Conducting Research Literature Reviews

Arlene Fink (PhD) is Professor of Medicine and Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles, and president of the Langley Research Institute. Her main interests include evaluation and survey research and the conduct of research literature reviews as well as the evaluation of their quality. Dr. Fink has conducted scores of evaluation studies in public health, medicine, and education. She is on the faculty of UCLA’s Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program and is a scientific and evaluation advisor to UCLA’s Gambling Studies and IMPACT (Improving Access, Counseling & Treatment for Californians with Prostate Cancer) programs. She consults nationally and internationally for agencies such as L’institut de Promotion del la Prévention Secondaire en Addictologie (IPPSA) in Paris, France, and Peninsula Health in Victoria, Australia. Professor Fink has taught and lectured extensively all over the world and is the author of more than 130 peer-reviewed articles and 15 textbooks.

"Fink’s tone, level, and style is very approachable and understandable which makes it ideal for my students, most of whom are new to the process of literature reviews."

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsAbout the AuthorPART I. Research Design and SamplingChapter 1: Reviewing the Literature: Why? For Whom? How?What is a Research Literature Review? Why Do One?Gaining Control: Experiments and ObservationsSystematic, Explicit, Comprehensive, and Reproducible: Four Key WordsChoosing an Online Bibliographic DatabaseHow Do You Ask for Information? Searching With Boolean OperatorsPausing during the SearchChanging the Course of the SearchSupplementing the Online SearchOrganizing the Research Literature: Building a Virtual Filing CabinetChapter 2: Searching and Screening: The Practical Screen and Methodological QualitySearch Screen 1: The Practical ScreenSearch Screen 2: Methodological Quality Screening CriteriaObservational Designs in BriefA Note on Other Designs and Studies: Cross-Sectional Surveys and Consensus StatementsInternal and External ValidityCriterion for Quality: SamplingThe Sampling UnitThe Size of the SampleResponse RatePART II. Data Collection, Interventions, Analysis, Results, and ConclusionsChapter 3: Searching and Screening: Methodological QualityData Collection and Data Sources: Methods and MeasuresInterventions and Programs: Reviewing the Research Literature to Find out What WorksData Analysis: Statistical Methods in the Research LiteratureAccounting for ImpactChapter 4: Doing the Review: A Reader’s Guide ChapterTypes of Information: Methods and ContentEligibility and ActualityReporting Standards: Checklists for Research Writing and ReviewingHow TREND Was Used in a Literature ReviewReliable and Valid ReviewsUniform Data Collection: The Literature Review Survey QuestionnaireUniform Data Collection: Definitions and MorePilot Testing the Review ProcessEstablishing ValidityMonitoring QualityChapter 5: What Did You Find? Synthesizing ResultsNow that You Have Done It, What Do You Do With It?Descriptive Syntheses or ReviewsMeta-SynthesisMeta-AnalysisMeta-Analyses in Practice: ExamplesGlossaryAuthor IndexSubject Index