The People's Review

The People's Review is a systematic review, powered by the people.

The public are invited to learn about systematic reviews by doing a systematic review. The People's Review aims to help the public learn about systematic reviews, to understand why they matter, and how they can be used to help make health decisions

We are inviting people from around the world who can communicate in English, and have access to a computer, tablet, or smartphone to join The People's Review. No special skills, training or previous experience with science or research is required. We will guide you along the way. 

The project will introduce and immerse the public in the steps of a systematic review that they co-create with the research team.

The People's Review is divided into eight steps: 

1. Suggest a Question - the public submit health questions they want the review to focus on.
2. Choose the Question - in two rounds of surveys, the public will choose the people's favourite question. 
3. Plan the Review - the public will help plan the review that will inform the review protocol. 
4. Select the Studies - this will involve helping to sift through summaries of studies to decide if they are relevant to our review or not. 
5. Extract the Data - the public will take a closer look at the included studies, and pull out important information from the studies. 
6. Check for Bias - this will involve taking an even closer look at the included studies to check if there are any flaws (or bias) that might impact the trustworthiness of the results. 
7. Interpret the Results - the public will help make sense of the results. 
8. Share the Results - the public will decide how the review results should be shared. 

Each stage is easy to join, and the public can join in as few or as many stages as they like! We have created engaging and fun material to support people through each stage of the process.

Everything will take place on line through The People's Review website and the citizen science platform Cochrane Crowd.

Begin your journey now....

Aim

• The People's Review aims to help the public learn about systematic reviews, to understand why they matter, and how they can be used to help make health decisions. 

Needed equipment

Phone, laptop or tablet. 

About funding

Funding bodies: Health Research Board (Ireland)

HSC Research and Development Division of the Public Health Agency (Northern Ireland)

Evidence Synthesis Ireland

Cochrane Ireland

College of Medicine Nursing and Health Sciences University of Galway

Created April 10, 2025, 2:52 p.m.

Updated April 10, 2025, 3:48 p.m.

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