Critical appraisal & statistics
What is critical appraisal?
Critical appraisal involves critically examining a study to determine its validity, reliability and relevance. It is an important and essential part of the Evidence Based Practice 5 step process. For a more comprehensive overview refer to the Critical appraisal for health guide.
It is useful to ask the following three questions when conducting an appraisal:
- Are the results of the study valid?
- Are the results of the study reliable?
- Are the results applicable to my situation? (Saewert & Hagler, 2015).
There are many different appraisal tools that can be used depending on the type of study. See below for some examples.
Critical appraisal tools & guides
While you're the only one who can determine if an article is relevant to your research question, these scales, checklists, and review tools can help you decided if the research is internally valid, the results interpretable, and how applicable the results are to your work.
- CASP checklistsThis set of eight critical appraisal tools are designed to be used when reading research, these include tools for Systematic Reviews, Randomised Controlled Trials, Cohort Studies etc.
- Centre for Evidence Based MedicineUniversity of Oxford - contains useful tools and worksheets for the critical appraisal of different types of medical evidence.
- PRISMASystematic reviews & meta-analyses. Includes links to PRISMA flow diagram and checklist.
Learn how to interpret results
- Duke University: Explaining the resultsIncludes videos & articles on ARR, NNT, RR, RRR Odds Ratio & more
- CEBM - University of OxfordNumber Needed to Treat (NNT)
- Statisical cornerSee Playlist below for a basic overview of some common statistical concepts used in studies
Statistics corner by Terry Shaneyfelt (YouTube)
Statistics
- Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)Official statistics of Australia. Use the ABS page in this guide to find out more on the Census, population, health and more.
- Australian Institute of Health and WelfareAuthoritative information and statistics to promote better health and well being.
Statistical software
- NVivoFind out what NVivo is, where to get it, and how to use it in your research.
- Managing your research classesLearn how to manage your research with these specialised training classes, including NVivo and SPSS.