NUR 550 - Evidence-Based Practice and Scholarly Inquiry

Critically appraise scientific literature

Initial steps

• Does the article attempt to answer the same question as your clinical question and is the study relevant to your line of inquiry?
• What type of research question is being asked? A well-developed research question usually identifies three components: the group or population of patients, the studied parameter (e.g. a therapy or clinical intervention) and outcomes of interest.
• Is the article recent? Has it been published within the last 5 years or would it be considered a seminal article (an article considered to be part of the foundation of this research)
• Is the journal peer-reviewed (Tip, check the Ulrich’s database to determine if the journal is scholarly, and refereed/peer-reviewed)
• Do the authors present a hypothesis?

Evaluate the methodology (see also, “Levels of Evidence”)

• What is the study design and is it valid for your question?
• Who are the study participants and is there an attempt to limit bias?
• Do the research methods limit the influence of confounding variables?
• Are the outcome measures valid for the health condition?

Evaluate the results

• Is there a table that describes the subjects’ demographics?
• Are the subjects generalizable to your patient?
• Are the statistical tests appropriate for the study design and clinical question?
• Are the results presented in the paper?
• Are the results statistically significant and how large is the difference between the groups?

Evaluate the conclusion

• Do authors discuss non-significant data in an attempt to portray significance?
• Do the authors acknowledge limitations?
• Are there any conflicts of interest noted?

Adapted from Cochrane Critical Appraisal: A Checklist https://s4be.cochrane.org/blog/2016/09/06/critical-appraisal-checklist/

Sample Evaluation Table

Creating an evaluation table to help to organize your literature by theme, sample design, measurement, and other categories. You will find a sample Evaluation Chart below and you can make your own with you template of your own design.

Consider the following;

• Author (Year)
• Conceptual Framework
• Design/Method
• Sample/Setting
• Major Variables Studied
• Measurement
• Data Analysis
• Findings
• Appraisal/Notes

Further Reading