The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Routine development of objectively derived search strategies

Routine development of objectively derived search strategies
Routine development of objectively derived search strategies
BACKGROUND:Over the past few years, information retrieval has become more and more professionalized and information specialists are considered full members of a research team conducting systematic reviews. Research groups preparing systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines have been the driving force in the development of search strategies, but open questions remain regarding the transparency of the development process and the available resources. An empirically guided approach to the development of a search strategy provides a way to increase transparency and efficiency.METHODS:The aim of this paper is to describe the empirically guided development process for search strategies as applied by the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (Institut fur Qualitat und Wirtschaftlichkeit im Gesundheitswesen, IQWiG). This strategy consists of the following steps: generation of a test set, as well as development, validation, and standardized documentation of the search strategy.RESULTS:We illustrated our approach by means of an example, i.e. a search for literature on brachytherapy in patients with prostate cancer. For this purpose, a test set was generated including a total of 38 references from 3 systematic reviews. The development set for the generation of the strategy included 25 references. After application of text-analytic procedures a strategy was developed including all references of the development set. In order to test the search strategy on an independent set of references, the remaining 13 references from the test set (validation set) were used; the validation set was also completely identified.DISCUSSION:Our conclusion is that an objectively derived approach, similar to that used in search filter development, is a feasible way to develop and validate reliable search strategies. Besides creating high-quality strategies, the widespread application of this approach would result in a substantial increase in the transparency of the development process of search strategies.
information storage and retrieval, reproducibility of results, bibliographic databases, health technology assessment
19
Hausner, Elke
46f0521e-b083-48e4-a5c6-4cc6c24fa4d6
Waffenschmidt, Siw
4b992102-19b9-4154-b3b0-6997d980ff16
Kaiser, Thomas
88ce0656-1c78-4ab6-ae2c-d38f54cb5e13
Simon, Michael
6e9ad30e-c22f-455a-945e-98d77dcec479
Hausner, Elke
46f0521e-b083-48e4-a5c6-4cc6c24fa4d6
Waffenschmidt, Siw
4b992102-19b9-4154-b3b0-6997d980ff16
Kaiser, Thomas
88ce0656-1c78-4ab6-ae2c-d38f54cb5e13
Simon, Michael
6e9ad30e-c22f-455a-945e-98d77dcec479

Hausner, Elke, Waffenschmidt, Siw, Kaiser, Thomas and Simon, Michael (2012) Routine development of objectively derived search strategies. Systematic Reviews, 1 (1), 19. (doi:10.1186/PREACCEPT-1545996677607630). (PMID:22587829)

Record type: Article

Abstract

BACKGROUND:Over the past few years, information retrieval has become more and more professionalized and information specialists are considered full members of a research team conducting systematic reviews. Research groups preparing systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines have been the driving force in the development of search strategies, but open questions remain regarding the transparency of the development process and the available resources. An empirically guided approach to the development of a search strategy provides a way to increase transparency and efficiency.METHODS:The aim of this paper is to describe the empirically guided development process for search strategies as applied by the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (Institut fur Qualitat und Wirtschaftlichkeit im Gesundheitswesen, IQWiG). This strategy consists of the following steps: generation of a test set, as well as development, validation, and standardized documentation of the search strategy.RESULTS:We illustrated our approach by means of an example, i.e. a search for literature on brachytherapy in patients with prostate cancer. For this purpose, a test set was generated including a total of 38 references from 3 systematic reviews. The development set for the generation of the strategy included 25 references. After application of text-analytic procedures a strategy was developed including all references of the development set. In order to test the search strategy on an independent set of references, the remaining 13 references from the test set (validation set) were used; the validation set was also completely identified.DISCUSSION:Our conclusion is that an objectively derived approach, similar to that used in search filter development, is a feasible way to develop and validate reliable search strategies. Besides creating high-quality strategies, the widespread application of this approach would result in a substantial increase in the transparency of the development process of search strategies.

Text
2046-4053-1-19.pdf - Author's Original
Download (246kB)

More information

Published date: 29 February 2012
Keywords: information storage and retrieval, reproducibility of results, bibliographic databases, health technology assessment
Organisations: Faculty of Health Sciences

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 301322
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/301322
PURE UUID: eb554f40-3ad6-43b9-842e-ae58117eb283

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 01 Mar 2012 11:26
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 10:29

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Elke Hausner
Author: Siw Waffenschmidt
Author: Thomas Kaiser
Author: Michael Simon

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×