Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Techniques Made Easy for Impactful Publication (Online)Non-credit

Meta-analyses are pivotal in synthesising research across various disciplines, often forming the cornerstone of evidence-based practices. However, many researchers face challenges, particularly in designing statistical analyses to answer impactful questions with the available papers in the literature.

On the other hand, you may not realise how much the quality of other steps in this process can limit the impact of your work. To name a few, there is often a lack of knowledge in building a good search strategy, a common waste of time screening a huge number of irrelevant papers for the systematic review, and challenges in conveying the message by critically interpreting the findings with smart scientific communication techniques.

This comprehensive online course is designed to equip you with the skills needed to efficiently write impactful systematic review and meta-analysis papers.

What you'll learn

• Conceiving the Meta-Analysis Question: Understand how to formulate a research question that is both relevant and feasible.
• Time-Saving Search Strategies: Learn how to plan and implement effective search strategies that save time and yield comprehensive results.
• Efficient Paper Selection: Master the art of selecting the most relevant papers for your analysis.
• Data Interpretation and Extraction: Gain skills in interpreting and extracting crucial data from selected papers.
• Simplified Data Analysis: Demystify the data-analysis process with easy-to-understand methods.
• Manuscript Writing: Learn the techniques for writing a compelling manuscript, whether it's a dissertation, thesis, or a paper intended for a scientific journal.

Course structure

• Self-Paced Learning: Engage with video recordings and hands-on exercises at your convenience (4 hours per week).
• Live Sessions: Participate in 6 live sessions (schedule provided) to deepen your understanding. It is recommended to familiarise yourself with the content and complete the hands-on exercises beforehand to make the most of this course.
• Consultancy Support: For those seeking personalised guidance on their projects or papers, we offer an upgrade (see cost section) for individual live support from our expert instructor, Dr Amanda Sardeli.

This course is ideal for anyone looking to refine their skills in writing systematic reviews and meta-analyses, with a clear pathway from conception to publication.

Content

• Introduction to the concepts of systematic review and meta-analysis.
• How to build a novel and an impactful systematic review and meta-analysis research question.
• How to do highly sensitive research (the time saver).
• How to select the most useful and important studies.
• How to extract data for the characterization and analysis.
• Meta-analysis tool bag: interpretation and decisions.
• Step-by-step in the statistical methods of meta-analysis.
• Assessment tools and complementary analysis.
• How to write a systematic review and meta-analysis impactful paper.

Programme team

Department of Inflammation and Ageing

Dates of the course

Next Iteration: 1st March - 15th May 2024

Time commitment

4 hours per week (24 hours total). Online material will be available for 11 weeks.

Accreditation

Non credit bearing. Certificate of attendance will be sent out upon course completion.

Learning outcomes

The participant will learn how to:

• Interpret and criticize a SR with MA.
• Develop a research question for SR and MA.
• Write a SR protocol.
• Prepare a search for scientific databases.
• Correct and improve a search.
• How to efficiently screen studies to select for analysis.
• How to generate a forest plot.
• Funnel plot and subgroup meta-analysis.
• Evaluate quality of the studies with different tools.
• Evaluate the strength of the evidence of a MA.
• Write an impactful paper in scientific language.

This course is designed for physicians, clinicians, dentists, nurses, physiotherapists, nutritionists, pharmacists, exercise practitioners, researchers, undergraduate and postgraduate students and all professionals or students interested in identifying evidence-based practices.

Online Course:

• £300 students/trainees
• £350 academics/consultants

Additional personal consultancy (3hrs):

• £200 students/trainees
• £250 academics/consultants

You can book both the online course and consultancy in one if you choose to.

Registration will open once new dates are confirmed.

The courses have minimum required attendance levels, and the University reserves the right to cancel or postpone the course if the minimum required number of delegates has not been achieved for the course.

For enquiries about the course content, please email: a.veigasardeli@bham.ac.uk

For enquiries about bookings, please email: mdscpdenquiries@contacts.bham.ac.uk 

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