Evidence Synthesis in the Social Sciences

After charting your data, your team should discuss summarizing the results in the context of the aims and research questions. 

The JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis (Chapter 11.3.8.1) suggests that the data extracted and summarized from your sources can be broadly classified into the following categories: 

• aims
• duration of the intervention
• intervention type
• study population and sample size
• methodology adopted
• key findings 
• gaps in the research

The JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis (Chapter 11.3) points to several elements that should be included in a final review. These align with the PRISMA extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). Additionally, check any requirements might be indicated by specific journals. 

• abstract
• introduction
• statement of the primary research question(s)
• inclusion criteria 
• methods 
• tabulated and/or narrated description of the results, with a PRISMA-ScR flow chart
• discussion 
• conclusions and recommendations for future research
• references
• conflicts of interest, acknowledgements, and any sources of funding
• appendixes - including the search strategies for each database and the data extraction instrument