How do I minimize bias in my systematic review project?
Answer
Cochrane and the Campbell Collaboration are organizations whose work focuses on all aspects of the systematic review process; the former concentrates on evidence-based health and the latter on the social sciences. Chapter 7 of the Cochrane Handbook provides examples of research biases and introduces several tools designed to help researchers avoid bias (RoB2 and ROBINS-1).
The Campbell Collaboration of the UK and Ireland Meta-Evidence Blog provides a useful post, “Assessing and addressing bias in systematic reviews”. The blogger identifies and describes four major sources of bias during the research process: review design, source identification, source selection, and study synthesis/selective outcome reporting. The post also discusses bias assessment and references two instruments designed to reduce bias: ROBIS and AMSTAR2.
You can learn more about what bias is and how it can be a part of your systematic review project here. For more support on systematic reviews, advanced reviews, or evidence syntheses, please visit our Systematic Reviews and Evidence Syntheses Research Subject Guide.
Links & Files
- “Assessing and addressing bias in systematic reviews.” Campbell Collaboration.
- Chapter 7: Considering bias and conflicts of interest among the included studies. Cochrane Handbook.
- Systematic Reviews and Evidence Syntheses Research Subject Guide
- What is bias and how is it a part of my systematic review project?