Your last step before actually working with your evidence is to screen all included studies for risk of bias, and critically appraise them for quality. As with many steps in this process, there are many frameworks and formulations of appraisal that can help you systematically review your included studies for bias and quality.
Guidance from Prisma (2020):
"Specify the methods used to assess risk of bias in the included studies, including details of the tool(s) used, how many reviewers assessed each study and whether they worked independently, and, if applicable, details of automation tools used in the process." - p. 11
The following is a very comprehensive list of critical appraisal tools. Each tool corresponds to either a body of knowledge or a specific type of study or research method. Be sure to use a tool that matches the subject, method, and/or study type of the tool you're use to appraise.
Help nurses determine strength of research studies, assess findings, and evaluate evidence
AMSTAR Checklist to assess the quality of a systematic review by helping users differentiate between systematic reviews, focusing on their methodological quality and expert consensus
American Occupational Therapy Association Critically Appraised Papers has a CAP Worksheet and CAP Guidelines for researchers to complete before submission to Evidence Exchange. The worksheet is based on the McMaster quantitative critical appraisal form.
CEBM's computer assisted critical appraisal tool CATmaker and the interactive evidence based medicine calculator. CATmaker requires a file to be downloaded for use.
CEBM's worksheets to assess systematic reviews, diagnostic, prognosis, and RCTs article types.
Cochrane Handbook chapter detailing the Cochrane risk of bias assessment for randomized trials
The CASP provides worksheets to appraise randomized control trials, systematic reviews, cohort studies, case control studies, qualitative research, economic evaluations, diagnostic tests, and clinical prediction rules.
Dartmouth provides a series of worksheets designed to aid in formulating clinical questions, appraising the evidence, and applying the evidence to the patient.
Includes quality checklists for experimental studies, quasi-experimental studies, attribution studies, questionnaire surveys, qualitative studies, mixed methods, "real-world" implementation studies, and action research.
Canada's Effective Public Health Panacea Project (EPHPP) Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies, which critically appraises quantitative studies on public health topics. The tool is a linked PDF and there are also links to articles explaining the tool.
GRADE working group guidelines and publications for grading the quality of evidence in healthcare research and policy
University of Salford Health Care Practice R&D Unit critical appraisal tool to assess the quality of mixed methods studies
University of Salford Health Care Practice R&D Unit critical appraisal tool to assess the quality of qualitative studies
University of Salford Health Care Practice R&D Unit critical appraisal tool to assess the quality of quantitative studies
Benchmark article describing how to perform integrative reviews. Table 1 of the article which includes a scale to determine methodological rigor and data relevance for evidence.
Critical appraisal worksheets on topics including diagnosis, harm, therapy and qualitative research from JAMA Evidence
Listing from Johns Hopkins of the JAMA User's Guide to Medical Literature with each step in critical appraisal process.
Article with study validity assessment tool from JBI's System for the Unified Management, Assessment and Review of Information (SUMARI) software. The software requires a subscription, but the article provides the validity checklist from the software.
JBI’s critical appraisal tools are generally used in nursing and assist in assessing the trustworthiness, relevance and results of published papers with downloadable worksheets to appraise for RCTs, systematic reviews and other studies.
A foundational book for evidenced-based practice. Check out the appendices of the ebook for evidence appraisal tools
The Toronto based KTP has critical appraisal worksheets for systematic reviews, prognosis, diagnosis, harm and therapy
Guidelines from McMaster University in Canada on assessing the strength of qualitative and quantitative studies, specifically focusing on Occupational Therapy research. The quantitative and qualitative worksheets and guidelines are found within the table on the page.
The MMAT assesses the quality of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods studies.
PEDro (Physiotherapy Evidence Database) Scale is an excellent webpage which provides access to a range of appraisal resources including a tutorial and appraisal tool.
This paper describes QATSDD, an interdisciplinary study quality assessment of tool that is particularly useful to health services researchers in psychology, sociology, and nursing
Validity assessment tools for evidence synthesis
University of Bristol tool for assessing the risk of bias in systematic reviews of interventions, diagnosis, prognosis and etiology.
SIGN worksheets to critically appraise systematic reviews, RCT, cohort studies, case-controlled studies, diagnostic studies and economic studies
The Simulation Research Rubric provides a reliable method for grading the quality of simulation based research reports
The SORT scale addresses the quality, quantity, and consistency of evidence in individual studies or bodies of evidence
Addresses cohort, case-control, and cross-sectional studies
Adapted from Duquesne University Libraries
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