EVIDENCE-BASED FORESTRY IN FINLAND

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You are here: Home / General / What do we mean when we talk about evidence?

What do we mean when we talk about evidence?

2.10.2018

At the first stakeholder workshop we got a question about the name of the project, specifically on the use of the word evidence. Based on the discussion that followed, evidence and evidence-based are words that are understood in multiple ways. For a person evidence-based refers to someone who has been tested on his or her skills and has passed the exam. For another evidence refers to an experience that a certain management practice is working, and for third person, it refers to research results. In a way all these are evidence because fundamentally evidence is knowledge that we gather from different sources.

In evidence-based decision making, whether we talk about environmental sciences or medicine, evidence is often depicted through the evidence hierarchy (Figure 1). Evidence hierarchies vary somewhat but we use this one as it connects evidence with decision-making. At the bottom of the pyramid are primary research studies that provide the starting point for any evidence synthesis. Their quality may differ, for example regarding sample size, and hence, the evidence they have may have different weight.

At the next level are systematic maps that reveal what evidence exists but say nothing about the effectiveness of interventions. At the third level are systematic reviews that describe the effectiveness of interventions. At the top are reviews of reviews that synthesise the findings of systematic reviews conducted on a certain topic area.

The higher in the hierarchy we are regarding the evidence, the stronger the support for decision-making.

Figure 1. Hiearchy of evidence in relation with decision-making (modified from Dicks et al. 2014)

 

 

References:

Lynn V. Dicks, Jessica C. Walsh, William J. Sutherland (2014) Organising evidence for environmental management decisions: a ‘4S’ hierarchy. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 29:607-613.

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Systematic review and map

What is a Systematic Review?
A Systematic Review collates, critically appraises, and synthesizes all available evidence relevant to a question. Reviewers use pre-defined methods to minimize bias and thus provide more reliable findings that could inform decision making.

What is a Systematic Map?
A Systematic Map collates, codes, and configures all available evidence relevant to a question. Reviewers use pre-defined methods to minimize bias and assess the extent of the evidence to provide a basis that could inform further research and synthesis.

Source: Collaboration for Environmental Evidence.

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  • Effects of forest management on biodiversity
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Hunting for grey literature

1.2.2019

One of the significant differences between a systematic and non-systematic (i.e. traditional) literature review is that during a systematic review process information is searched also within grey literature that has not been peer-reviewed. In … Lue lisää...

Insights from the stakeholder workshop guide the review

9.11.2018

In our second stakeholder workshop we moved from the impacts of different forest management regimes to conservation practices used in production forests. There was a balanced participation from different stakeholder groups, and the discussion around … Lue lisää...

What do we mean when we talk about evidence?

2.10.2018

At the first stakeholder workshop we got a question about the name of the project, specifically on the use of the word evidence. Based on the discussion that followed, evidence and evidence-based are words that are understood in multiple ways. For a … Lue lisää...

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