Applying novel targeted review method investigate causal pathways of educational inequality

This paper develops a novel targeted review method to systematically investigate broad interdisciplinary research questions. To date, almost all review methods developed have utilised comprehensive searching as a basis of the authority of their findings, typically limiting their application to narrow research questions, single disciplines, and a limited number of similar methods. Building on established scoping review methodology, this targeted approach is designed for broad, interdisciplinary, complex and ‘wicked’ problems, of the type most often faced by policy-makers. This systematised method serves to identify major themes and consensus within literature, utilising source credibility rather than comprehensive literature searching as a call to authority. To illustrate this targeted review method, it is applied to understanding the key causal links between parental socioeconomic status and child educational outcomes. An extension of this method is then illustrated by mapping the causal evidence as a systems diagram, which can be used as the conceptual input for policy discussions, statistical modelling, or the design of further studies. This targeted review method adds an additional approach to the toolkit for interdisciplinary researchers and policy-makers alike, complementing existing approaches including rapid, scoping, systematic, and systematised reviews.