Subject Guides: Systematic Reviews: 6) Critical Appraisal

Appraisal

Depending on review type, a critical appraisal of studies found to meet inclusion criteria is to be conducted.

Critical appraisal is the process of systematically evaluating the validity of research and its relevance to specific clinical situations.

There are tools, checklists, and other resources to assist with this stage of the project and should be specified in the protocol.

After critical appraisal/quality assessment is performed, tabulate and summarize the results.

The library's Evidence Based Medicine guide includes modules for learning how to critically appraise these types of studies:

Critical Appraisal Checklists (CASP)
Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) is produced by Solutions for Public Health (SPH), a not-for-profit NHS public health organisation in the UK. CASP is valuable because it provides a different evaluation tool for various types of research studies.
Includes checklists for evaluating Randomised Controlled Trials, Qualitative Studies, Cohort Studies, Diagnostic Study, Case Controls Studies, Systematic Reviews, Economics Evaluations, and Clinical Prediction Rules
Oxford Centre for Evidence-based Medicine (CEBM) - Levels of Evidence
The CEBM 'Levels of Evidence' document sets out one approach to systematising this process for different question types.
Oxford Centre for Evidence-based Medicine (CEBM) - Critical appraisal tools
Contains useful tools and downloads for the critical appraisal of medical evidence. Example appraisal sheets are provided together with several helpful examples.
STROBE
STROBE stands for an international, collaborative initiative of epidemiologists, methodologists, statisticians, researchers and journal editors involved in the conduct and dissemination of observational studies, with the common aim of STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology.