Goals of the search


When you’re searching for articles for a systematic review, you want to aim for “high sensitivity” or “high recall.” In other words, you’d rather identify more articles that don’t really fit your research question than accidentally leave out articles that DO fit your research question.

That’s because your goal is to avoid missing any relevant studies. At this stage, it’s hard to be sure if a study matches your question. So play it safe and include it for now.