Rapid Evidence Assessment

A rapid evidence assessment (REA) is a way of getting on top of the available research evidence on a policy question as comprehensively as possible within the constraints of a short timetable. It uses the systematic and transparent methods of a full systematic review — explicit search strategies, inclusion criteria and quality appraisal — but deliberately limits the breadth of one or more stages to fit the time and resources available. Promoted in the UK by the Government Social Research Service and the EPPI-Centre, the REA was designed to give policymakers rigorous, accountable evidence syntheses on timescales that conventional systematic reviews cannot meet.