
Critical appraisal of clinical research examines the importance of a clinical research and shows the value it adds to the profession. It involves evidence-based practice where individual expertise is integrated with relevant clinical research evidence. Critical appraisal helps spot the best clinical evidence and integrate it with patient values, and your clinical experience.
Benefits of critical appraisal essay
- Helps researchers identify articles relevant to the research
- Helps filter out information hence reducing information overload
- Helps in CPD (Continuing professional development)
How to conduct critical appraisal of research articles
The most important part is to assess the research methods used in an article. The following questions are answered when performing a critical appraisal:
- What are the research questions?
- What is the research design or type of study?
- What ethical issues are considered in the study?
- What statistical method is used in the article?
- Discuss the statistical results identified
- Various outcome factors and how to measure them
- Measuring and measuring study factors
- How to select a research article
- What the author concludes about the research question
The critical appraisal process involves examining and understanding the main sections of the selected article. This includes:
- General information about the article like the title, publisher and institution, and the year and publishing journal.
- Reading the abstract to understand the article, its purpose, main research methods, results and conclusions
- The introduction