Coordinated by the Health Care Management division 

Chair: Jason Perepelkin (University of Saskatchewan) 

Guest Speaker: Housne Begum (Toronto Metropolitan University), Murtaza Haider

Systematic reviews (SRs) were formally developed in response to the ongoing expansion of research and the desire from stakeholders and consumers to systematically summarise the existing information. A systematic literature review (SLR) identifies, selects and critically appraises research in order to answer a clearly formulated question. In recent years, systematic reviews and meta-analyses become popular methods to summarize evidence and analyse data in the field of healthcare and management. The challenges of conducting large-scale randomised controlled trials can be overcome by these effective research methodologies. Meta-analysis also considers the advantages, the disadvantages, and the underlying assumptions of alternative quantitative and non-quantitative approaches to synthesizing the findings of health research. It is important to know if it makes sense to combine the results across different studies with respect to research question (broader vs narrow focus), differences amongst studies, populations/ interventions/ comparators/ outcomes, methodological differences and qualitative versus quantitative analysis.