Table 2 Terms related to study design and their definitions used throughout the systematic review
Term | Definitions |
|---|---|
Article | An independent publication (i.e., the primary source of relevant information). Used throughout the review |
Study | An experiment or observation that was undertaken over a specific time period at a particular site (i.e., ecologically independent sites from the same or different article). Used throughout the review |
Project | Individual investigations within an independent study that differed with respect to ≥ 1 aspects of the study validity criteria (e.g., study design). Used in Review descriptive statistics and Narrative synthesis |
Case | Situationally defined in text/visual aids. E.g., separate counts for different specific intervention comparisons (i.e., addition of sediment, gravel, boulders) within an independent study. Used in Review descriptive statistics and Narrative synthesis |
Data set | (1) A single independent study from a single article; or (2) when a single independent study reported separate comparisons for different: (a) species, and/or (b) the same species but responses for different outcome subgroup categories (i.e., abundance, survival, body size), or different intervention subgroup categories (i.e., rock material, plant material, waterbody creation/extension, waterbody modification, human-made structures). The number of data sets was only considered for quantitative analyses |