Systematic reviews

The most trustworthy knowledge comes from systematic reviews where we look at a whole body of work on a given topic, using set ways of deciding what is relevant, how the quality of different studies should be judged and how the messages should be brought together. Looking at a whole body of work in this way means that there is less potential for the messages from research to be unduly affected by single studies. SCIE has worked with other organisations to develop a way of undertaking systematic reviews that takes account of a range of different types and quality of knowledge in social care, particularly:

• research literature
• service user knowledge
• practice knowledge
• knowledge organisations develop while providing services
• knowledge from the policy process

SCIE publishes guidelines on our systematic review process for researchers who undertake SCIE research commissions. We know that some academic institutions have adopted SCIE's guidelines as a benchmark of quality for their own research.

See all resources and publications on knowledge and research in social care.