The ACCORD checklist for reporting consensus: a practical writing exercise

2:00 PM - 5:00 PM

Not describing the consensus methods used transparently can potentially undermine confidence in the overall process and in the final recommendations from clinical practice guidelines, core outcomes, or priority settings. In this workshop, we will raise awareness among participants about the problems in reporting studies involving consensus and propose an exercise to experiment on using two ACCORD checklist items. First, we will present the ACCORD project and provide an overview of different types of consensus methods used in research. We will then distribute a “mock study” and two items of the ACCORD checklist to the participants. We will divide participants in groups and ask each group to write a 3–4 paragraph report on the study based on one item of the checklist. We will read and discuss the reports together, evaluating their completeness, transparency and clarity. We will ask the participants to share feedback about their experience with using ACCORD. 

Instructor

Dr Patricia Logullo, CMPP 

Patricia is a post-doctoral meta-researcher at the University of Oxford, and a member of the UK EQUATOR Centre, an organisation that promotes the use of reporting guidelines, many of which are developed using consensus methods. She is personally involved in the development of other reporting guidelines, such as AGREE-S and TRIPOD+AI. At the University of Oxford, she trains health science researchers and students on research reporting embedding principles of research integrity, open research, and reproducibility in her teaching. 

Patricia became a researcher in the UK after moving from Brazil, where she worked (and still works, online) as a medical writer, assisting researchers in oncology, haematology, orthopaedics, gynaecology and obstetrics, pathology, physical therapy, clinical nutrition, and psychology, among other areas. She also works with researchers in economics, administration, and human resources areas.