Chapter 3 62 studies of which we can be confident that the reported support in the study sample reflects the levels of support that would be found if the entire population was surveyed. This is operationalized by only including studies can ensure a 5% margin of error. Following sample size calculations for surveys, 24, 25 a minimum sample size of 400 is required. A similar criterion was used by an earlier review assessing public support for outdoor smoke-free areas.17 4. Studies will be included when published from 1 Jan 2004 onwards. This pragmatic cut-off was chosen as the first national traditional smoke-free law covering indoor public places and workplaces was introduced in Ireland in 2004. Hence, assessments of public support for novel smoke-free policies are unlikely to have preceded 2004, and are unlikely to be relevant for current everyday practice if they have. 5. Studies will be excluded if solely evaluating support among specific subgroups not representing the majority of the population primarily affected by the policy, policy makers or groups with clearly vested interest, e.g. opinion of tobacco industry groups. 6. Studies will be excluded when funded or supported by the tobacco industry, as the tobacco industry is known to “produce, sponsor and disseminate misleading research and information, lacking sound scientific methods”. 26 7. Studies will be excluded if solely evaluating support for tobacco related subgroups, e.g. e-cigarettes or heatless tobacco products. Information sources The following electronic databases will be searched for eligible studies: (1) embase.com, (2) Medline ALL Ovid, (3) Web of Science Core Collection, (4) WHO Library Database (WHOLIS), (5) Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature (LILACS), (6) Scientific Online Library Online (SciELO), (7) PsychINFO and (8) Google Scholar. Search strategy The specific search strategies per database have been created in close collaboration with a bibliographic expert of the Erasmus MC with expertise in systematic reviewing (WMB; see Appendix 1). Search terms include three parts: (1) terms to identify smoke-free policies; (2) terms to identify measures of public support as the outcome; and (3) terms that exclude letters to the editors, notes and editorials.
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