Monday (12/9) UGM Psychology Doctoral Study Program in collaboration with the Center for Public Mental Health (CPMH) held Mastering Scoping Review and Systematic Literature Review events. This intensive training event is packaged in twelve sessions of twenty-four hours and will last for ten days. The event, which was intended for postgraduate, doctoral students, lecturers, researchers, and professionals in public or private institutions was attended by 82 participants from all over Indonesia.
The speakers at the opening of the intensive training were Dr. Diana Setiyawati, M.HSc., Psy., Psychologist. In her presentation Diana brought material on how to step by step in compiling research using the systematic literature review and scoping review methods, two methods that have similarities but are completely different.
One of the important and crucial things in compiling research using systematic literature review and scoping review methods is to determine which journal articles will be selected as research material. Diana explained that a systematic literature review has stricter journal criteria than traditional reviews which do not have clear journal criteria. Therefore, in preparing a systematic literature review, it is necessary to identify the level of evidence of the selected journal.
At the level of evidence, researchers can find out whether the journal has a high or low level of trust in research evidence. The lowest level of evidence is expert opinion. Followed above are observational studies without controls, controlled observational, quasi-experimental, until the highest level is randomized controlled trial.
“Why is randomness important, in this case it produces high evidence? Because what is called random is a mathematical axiom that includes probability theory, so sample variations will be included in the random, “explained Diana.
In her presentation Diana defined a systematic literature review as a systematic review of all relevant quality studies. This review is directed with research questions in identifying, assessing, selecting and synthesizing.
Furthermore, Diana explained the benefits of a systematic review, namely to support evidence based practice, research, inform clinical policy, publications, and personal professional development. This shows that in addition to publications, systematic literature reviews can also be used for self-reading.
This presentation also explains the process of preparing a systematic literature review. Diana explained step by step starting from the initial phase of formulating research questions to the phase of synthesizing and finally formulating research.
After being invited to understand the systematic literature review, the event participants also received an explanation about the scoping review. This is very interesting because scoping review is a very new thing in research methodology. Diana explained that the purpose of the scoping review is to identify research gaps, set the research agenda and identify the implications of decision making.
Although there are many similarities with systematic literature reviews, scoping reviews are a different method. Scoping review is carried out in conditions where the dominant direction of the research results is not clear or the data is still heterogeneous. Even so, the research methods used in the scoping review must still be carried out systematically and transparently.
“Although the objectives are different from the systematic literature review, the scoping review must also have protocols, transparent methods, and must remain trustworthy,” explained Diana.