When someone asks me what I do, and I reply with something like ‘I’m an evidence synthesis researcher,’ they are usually having a hard time understanding that. It need not be this way. In fact, knowledge synthesis is something everybody does every day of their lives. [Thread] 👇
When we’re asking Google to list restaurants in the area, this is knowledge synthesis. And when we’re scrolling today’s news, this is knowledge synthesis too. The platforms do it in our stead. But when a physician is looking up options for treating a difficult patient? 2/8
Or when a financial analyst is gathering clues to making their investment decision? Or when an OSINT journalist is collecting evidence of a war crime? These would be knowledge synthesis too. However, the greater the negative impact of an adverse decision, the bigger the call. 3/8
The science of evidence synthesis has shown that methods matter. Aka metaepidemiology, it is surprising how poorly it has spread beyond health sciences. By studying and comparing different ways of retrieving and combining evidence, this science has learned how to do it best. 4/8
E.g., we now know the price of discarding potential sources of evidence. We have appreciated the importance of publishing a search and synthesis plan beforehand. Our language, though, as researchers, is oftentimes purely academic and prevents us from effectively reaching out. 5/8
Another problem that haunts us in evidence synthesis is our tools. A great many things in evidence synthesis are still done by hand, like screening papers and extracting data from them. Gosh, we have ChatGPT these days. 6/8
Finally, internal communication is also broken. Research waste, as they call it, is when different teams of scientists conduct largely overlapping studies either due to unfamiliarity with each other’s work or unwillingness to collaborate. Eventually, *lots* of effort is lost. 7/8
How can we put things together? How can we bring people together? All with an ultimate goal: Give the best possible answers to your search queries. Whoever you are, whatever you search for. As robust as COVID-NMA, as relevant as Google, as smart as ChatGPT. I’m working on it. 8/8
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