IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/evarev/v49y2025i6p951-968.html

A Systematic Review of the Methods Used in Rapid Approaches to Research and Evaluation

Author

Listed:
  • Sigrún Eyrúnardóttir Clark
  • Norha Vera San Juan
  • Thomas Moniz
  • Rebecca Appleton
  • Phoebe Barnett
  • Cecilia Vindrola-Padros

Abstract

Rapid approaches are essential when resources are limited and when findings are required in real-time to inform decisions. Limitations exist in their design and implementation, which can lead to a reduced level of trust in findings. This review sought to map the methods used across rapid evaluations and research to facilitate timeliness and support the rigour of studies. Four scientific databases and one search engine were searched between 11–16th August 2022. Screening led to the inclusion of 169 articles that provided a much-needed repository of methods that can be used during the design and implementation of rapid studies to improve their trustworthiness. No reporting guidelines specific to rapid research or evaluation were identified in the literature, we therefore suggest that this repository of methods informs the development of transparent reporting standards for future rapid research and evaluation.

Suggested Citation

  • Sigrún Eyrúnardóttir Clark & Norha Vera San Juan & Thomas Moniz & Rebecca Appleton & Phoebe Barnett & Cecilia Vindrola-Padros, 2025. "A Systematic Review of the Methods Used in Rapid Approaches to Research and Evaluation," Evaluation Review, , vol. 49(6), pages 951-968, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:evarev:v:49:y:2025:i:6:p:951-968
    DOI: 10.1177/0193841X251338536
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0193841X251338536
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0193841X251338536?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brown, D.R. & Hernández, A. & Saint-Jean, G. & Evans, S. & Tafari, I. & Brewster, L.G. & Celestin, M.J. & Gómez-Estefan, C. & Regalado, F. & Akal, S. & Nierenberg, B. & Kauschinger, E.D. & Schwartz, R, 2008. "A participatory action research pilot study of urban health disparities using rapid assessment response and evaluation," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 98(1), pages 28-38.
    2. Morojele, Neo K. & Kachieng'a, Millicent A. & Mokoko, Evodia & Nkoko, Matsobane A. & Parry, Charles D.H. & Nkowane, Annette M. & Moshia, Kgaogelo M. & Saxena, Shekhar, 2006. "Alcohol use and sexual behaviour among risky drinkers and bar and shebeen patrons in Gauteng province, South Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 217-227, January.
    3. Fitch, Chris & Stimson, Gerry V & Rhodes, Tim & Poznyak, Vladimir, 2004. "Rapid assessment: an international review of diffusion, practice and outcomes in the substance use field," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 59(9), pages 1819-1830, November.
    4. Johnson, Ginger A. & Vindrola-Padros, Cecilia, 2017. "Rapid qualitative research methods during complex health emergencies: A systematic review of the literature," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 63-75.
    5. Kahle, E.M. & Barash, E.A. & Page, L.C. & Lansky, A. & Jafa, K. & Sullivan, P.S. & Buskin, S.E., 2009. "Evaluation of the impact of news coverage of an HIV multiclass drug-resistant cluster in Seattle, Washington," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 99(S1), pages 131-136.
    6. Aral, Sevgi O. & St. Lawrence, Janet S. & Dyatlov, Roman & Kozlov, Andrei, 2005. "Commercial sex work, drug use, and sexually transmitted infections in St. Petersburg, Russia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(10), pages 2181-2190, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Biswas, Debashish & Hossin, Raduan & Rahman, Mahbubur & Bardosh, Kevin Louis & Watt, Melissa H. & Zion, Mazharul Islam & Sujon, Hasnat & Rashid, Md Mahbubur & Salimuzzaman, M. & Flora, Meerjady S. & Q, 2020. "An ethnographic exploration of diarrheal disease management in public hospitals in Bangladesh: From problems to solutions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    2. Hatcher, Abigail M. & Gibbs, Andrew & McBride, Ruari-Santiago & Rebombo, Dumisani & Khumalo, Mzwakhe & Christofides, Nicola J., 2022. "Gendered syndemic of intimate partner violence, alcohol misuse, and HIV risk among peri-urban, heterosexual men in South Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 295(C).
    3. Oludele Akinloye Akinboade & Mandisa Putuma Mokwena, 2010. "The problem and awareness of liquor abuse in South Africa," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 37(1), pages 54-74, January.
    4. Watt, Melissa H. & Aunon, Frances M. & Skinner, Donald & Sikkema, Kathleen J. & Kalichman, Seth C. & Pieterse, Desiree, 2012. "“Because he has bought for her, he wants to sleep with her”: Alcohol as a currency for sexual exchange in South African drinking venues," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(7), pages 1005-1012.
    5. Cassandra Carels & Maria Florence & Sabirah Adams & Deborah Louise Sinclair & Shazly Savahl, 2022. "Youths’ Perceptions Of The Relation Between Alcohol Consumption And Risky Sexual Behaviour in the Western Cape, South Africa: A Qualitative Study," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 15(4), pages 1269-1293, August.
    6. Stecher, Chad & Palimaru, Alina I. & Odiit, Mary & Lunkuse, Lillian & Walukaga, Stewart & Linnemayr, Sebastian, 2023. "Barriers and facilitators of antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence habit formation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from a qualitative study in Kampala, Uganda," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).
    7. Pitpitan, Eileen V. & Kalichman, Seth C. & Eaton, Lisa A. & Sikkema, Kathleen J. & Watt, Melissa H. & Skinner, Donald, 2012. "Gender-based violence and HIV sexual risk behavior: Alcohol use and mental health problems as mediators among women in drinking venues, Cape Town," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(8), pages 1417-1425.
    8. Preety Srivastava & Ou Yang & Xueyan Zhao, 2022. "Equal Tax for Equal Alcohol? Beverage Types and Antisocial and Unlawful Behaviours," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 98(323), pages 354-372, December.
    9. Andrew Charman & Thiresh Govender, 2020. "The Creative Night‐Time Leisure Economy of Informal Drinking Venues," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(5), pages 793-808, September.
    10. Needle, Richard & Kroeger, Karen & Belani, Hrishikesh & Achrekar, Angeli & Parry, Charles D. & Dewing, Sarah, 2008. "Sex, drugs, and HIV: Rapid assessment of HIV risk behaviors among street-based drug using sex workers in Durban, South Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(9), pages 1447-1455, November.
    11. Morojele, Neo K. & Kachieng'a, Millicent A. & Mokoko, Evodia & Nkoko, Matsobane A. & Parry, Charles D.H. & Nkowane, Annette M. & Moshia, Kgaogelo M. & Saxena, Shekhar, 2006. "Alcohol use and sexual behaviour among risky drinkers and bar and shebeen patrons in Gauteng province, South Africa," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(1), pages 217-227, January.
    12. Cunningham Scott & Kendall Todd D, 2011. "Men in Transit and Prostitution: Using Political Conventions as a Natural Experiment," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-20, June.
    13. Carina Ferreira-Borges & Charles D.H. Parry & Thomas F. Babor, 2017. "Harmful Use of Alcohol: A Shadow over Sub-Saharan Africa in Need of Workable Solutions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-12, March.
    14. Nadine Harker & Mukhethwa Londani & Neo Morojele & Petal Petersen Williams & Charles DH Parry, 2020. "Characteristics and Predictors of Heavy Episodic Drinking (HED) among Young People Aged 16–25: The International Alcohol Control Study (IAC), Tshwane, South Africa," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-16, May.
    15. Stoebenau, Kirsten & Heise, Lori & Wamoyi, Joyce & Bobrova, Natalia, 2016. "Revisiting the understanding of “transactional sex” in sub-Saharan Africa: A review and synthesis of the literature," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 186-197.
    16. Jason C. Bond & Sarah C.M. Roberts & Thomas K. Greenfield & Rachael Korcha & Yu Ye & Madhabika B. Nayak, 2010. "Gender Differences in Public and Private Drinking Contexts: A Multi-Level GENACIS Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 7(5), pages 1-25, May.
    17. Rachel Johanna Freeman & Jabulani Calvin Makhubele & Frans Koketso Matlakala & Beatrice Namoonga Chilwalo & Selelo Frank Rapholo & Janetta Agnes Ananias & Anesu Svinurai & Miriam Winnie Hasheela & Nda, 2022. "Traditional Leaders' Perspectives on the Risk Factors of Alcohol Abuse Amongst the Youth: The Case of Oshikango in the Ohangwena Region of Namibia," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 28(1), pages 676-690, February.
    18. Alex Abramovich & Nelson Pang & Amanda Moss & Carmen H Logie & Michael Chaiton & Sean A Kidd & Hayley A Hamilton, 2021. "Investigating the impacts of COVID-19 among LGBTQ2S youth experiencing homelessness," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(9), pages 1-16, September.
    19. Valerie Møller & Ida Erstad & Dalinyebo Zani, 2010. "Drinking, Smoking, and Morality: Do ‘Drinkers and Smokers’ Constitute a Stigmatised Stereotype or a Real TB Risk Factor in the Time of HIV/AIDS?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 98(2), pages 217-238, September.
    20. Suranjan Majumder & Subham Roy & Arghadeep Bose & Indrajit Roy Chowdhury, 2023. "Understanding regional disparities in healthcare quality and accessibility in West Bengal, India: A multivariate analysis," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(5), pages 1086-1113, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:evarev:v:49:y:2025:i:6:p:951-968. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.