APPRAISE
Once the research has been identified the next step is to appraise (assess) the quality of research evidence.
The appraisal process is designed to address the following three questions:
Is the study valid?
What are the results?
Are the results useful?
A number of tools & checklists have been developed to assist with this process. The type of tool or critical appraisal checklist you will use is dependent upon what you are researching, including the query type, and what type of studies constitute best evidence to support that type of question.
Resources
A series of articles in the BMJ that explain how to read and interpret different kinds of research papers including diagnostic or screening tests, drug trials, qualitative reviews and economic analyses as well as articles about assessing methodology and interpreting statistics for the non-statistician.
Compendium of Critical Appraisal Tools for Public Health Practice
An overview of critical appraisal tools that can be used to help incorporate the best research evidence into public health practice and policy. [Ciliska D, Thomas H, Buffett C. An Introduction to Evidence-Informed Public Health and A Compendium of Critical Appraisal Tools for Public Health Practice [Online pdf]. National Methods Centre for Collaborating Tools. 2008. Accessed 2016 Nov 19]
Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP): Making sense of the evidence
CASP checklists
AMSTAR: assessing methodological quality of systematic reviews
This tool was developed for general use and may be applied to assess the methodological quality of systematic reviews of public health interventions. It should be noted, however, that its use has only been tested on systematic reviews of randomized controlled trial designs. AMSTAR is being used by a number of groups, including the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health and The Cochrane Effective Practice and Organization of Care Group (EPOC)
Checklist for reviewing a randomized controlled trial of a social program or project, to assess whether it produced valid evidence
[Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy. Checklist for reviewing a randomized controlled trial of a social program or project, to assess whether it produced valid evidence [Online pdf]. 2010. Accessed 2016 Aug 23]
Continuum of evidence of effectiveness [Online pdf]. [US. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Division of Violence Prevention. Continuum of Evidence of Effectiveness. Accessed 2016 Aug 23]
Critical appraisal of qualitative research [Online pdf]. [Dr Kritika Samsi, King's College London]
AACODS checklist for the evaluation and critical appraisal of grey literature
Further Reading
Policy appraisal and health
"In order to make ... best use of ... resources, the costs and benefits of alternative policies, programmes and projects need to be carefully weighed up ... Special problems can arise in identifying and weighing up the effects on health and health services of policies, programmes and projects. This guide provides specific advice in the health field ..." [United Kingdom. Department of Health. Policy appraisal and health [Online pdf]. Accessed 2016 Aug 23]