Systematic Literature Review: Statistics

A few books about medical statistics are available in the IAU library. Use Summon (link opens in a new window) to find these books and search for medical statistics. These are available online on the e-Resources portal, library.iau.edu.sa. Click on the link to access the Summon record (the link opens in a new window).

Simple Meta-Analysis (SMA) is a free, open-source, point-and-click software tool for performing meta-analyses, primarily for researchers and students without extensive coding skills. Here is a tutorial on how to use simple meta-analysis.

I have included the following resources if you are doing a statistical analysis as part of your systematic review:

All the university-networked computers in the IAU Library have access to SPSS and R. To find details of upcoming training for Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University staff and students, go to the training bookings link (link opens in a new window) and search for courses on your required topic, e.g., R.

• Systematic Review Toolbox (link opens in a new window)—This is a searchable toolbox with tools for each review stage, including data extraction and meta-analysis.
• Systematic Review Data Repository (link opens in new window). "The Systematic Review Data Repository (SRDR) is a powerful and easy-to-use tool for extracting and managing data for systematic review or meta-analysis. It is also an open and searchable archive of systematic reviews and their data.”

A meta-analysis combines the results of multiple relevant studies to provide a more precise estimate of an intervention’s effectiveness than any single study alone. The findings are typically displayed in a “forest plot,” which visually summarizes the effect size (e.g., small or large) and direction (positive, negative, or no effect) for each included study, along with the overall pooled estimate of effectiveness across all studies. You can watch this video to understand forest plots and meta-analysis.