Critical Appraisal of a Published Paper

Abstract

Critical appraisal is a systematic process used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a research article. It enables the validity of research findings to be determined. It is just one step in the process of evidence based medicine – the use of best evidence in making decisions about patient care. The validity of a research study depends on its design and quality. Study designs are classified according to a hierarchical ranking called levels of evidence. To facilitate critical appraisal, checklists that ask questions about the research have been developed enabling the reader to judge its validity. Critical appraisal checklists can be divided into generic and study type specific lists. In this chapter a generic tool is described that is appropriate for the novice reviewer. For the experienced reviewer study specific checklists for each of the main study types are then described. Not only does this chapter provide the tools needed for critical appraisal of published work, it should also be of help when conducting and publishing research by ensuring that the checklists for that study type are taken into account during the design phase.