A protocol for a systematic review, written for a question related to an environment and human health issue.
The protocol will be up to 2000 words long, about an original topic relevant to your current interests, or for a systematic review
that you would like to do in the future.
This task is focused on developing a protocol. It focuses on your ability to identify a researchable question, justify the choice of
topic and apply a structured approach to how you would undertake a systematic review to answer this question.
You may chose to focus on a question relevant to a systematic review of quantitative or of qualitative research.
Preparation – In order to be able to complete this concise piece of work, you will need to review module material about
evidence, searching and systematic reviews.
You will need to run some test searches to see if your proposed method works.
You may also want to do some scoping searches to see what kind of research has been done on the topic before you finalise
what your question and your methods should be.
You can see some examples of review protocols available at the link below (NOTE however, that the structure of these
protocols is different to that suggested for this assignment – use the marking schedule below to help structure your report):
http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/
There are also protocols for systematic reviews published in some journals, for example, Environmental Evidence and
Systematic Reviews:
Write a background section about your chosen topic and why it is important. Outline the focused topic that you would
address in a systematic review.
Develop a structured research question, and inclusion criteria, using an appropriate format.
Develop a preliminary search strategy based on the research question showing how the terms would be linked together.
Say where you would search for relevant information.
Describe the processes used for selecting the research that would be included in the review.
Say what data would be extracted for the review and how the included research would be critically appraised.
Describe how you think you would synthesise the findings of included research.
