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Critical Appraisal

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Critical Appraisal

Use this guide to find information resources about critical appraisal including checklists, books and journal articles.

Last updated: 16/03/2020

Key Resources

British Medical Journal: How to read a paper
  • Articles in the BMJ that explain how to read and interpret different kinds of research papers.
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Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP)
Centre for Evidence Based Medicine: Critical appraisal tools
  • Worksheets for appraising systematic reviews, diagnostics, prognostics and RCTs.
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Joanna Briggs Institute: Critical appraisal tools
PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis)
  • The PRISMA flow diagram depicts the flow of information through the different phases of a literature review. It maps out the number of records identified, included and excluded, and the reasons for exclusions.
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The Campbell Collaboration: Methodological Expectations of Campbell Collaboration Intervention Reviews (MECCIR)
  • A useful resource for methods and evidence in applied social science.
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The Equator Network
  • A comprehensive database of reporting guidelines. Covers all the main study types.
    View page

Books

Aveyard H (2019) Doing a literature review in health and social care: a practical guide (4th edition), London: Open University Press. Aveyard H (2019) Doing a literature review in health and social care: a practical guide (4th edition), London: Open University Press.
Barker evidence Barker J H (2016) Evidence-based practice for nurses and healthcare professionals (3rd edition), Los Angeles: Sage. 
Booth A, Sutton A and Papaioannou D (2016) Systematic approaches to a successful literature review (2nd edition), Los Angeles: Sage. Booth A, Sutton A and Papaioannou D (2016) Systematic approaches to a successful literature review (2nd edition), Los Angeles: Sage.
Gerrish K, and Lathlean J (2015) The research process in nursing (7th edition), Chichester: Wiley Blackwell. Gerrish K, and Lathlean J (2015) The research process in nursing (7th edition), Chichester: Wiley Blackwell.
Greenhalgh T (2019) How to read a paper: the basics of evidence-based medicine and healthcare (6th edition), Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Greenhalgh T (2019) How to read a paper: the basics of evidence-based medicine and healthcare (6th edition), Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons.
Gray J (2016) Burns and Grove’s the practice of nursing research: appraisal, synthesis and generation of evidence (8th edition), Philadelphia: Saunders. Gray J (2016) Burns and Grove’s the practice of nursing research: appraisal, synthesis and generation of evidence (8th edition), Philadelphia: Saunders.
Coughlan M and Cronin P (2016) Doing a literature review in nursing, health and social care, Los Angeles: Sage. Coughlan M and Cronin P (2016) Doing a literature review in nursing, health and social care, Los Angeles: Sage.
Elwood M (2017) Critical appraisal of epidemiological studies and clinical trials, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Elwood M (2017) Critical appraisal of epidemiological studies and clinical trials, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
LoBiondo-Wood G and Haber J (2018) Nursing research: methods and critical appraisal for evidence-based practice (9th edition), St Louis: Elsevier. LoBiondo-Wood G and Haber J (2018) Nursing research: methods and critical appraisal for evidence-based practice (9th edition), St Louis: Elsevier.
Schmidt N (2019) Evidence based practice for nurses: appraisal and application of research (4th edition), Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning. Schmidt N (2019) Evidence based practice for nurses: appraisal and application of research (4th edition), Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.

Book subject search

Use this link to see details of books the RCN libraries hold on this topic.

Journal articles

Buccheri RK and Sharifi C (2017) Critical appraisal tools and reporting guidelines for evidence‐based practice, Worldviews on Evidence‐Based Nursing, 14(6), pp. 463-472.
Connelly LM (2016) Trustworthiness in qualitative research. (Understanding research), MedSurg Nursing, 25 (6), pp.435-436.
Fineout-Overholt E, Melnyk BM, Stillwell SB and Williamson KM (2010) Critical appraisal of the evidence: part I. An introduction to gathering, evaluating and recording the evidence, American Journal of Nursing, 110 (7), pp.47-52.
Fineout-Overholt E, Melnyk BM, Stillwell, SB and Williamson KM (2010) Critical appraisal of the evidence: part II. Digging deeper—examining the "keeper" studies, American Journal of Nursing, 110 (9), pp. 41-48.
Fineout-Overholt E, Melnyk BM, Stillwell SB and Williamson KM (2010) Critical appraisal of the evidence: Part III. The process of synthesis: seeing similarities and differences across the body of evidence, American Journal of Nursing, 110 (11), pp. 43-51.
Heale R and Twycross A (2015) Validity and reliability in quantitative studies, Evidence-Based Nursing, 18 (3), pp.66-67.
Myers G and Levin RF (2012) "Can you touch your toes? Using tables of evidence (TOES) to organize your evidence review", Research and Theory for Nursing Practice, 26 (4), pp.238-240.
Noble H and Smith J (2015) Issues of validity and reliability in qualitative research", Evidence-Based Nursing, 18 (2), pp.34-35
Smith J and Noble H (2014) Bias in research, Evidence-Based Nursing, 17 (4), pp. 100-101.
Smith J and Noble H (2016) Reviewing the literature, Evidence-Based Nursing, 19 (1), pp. 2-3.
Stonehouse D (2016) Evidence-based practice: knowing what's good or bad, British Journal of Healthcare Assistants, 10 (4), pp. 199-201.
More articles on critical appraisal

Journals

Journal of Research in Nursing Journals of interest for critical appraisal. Use these links to see details of availability.
RCN library staff

Julie Key

Author of this guide

RCN Library and Archive Services

Page last updated - 16/03/2020

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