of systematic reviews) website: http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Default.aspx?tabid=67
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