Section 1- Evidence-based practice (EBP)

Chapter 7: Critical Appraisal of Evidence

Critical Appraisal of Evidence

Partido, B.B.

Not all research has been conducted with the same level of quality. Dental hygiene professionals must understand how to critically appraise research to determine the credibility and usefulness of the evidence.

Preliminary Questions

  • Why was the study conducted? What was the research question or PICO question?
  • What type of study was conducted? Is it a primary or secondary evidence?
  • Was the research design appropriate to answer the research question?

Validity refers to how well the study answers the research question or how well a specific instrument measures what its supposed to measure. (i.e. A cross-sectional survey research design may be the most appropriate method to answer a research question. A validated survey instrument has been shown to measure what its supposed to measure.)

Reliability refers to the consistency of the measurements or consistency of the measuring instrument. (i.e. A survey instrument can be shown to be reliable if measurements from respondents yield similar results.) However, an instrument can be shown to be reliable yet not valid.

Critical Appraisal Questions

Multiple organizations have created checklists to appraise various types of research designs. Some checklists can be used for multiple types of research designs whereas others are only specific to one type of research design. These help to answer: Are the results valid? If they are valid, what are the results? Will the results help in caring for my patient?

  • CASP (Critical Appraisal Skills Programme)- Systematic reviews, randomized controlled trials, cohort, case-controlled, diagnostic tests.

https://casp-uk.net/casp-tools-checklists/

 

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