Systematic Reviews in Educational Research

Abstract

Systematic reviews have positioned themselves as a methodology that systematizes the best scientific evidence available in relation to a topic and research questions. Originating from the health sciences, they have expanded their range and application to other fields, with adaptations, protocols and forms of approach according to the knowledge validation criteria of these fields. However, there are voices against the implementation of systematic review in education, arguing irreconcilable discrepancies at the ontological, epistemological and methodological levels. In this sense, the objective of this paper is to analyze the circumstances under which the applicability of systematic reviews in the field of education is questioned, while offering arguments from this critical analysis to validate the systematic review as a possibility of research in education, taking in to account the consolidation of this methodology in the field and the strength of the scientific evidence it provides in its results.