Progress and problems in evidence synthesis

Wednesday 9 April
Sciences Po, Salle C210
1, place Saint-Thomas 75007 Paris
12h15 - 13h45

Speaker:

Julia H. Littell is Professor Emerita at Bryn Mawr College (in the USA), where she taught graduate courses on human development, child welfare, social policy, and research methods for 30 years. She earned her PhD from the University of Chicago. Her scholarly work focuses on applied epistemology, methods of research synthesis, and uses and misuses of empirical research in policy and practice. She has studied processes and outcomes of complex interventions for children and families, using field experiments, secondary analysis of data, qualitative methods, systematic reviews, and meta-analysis. She is co-author of Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (Oxford University Press), Putting Families First: An Experiment in Family Preservation (Aldine de Gruyter), and more than 75 journal articles and book chapters. She is a founding member of the international, interdisciplinary Society for Research Synthesis Methods.

Abstract

Scientific methods for synthesizing results of multiple studies have evolved rapidly in recent decades. New methods are available to critically appraise and synthesize different sources and types of data from different studies designs, to address a wide array of review questions, and minimize bias and error in the review process. The practice of evidence synthesis has also grown exponentially. In many fields, the production of research reviews now outpaces the production of new studies, but most reviews continue to rely on outdated methods that are likely to lead to inaccurate conclusions. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses tend to be very highly cited, very labor-intensive, and grossly under-resourced; these types of reviews have been met with concerns about their integrity and value, over-simplification and over-generalization from results, and undue influence on policy and practice.

This seminar considers the role of evidence synthesis in the advancement of scientific knowledge, along with recent progress and current problems in synthesis work. Following an overview of relevant meta-research and methodological developments, the focus is on uses and misuses of systematic reviews and meta-analysis. Examples are drawn from research and reviews on effects of complex home- and community-based interventions for children, youth, and families.