Systematic literature review again

When researching, you need to know what you don't know. "Ignorance is undervalued" was the starting point of a session on systematically reviewing the literature. And:

"Research is the process of going up alleys to see if they're blind"(Marston Bates)

Colin Pilbeam at the BAM conference set out a framework for a systematic review, explaining that

1. a critical review comes before
   
2. a scoping study that leads into
   
3. the systematic review.

I hadn't realised that sequence. They mentioned Wallace and Wray - a quick search gives me this recent overview from an enthusiastic student who recommends their framework too and gives a link to downloading questions for a critical review.

The overheads that Colin Pilbeam and Rob Briner displayed gave me a better sense of being systematic, and encourage me to keep records of for example:

• information sources
• citation databases
• searches I've done and the search strings

and to tabulate my findings. I'll keep the records; they'll be evidence.