Brock’s Building Better Research Series is offering workshops focused on evidence synthesis, community engagement and Qualtrics in May.

Members of the James A. Gibson Library’s Evidence Synthesis Working Group will kick off a three-part in-person evidence synthesis workshop series on Wednesday, May 3. The series is designed to help participants gain the knowledge and skills needed to conduct an evidence synthesis review from start to finish.

Evidence synthesis is a research method, such as a literature review or systematic review, that involves collecting and combining data from multiple studies exploring the same topic.

“Evidence synthesis research is experiencing major growth, not just at Brock but everywhere,” says Elizabeth Yates, Research and Scholarly Communication Librarian and co-facilitator for this workshop series. “We saw a real spike in interest during the pandemic when lab access was restricted, and while momentum has dropped down a bit, many recognize the value of this type of research and are continuing with this method.”

The series is suitable for Brock faculty, librarians, graduate students and staff. Participants are not required to attend every session but each workshop will build on skills and information covered in previous workshops.

Participants will develop skills in fine tuning research questions and receive advice on building a comprehensive search strategy, citation management, screening, data extraction and techniques and frameworks for synthesizing research.

“This our second time running evidence synthesis training,” says Yates. “Some of the content has been revised to include rapid-reviews, hands-on activities, pre/follow-up work and some new tools too. This will keep evolving as new things pop up.”

Researchers who came to Brock’s first workshop or who have done this type of work in the past are encouraged to sign up to gain a deeper understanding.

May offerings also include an online knowledge mobilization session on the importance of authentic community collaboration and knowledge exchange practices and a Qualtrics webinar for those who have received basic training in the past and are interested in a live demo of specific platform features.

May’s Building Better Research workshops will take place either in the James A. Gibson Library or online. Participants must bring their own laptop or device for in-person sessions. To register or learn more visit ExperienceBU.

Upcoming Building Better Research Series workshops:

• Wednesday, May 3 from noon to 2 p.m. (in person) – Workshop 1: Introduction to Evidence Synthesis
• Tuesday, May 9 from noon to 1 p.m. (online) – Community Engagement Within Research and Knowledge Mobilization – An Introduction
• Wednesday, May 10 from noon to 2 p.m. (in person) – Workshop 2: Searching the Literature for Evidence Synthesis Reviews
• Thursday, May 11 from noon to 1 p.m. (online) – Qualtrics, A Deeper Dive
• Thursday, May 25 from noon to 2 p.m. (in person) – Workshop 3: Screening and Synthesizing Studies and Reporting Results

Building Better Research is a professional development workshop series that draws upon expertise from across the campus community to enhance research efforts at Brock.

For more information on these and upcoming skills building opportunities please visit the Building Better Research web page.