These videos, originally part of the RoB 2: Learning Live webinar series, introduce the RoB 2 tool for assessing risk of bias in randomised trials. The presenters give an overview of the tool, including the five domains of bias and the use of ‘signalling questions’ within each domain. They also cover considerations when writing a protocol for a review that will use RoB 2.

The session was intended for people who are interested in using RoB 2 to assess risk of bias in their review, or who are actively developing a protocol for a review. In addition to review author teams, CRG editors and methodologists can learn about the importance of specifying the methods correctly when planning to use RoB 2 and how it can be implemented in RevMan Web.  

The webinar was delivered in May 2020 and below you will find the videos from the webinar, together with accompanying slides to download [PDF].

Part 1: From the original Cochrane risk of bias tool to RoB 2
Part 2: An overview of RoB 2
Part 3: Resources available in RoB 2
Part 4: Using RoB 2 in a Cochrane Review

Presenter Bios

Julian Higgins is Professor of Evidence Synthesis in the University of Bristol’s Department of Population Health Sciences where he is head of the Bristol Appraisal and Review of Research (BARR) group. His research interests span all areas of systematic review and meta-analysis. Among his methods contributions are: a Bayesian approach to network meta-analysis; the I-squared statistic to quantify inconsistency across studies in a meta-analysis; simple prediction intervals for random-effects meta-analysis; a general framework for individual participant data meta-analysis; a library of prior distributions for between-study variation in a meta-analysis; and risk-of-bias assessment tools for clinical trials and other study designs. He has long been an active contributor to Cochrane, is a former member of the Cochrane Collaboration Steering Group, the Cochrane Editorial Board and the Cochrane Scientific Committee, and is currently co-convenor of the Cochrane Bias Methods Group. He has co-edited the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions since 2003.

Tess Moore is based in Bristol Medical School within the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) Applied Research Collaboration West (ARC West) in the Bristol Appraisal and Review of Research (BARR) group and works for the Cochrane Collaboration as Systematic Review Methodological Editor in the Methods Support Unit. She has extensive experience of carrying out and managing systematic reviews in a range of topics including prostate cancer, mental health, domestic violence and abuse, and reviews of public health interventions, such as changes to the built environment and preventing obesity in children. Her systematic reviews have covered a range of methods; including reviews of interventions with both randomised and non-randomised studies, systematic reviews of the effects of exposure and systematic reviews of qualitative research.

Jonathan Sterne is Professor of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology in the University of Bristol’s Department of Population Health Sciences, and Deputy Director of the NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre. He has a longstanding interest in methodology for systematic reviews and meta-analysis, led development of the ROBINS-I tool for assessing risk of bias in non-randomised studies of interventions, and co-leads development of version 2 of the Cochrane risk of bias tool for randomised trials. He leads a large-scale collaboration of HIV cohort studies that led to advances in our understanding of prognosis of HIV positive people in the era of effective antiretroviral therapy. Jonathan is a former co-convenor of the Cochrane Bias Methods Group. He has published influential papers on reporting bias in meta-analysis, meta-epidemiology, causal inference and statistical methodology.