From: Clarifying differences between review designs and methods
Predominant review type | Review questions |
---|---|
Aggregative | |
‘What works?’ reviews | What is the effect of a health or social intervention? |
Diagnostic test | What is the accuracy of this diagnostic tool? |
Cost benefit | How effective is the benefit of an intervention relative to its cost? |
Prevalence | How extensive is this condition? |
Configurative | |
Meta-ethnography [4] | What theories can be generated from the conceptual literature? |
Critical interpretative synthesis [8] | What theories can be generated from the conceptual literature? |
Meta narrative review [11] | How to understand the development of research on an issue within and across different research traditions? |
Configuring and aggregative | |
Realist synthesis [9] | What is the effect of a social policy in different policy areas? |
Framework synthesis [25] | What are the attributes of an intervention or activity? |