Research empowers us to make evidence-informed choices. The most reliable way to transform research into knowledge for decision-making is evidence synthesis (ES). A evidence synthesis pools the findings of individual studies and contextualizes them within the larger body of knowledge on a topic. A systematic review is a common type of evidence synthesis that is used to make sense of what is known from existing research studies while ensuring methodological transparency and reproducibility; however, a systematic review may not always be appropriate for a research question. With dozens of evidence synthesis to choose from, it can be overwhelming to decide which one to use. We set out to simplify this selection process by developing an online open-access tool, titled “Right Review”. This tool can be described as a “living” tool as it has and will continue to be iteratively updated as the science of evidence synthesis evolves.
To assist users with selecting which evidence synthesis method(s) would be most appropriate for their research inquiry through a set of simple questions.
Anyone who is interested in conducting an evidence synthesis, especially those who are undertaking this endeavor for the first time. This includes students, reviewers, librarians, clinicians, social scientists, lawyers, activists and decision makers, and researchers not familiar with the range of evidence synthesis.