Evidence Synthesis in the Social Sciences
This guide links resources, tools, scholarly articles, and other information to support those conducting and assisting with evidence synthesis in the social sciences.
Other Review Types
The Big Picture Review Family:
| Aspect | Scoping Reviews | Mapping Reviews | Evidence and Gap Maps (EGMs) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Clarifies and identifies key concepts/definitions, characteristics or factors related to a concept | Collates, describes, and catalogues the available evidence related to the question of interest | Systematic evidence synthesis product which visually displays the available evidence and identify research gaps relevant to a specific research question |
| Question | Narrow focus to a broad question: What are the definitions for a particular concept? | Broad question: what do we know about a topic? Or what and where does research exist on a particular area? | Very broad question. Includes all relevant evidence of a specified kind for a particular sector, or sub-sector |
| Evidence source | Identifies and maps evidence irrespective of source. Number of evidence sources included can vary | Identifies and maps evidence irrespective of source. Generally >80+ studies | Identifies and maps evidence irrespective of source. Generally >80+ studies |
| Extraction | Extensive and detailed data extractions | High-level with pre-defined codes for extraction | High-level with pre-defined codes for extraction |
| Analysis | Inductive (need to be developed) or deductive (pre-determined) analysis (may include basic qualitative content analysis) | Deductive summary of high level data with pre-defined codes | Deductive summary of high-level data dependent on framework |
| Presentation of results | Visual summaries must be accompanied by a descriptive synthesis. With/without EGMs | Visual summaries. With/without EGMs | Visual, interactive online output placed on a web-based platform, such as a funders webpage |