In April 2023, Sofia Tsokani and Afroditi Kanellopoulou from the Methods Support Unit discussed how to handle heterogeneity in Cochrane reviews. Recording is available here

Posted 19-04-2023 by Ingrid Arevalo-Rodriguez (Methods Implementation Editor)

Questions in medicine are becoming more complex which may tempt authors to embark on too much when planning a systematic review. It is essential that reviews are targeted to specific questions relevant to stakeholders and are scoped correctly so that the reviews are not only feasible but can be delivered in a timely manner. This web clinic will address how the scope of a review can be set in the review planning stage through considerations of PICO inclusion criteria, planning analyses, and structuring of ‘Summary of Findings’ tables.

In a systematic review and meta-analysis heterogeneity is defined as any variation among the studies and is categorized as clinical, methodological, and statistical. There are multiple methods suggested in the literature to identify and estimate statistical heterogeneity. However, it is often difficult to deal with its presence, while misconceptions may lead to wrong interpretation of review findings.

In February 2023, Rachel Richardson and Emma Axon from the Methods Support Unit discussed good practice and common errors when using the Risk of Bias 2 tool in Cochrane reviews. Recording is available here

In January 2023, the Methods Support Unit web clinic hosted Toby Lasserson to look at approaching Background sections as a way to help authors set the scene for their research question and methods. Recording is here

Sign-up now for our next Methods Support Unit web clinic which will be held on 12th January 2023 at 9am GMT. Toby Lasserson, Deputy Editor in Chief at Cochrane, will be discussing how to approach writing a Background section. Posted by Rachel Richardson

Leslie Choi from Cochrane joined the Methods Support Unit in their December 2022 web clinic to discuss assessing imprecision and inconsistency in GRADE. MSU Web Clinic: Assessing imprecision and inconsistency in GRADE

Welcome to Dr Emma Axon, new Evidence Synthesis Methodology Editor in the Methods Support Unit

Sign-up now for our next Methods Support Unit web clinic which will be held on 8th December 2022 at 9am GMT. Leslie Choi, Evidence Synthesis Development Editor at Cochrane, will be discussing how to assess imprecision and inconsistency using GRADE methodology.  Posted by Rachel Richardson