Hi all,
A little dilemma here. My team and I are conducting a systematic review on the psychosocial needs of newcomers for integration into Canada. We will include qualitative work that would generate insights into the needs and barriers that various newcomers experience - using an intersectional lens. Where we are debating is the inclusion of dissertations.
I have come across some incredibly relevant dissertations and I feel that because of the rigorous process of checks and reviews they go through, they are as reliable as peer-reviewed articles (if not more). But -
1. What are the arguments against not including theses/dissertations at all, if any?
2. Do we include both Master's theses and doctoral dissertations or only the latter?
Your ideas and insights on this would be extremely valuable to our process. Let me know if you require more information on this.
Thank you!
Including master's theses and doctoral dissertations in your systematic review can be a valuable addition to your search strategy. These sources often contain original and detailed research that may not have been published in peer-reviewed journals or other sources. However, there are some arguments against including theses and dissertations in a systematic review. Some of these arguments include:
Quality Control: Unlike published peer-reviewed articles, theses and dissertations are not subject to the same level of scrutiny and review.
Limited Access: Some theses and dissertations may not be easily accessible, which can limit their inclusion in your review.
Publication Bias: Theses and dissertations are often focused on a specific topic or research area, which may result in publication bias.
When deciding whether to include master's theses and/or doctoral dissertations in your systematic review, it is important to consider the quality and relevance of the sources. You may want to focus on including theses and dissertations that are relevant to your research question and meet certain quality criteria. It is recommended that you consult with your team and consult the guidelines of the specific journal or publication you plan to submit your systematic review to for guidelines on including theses and dissertations.
I would definitely include them, it is highly desirable to do so.
I disagree with a few things Ajit Singh has said in his answer.
I see no major issue with quality. PhD and Master's theses contain far more detail than an academic paper, so you can judge the quality of the research much better. If a thesis is very poor quality, it will be obvious, and you may exclude it on that basis (but only after having read the actual thesis). Plus, most PhD theses, and some Master's theses, end up published as academic papers.
On the issue of publication bias. If you exclude PhD and Master's theses you are more likely to see publication bias in the results of your systematic review. As the theses that are not published as academic papers, are more likely to contain null findings, making them less desirable for publication.
Also, journals will rarely have guidelines on what types of papers one can include in systematic review, this is up to the authors. Lastly, if the thesis is inaccessible then obviously you cannot include it, but that is an issue with any type of research not just theses.
I think it is up to you and your team to set the inclusion criteria for your study. For example, you could include PhD dissertations but not Masters theses. Whatever you do, however, you need to apply those criteria in a consistent fashion. So, if you accept dissertations, then you can't just "cherry pick" the ones that strike you as higher quality.
It depends on the kind of systematic review being conducted. Aside from meta-analysis and meta-ethnography, reviews such as scoping, integrative, critical, and realist reviews can include theses and other grey literature. The purpose of the review also counts
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