How old can be the studies used for a systematic literature review? Is there a specific rule? The topic goes about Women-Menstruation-Self-efficacy-Sport.
Thank you!
There is no universal limit for publication dates. It will depend on whether the data and circuntances studied in those studies are still relevant today. In areas where definitions, treatment, comorbidities, access to healthcare, prognosis, ... have changed drastically in the last few years, it makes sense to limit the seach.
If the specific circunstances you are studying within Women-Menstruation-Self-efficacy-Sport have changed since the date of those studies, you might want to consider setting a publication date limit using a date when that change happened. Another option is to include all studies, but then do sub-group analyses based on that cut-off point.
Dominika - in terms of 'setting the context' of your topic - the citations can be historical/seminal with no date limit. However, for your actual review you will need to identify inclusion criteria/limiters that will usually specify a date range. Conventionally, that is usually around 10-years.
Actually there is no such limit. If the article is relevant to your review whether it may be very very old, you can include it.
Dominika Vadurova
Dear Researcher,
This is a great question.
I had pursued a research on Marketing of IT Training Programs while studying PGDBA (Marketing) in University of Wales. There I reviewed literature which were 15 year old. Then I pursued a research on Grievances for my MBA in HRM in Himalayan University where I considered literature up to 10 years old.
I have seen in my research career that mostly literature up to 10 year old are reviewed. Older literature usually lose their relevance. However, I must say that there are no fixed rules and regulations for this.
In some types of studies where you are making a comparison over a period of time, you probably need to review literature which is older than 10-15 years. For example, say, that I am pursuing a comparative study of the development of the Indian economy since the 1950s to present. There I may be required to review older literature.
Thank you.
Best regards,
Anamitra Roy.
The limitation is not imposed on the timespan of publication rather getting relevant information. If timespan is big enough and greater change in terms of technological, social, or macro level took place, still it is a great approach to consider literature prior and post to the change, until informations becomr invalid.
However, considering on your topic, time duration is not a big issue, you will find many literature of the context.
~Regards.
Truth has no age. What matters is the context of the information cited. Sometimes historical studies are extremely relevant, so long as they are presented in a meaningful and relevant context.
It is up to your inclusion and exclusion criteria to collect the literature. You either control for time or not. It depends on your research question.
Dean Whitehead thank you for your insight! And other as well. You are very helpful.
If you are looking only for the current status of the topic you are exploring, maybe use five years.
If you are looking at the question over time, any date range that answers your research questions will work. But remember, if some of your studies are 20 years old, you can not make conclusions as if they were all "now."
The topic is Women-Menstruation-Self-efficacy-Sport but what is your question that you are seeking to answer? Are you exploring attitudes and if they have changed, are you exploring practices that encourage/discourage women's participation in sport, are you linking to a particular time point such as inclusion of a sport in schools or professionalism of a sport, linked to availability of tampons or to cycle altering pharmaceuticals? The specificity of your question may assist in defining an appropriate time line.
Dear Dominika Vadurova
I think it should cover at least 10 years.
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