Microcredential ekomex Systematic Literature Reviews

This two-day online course provides you with the essential skills to design, conduct, and analyze systematic literature reviews, covering the entire process as well as reporting guidelines, publication standards, and strategies for minimizing common pitfalls.

What Is This Course About?
This intensive two-day, 8-hour online course will equip you with the essential skills to plan, conduct, and report high-quality systematic literature reviews. Through a combination of lecture, interactive exercises, and hands-on activities, you will gain practical expertise in formulating research questions, developing comprehensive search strategies, assessing study quality, synthesizing evidence, and effectively communicating review findings. The course covers key steps in the systematic review process, including protocol development, database searching, study selection, data extraction, risk of bias assessment, and qualitative/quantitative synthesis. You will also learn about reporting guidelines, publication standards, and strategies for minimizing common pitfalls.

Learning Goals
After this course you will be able to:

• Develop a clear research question using the PICO, SPIDER, or PEO frameworks
• Conduct a comprehensive search strategy utilizing Boolean operators and various databases
• Apply inclusion/exclusion criteria to screen and select relevant studies
• Extract and manage data from included studies
• Assess the methodological quality and risk of bias in primary studies
• Synthesize evidence using narrative, thematic, or meta-analytic approaches
• Interpret and report systematic review findings according to PRISMA guidelines
• Recognize and address common challenges and limitations in systematic reviews

Assignments for the Course

• Attendance
• One formative in-class assignment (not graded)

Schedule

• 90’ asynchronous materials,
• 90’ synchronous lab
• 60’ independent small group learning
• 60’ office hour
• In addition, students should plan for sufficient time to do the assigned daily homework and read the assigned literature in advance

Recommended Readings for the Course

• Petticrew, M., & Roberts, H. (2006). Systematic Reviews in the Social Sciences: A Practical Guide. Blackwell Publishing.
• Boland, A., Cherry, G., & Dickson, R. (Eds.). (2017). Doing a Systematic Review: A Student's Guide. SAGE Publications.
• Davis, J., Mengersen, K., Bennett, S., & Mazerolle, L. (2014). Viewing systematic reviews and meta-analysis in social research through different lenses. SpringerPlus, 3, 511. https://doi.org/10.1186/2193-1801-3-511.

Who Is Your Instructor?
Liliana Abreu, PhD, is a postdoctoral researcher in the Development Research Group, Department of Politics and Public Administration at the University of Konstanz (Germany), since 2019. She holds a PhD in Public Health from the Medical School of the University of Porto, Portugal. Liliana's research is dedicated to the prevention of violence against children, women, and vulnerable populations. She is deeply committed to the effective implementation of sustainable interventions in mental health, with a specific focus on addressing trauma, advancing gender equality, and enhancing mental health literacy. Liliana has a rich background in collaborating on interdisciplinary projects, ranging from social and health inequalities to behavioral sciences and the ethics of research. She has extensive experience in designing and implementing rigorous study protocols to evaluate the impact of complex public health interventions.
E-Mail: liliana.abreu@uni-konstanz.de
Twitter: @lianafabreu