How to create a data extraction 1 template

Before you can start collecting data from your included studies, you’ll need to set up your Data Extraction Template. Think of this template as your guide, it defines what information you want to collect from each study to answer your review question.

The key is to find the right balance: include enough data to answer your review question, but don’t waste time collecting details that won’t help. You can always adjust the template as you go, it's normal to test it on a few studies and make changes as needed.

Let’s walk through each step!

Step 1: Identification

Start by choosing what basic information you want to collect from each study, things like who funded the study or where it was conducted.

We provide some default fields (e.g. Sponsorship source, Country), but you can remove these and also add your own.
These fields will appear in your extraction form so you can gather consistent information across all studies.
We’ll provide suggestions from the PDF where we can - saving you time! ✨

Need more help? Here’s a deeper dive into the identification section.

Step 2: Methods

Next, define what you want to know about how each study was designed and conducted.

We provide some default fields (e.g. Study design, Group type of the study design), but you can remove these and also add your own.
These fields will appear in your extraction form so you can gather consistent information across all studies.

👉 Need more help? Here’s a deeper dive into the methods section.

Step 3: Population

Now, decide what information you want to collect about the population included in each study (e.g. people, animals, subjects). This might include inclusion criteria of the study and baseline characteristics like age, gender, or health status.

We provide some default fields, but you can remove these and also add your own.
You’ll be able to collect baseline characteristics separately for each group in the study, helping you compare them more easily later.

👉 Need more help? Here’s a deeper dive into the population section.

Step 4: Interventions / Exposures

Next, define the interventions, comparators, exposures or phenomena of interest you’re interested in collecting to answer your review question.

They should be defined so that:

It guides what interventions / exposures are in scope - so you’re not collecting data that’s not relevant
Flexible enough to handle variations in studies - so you don’t exclude data because of minor variations

The level of specificity depends on your review question and the level of variation you expect across studies. They can be:

Broad (e.g. pain medication, air pollution)
Specific (e.g. paracetamol - 500mg, particulate matter - PM20)

When extracting data from a study, you can:

Select what interventions, comparators and exposures were reported - we’ll provide suggestions from the PDF where we can - saving you time! ✨
Add study specific groups (also called “arms”) - and link them to your review interventions / exposures, that you've defined on the template
Collect intervention / exposure details for each group - things like dose, delivery method, duration of exposure. These details are key to knowing if you can compare studies later e.g. can different doses be compared in analysis?

👉 Need more help? Here’s a deeper dive into the intervention section.

Step 5: Outcomes

Finally, set up the main outcomes you want to collect to answer your review question.