Table 3 Overall assessment of study validity/risk of bias
| Studies were assigned Low validity if any of the following factors applied | |
| Any of these questions answered with “No” or “Unclear” | |
| • Did the study have a temporal and/or spatial control? • Degree of replication appropriate and representative? | |
| OR | Any of these questions answered with “No” |
| • Does treatment allocation account for spatial heterogeneity? and/or Intervention and comparator sites well-matched • No severely confounding factors present? apart from those present at baseline • Intervention was likely appropriately and realistically applied? • Outcome measure method was appropriate? • Study methodology and results are generalisable to other prescribed burns in temperate or boreal forest | |
| Studies that were not assigned Low validity were considered to have Medium validity or Medium (unclear) validity if any of the following factors applied | |
| Any of these questions answered with “Partly” | |
| • Did the study have a temporal and/or spatial control? • Degree of replication appropriate and representative? (to outcome measure) | |
| OR | Any of these questions answered with “Partly” or “Unclear”: |
| • Does treatment allocation account for spatial heterogeneity? and/or Intervention and comparator sites well-matched • No severely confounding factors present? apart from those present at baseline • Intervention was likely appropriately and realistically applied? • Outcome measure method was appropriate? • Study methodology and results are generalisable to other prescribed burns in temperate or boreal forest | |