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The Value of "Traditional" Reviews in the Era of Systematic Reviewing

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Reviews offer examinations of published material on a topic, and are becoming indispensable in keeping up with an exponentially growing rehabilitation literature. Adherents of the systematic reviews that support evidence-based practice have been quite dismissive of narrative (traditional, qualitative, non-systematic) reviews. However, the types of problems that plague the latter also may be found in systematic reviews, which in addition have problems of their own. It is argued here that reviews play a number of roles in scientific research and professional practice: pooling data, comparing research, synthesizing complementary studies, offering guidance in uncharted fields, and “translating” research between disciplinary traditions. For some of these purposes, systematic reviews are better; for others, only a narrative review is suitable. Both types can be improved to serve the reader better in keeping up with the literature.

This webcast is supported through the National Center for the Dissemination of Disability Research (NCDDR), which is funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) in the U.S. Department of Education, and is supported in part by ILRU. The opinions and views expressed are those of the presenters and no endorsement by the funding agency should be inferred.

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