It may be tempting to jump right into searching for sources to include in your evidence synthesis. Although it's recommended that you start with exploring the literature (and checking if a review on your topic has already been published), it's vital to begin your research by carefully formulating a question, scoping your search through eligibility criteria, and preparing a project plan.
This stage is often referred to as developing a research protocol, which is a plan for how the research will be conducted that sets it up for publication in the final stages. Since it's strongly recommended that evidence syntheses are conducted in a team or two or more researchers, you may wish to use this template (or a similar tool) to define your goals, roles, and tasks:
It is also recommended that you register or share the protocol with the research community to support transparency and avoid duplication of research. This is referred to as pre-registration and is an optional step. Find suggested repositories and examples of published protocols below:
The first step at this stage is to develop an answerable research question that is not too broad or narrow and aligns with your chosen method.
This is often an iterative process that includes exploring the topic, scanning published studies and reviews, and discussing the question with colleagues or your Library Liaison. The Library's SAGE Research Methods database has a helpful guide for developing research questions in its Project Planner.
Disciplinary frameworks (e.g. PICOT, SPICE, SPIDER) for constructing a question may also be useful. Below are resources for crafting research questions and applying frameworks:
Once your question is formulated, you need to consider how to scope your search to find sources that will answer it.
This is referred to as eligibility or inclusion/exclusion criteria, which defines the parameters of what sources will be included or omitted from your research. The resources below outline some common criteria to consider.
Note that scope will be highly dependent on the key characteristics of the evidence base for your topic and discipline. For example, it may be important to limit by geographic location for a topic in civil engineering, but this may not apply for a review in higher education.
Reporting guidelines outline what to include in research reports, like peer-reviewed articles. Conducting guidelines are best practice instructions that address elements like inclusion/exclusion criteria, screening studies, data extraction, and so on.
These types of guidelines may overlap and are optional, however they can be very helpful to ensure your research is conducted properly and ready for publication.
Below are a few examples; you may find others specific to your discipline or reach out to your Library Liaison for guidance.