Appraise
Appraisal
Critical appraisal or assessment of the literature is essential to deciding what information to pay attention to and what to disregard.
You may decide to do this in:
|
|
The approach you take depends on your needs at the time.
Adapted from International Centre for Allied Health Evidence, UniSA.
Watch
General checklists
- T.R.A.A.P Test Evaluation ChecklistCovers Timeliness, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy and Purpose. By the National Library of Australia.
- Evaluate information (3:17)Covers Currency, Relevancy, Authority, Accuracy and Purpose.
- AACODS checklistJess Tyndall, Flinders University, 2010. Guidance on how to evaluate and critically appraise grey literature.
How to read a paper
- Critical reading strategiesUniSA guide
Critical Appraisal tools
"Critical Appraisal Tools are structured checklists that allow you to check the methodological quality of a study against a set criteria. An advantage of using a CAT is that you can apply a level of consistency when reviewing a number of studies. However a potential disadvantage is that they may not ask about a potential source of bias that is important for the specific research questions being asked."
-- International Centre for Allied Health Evidence, UniSA
Critical appraisal tools are often used within medicine and health sciences to assess evidence but they can also be used in other disciplines. What critical appraisal tool you use depends on the study type you are looking at.
Some examples:
- Critical AppraisalInternational Centre for Allied Health (iCAHE)
- Critical Appraisal Tool Version 0.2 (Prototype)CEECAT: Collaboration for Environmental Evidence
For more help see:
- Critical AppraisalEvidence Based Practice guide
Software to help you appraise
The Library subscribes to software that you may find useful when you screen and appraise literature.
Learn more:
