Systematic reviews aim to identify, appraise and synthesise results from all studies addressing a common research question, using techniques which minimise bias. Many such reviews are undertaken by members of the Cochrane Collaboration, an international network of healthcare workers, researchers and consumers committed to the principles of evidence-based healthcare. First Contact is a randomised trial that addresses one key aspect of the conduct of these reviews.
In order to appraise studies which are identified, and to extract preliminary data for a qualitative or quantitative synthesis (when appropriate), the systematic reviewer often has to depend on information available from published reports of the relevant studies. However, these published reports rarely provide sufficient evidence necessary to complete a thorough and unbiased systematic review. For example, key aspects of study design may be omitted, and important statistics may be missing that are required to enter results into a meta-analysis.
To obtain missing information, systematic reviewers might approach the investigators of the studies they have identified. Contact details of a primary author may be obtained from most published papers, and in recent publications an email address and/or a telephone number may also be available. However, it is unclear which of various possible methods of first contact is most effective, both at establishing whether the contact details are correct and at obtaining information on the study.
First Contact will compare two approaches to contacting investigators in order to retrieve information not available in published reports. The control intervention consists of a single letter, an approach typical of current practice. The experimental intervention consists of an intensive approach based on methods that have been demonstrated to be effective within population surveys, including pre-notification, incentives and active follow-up. We aim to evaluate whether response and information retrieval rates from investigators, when contacted with a request for information to contribute to a systematic review, can be affected by how they are approached.
About this web site
This web site provides the primary resource of information and documentation for First Contact. You will find the following information either directly from the home page or by following obvious links.
- The full protocol for First Contact;
- Information for systematic reviewers interested in participating in First Contact (link 'Join now' from the home page);
- Information and guidelines for systematic reviewers participating in First Contact (in the form of a list of frequently asked questions; follow the link for 'members');
- Latest news and results from the trial;
- Details of the organisation of the trial and publications related to it;
- A collection of documents you can download to read about, or publicise, First Contact;
- Information on how you can help us recruit systematic reviewers to First Contact, for example if you are involved with the editorial base of a Cochrane Review Group
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