Key terms from systematic reviews, meta-analysis, qualitative coding, and evidence synthesis. Each definition links directly for easy reference.
An international non-profit that produces rigorous systematic reviews of healthcare interventions and establishes standards for evidence synthesis methodology.
Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation. A framework for rating the certainty of evidence and the strength of clinical recommendations.
A framework (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome) for structuring clinical research questions and designing search strategies.
Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. A checklist and flow diagram for transparent, complete reporting of systematic reviews.
The process of combining information from multiple independent studies to provide a comprehensive summary of knowledge on a specific topic.
A statistical technique that pools data from multiple studies to calculate a single, more precise estimate of the overall effect.
An approach to evidence synthesis that uses text to summarize and explain findings, particularly when data are too varied for statistical pooling.
A synthesis that uses explicit, reproducible methods to identify, appraise, and combine all relevant research evidence to answer a focused question.
The systematic retrieval of specific information from primary studies — participant demographics, outcomes, results — for use in a synthesis.
See also: Systematic Review Data Extraction
A standardized template used to ensure data is collected consistently from every included study. In datamint.ing, this is the codebook.
Identifying and removing identical citations retrieved from multiple database searches so each study is screened only once.
A detailed screening stage where the complete text of a study is analyzed to confirm eligibility for inclusion.
Evaluating search results against pre-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria, typically in two stages: title/abstract and full-text.
A transparent, chronological record of all research decisions and methodological changes, maintained so results are verifiable and trustworthy.
A structured document that defines the codes, variables, and categories used to extract and analyze data. The primary reference for the research team.
See also: How to Build a Research Codebook
A method for systematically quantifying and analyzing the presence of words, themes, or concepts within a text.
A measure of the degree of agreement between two or more independent researchers when coding data or screening studies.
Assigning labels to segments of qualitative data to organize information and identify recurring themes or patterns.
An assessment of whether systematic errors in a study's design or analysis have led to over- or under-estimation of the true effect.
A standardized measure of the magnitude and direction of a difference or relationship, independent of sample size.
A structured summary displaying key characteristics and findings of all included studies for side-by-side comparison.
A graphical display of meta-analysis results, showing each study's effect size and confidence interval alongside the pooled estimate.
See how datamint.ing supports these methods in practice.