Research Process 6- Evaluating Research

Question 1

What is critical appraisal of research and what does it involve?

Answer 1

• When evaluating research, critical appraisal means:
  o Identifying the strengths, weakness and limitations- doing this will enable the reader to decide whether or not the study findings should be used to inform their practice.
  o Challenging the approach taken and suggesting alternative approaches
  o Evaluating whether the findings should be applied to local clinical settings
  o Is the study valid, reliable and trustworthy
  o Comparing the findings with current body of knowledge
  o Being objective and taking a balanced view
• Making an informed judgement about a research paper.
• Critical appraisal should not only acknowledge the studies negative aspects but the positives too.

Question 2

Why should midwives critically appraise research ?

Answer 2

• To distinguish between robust and flawed research; not all published research is sound
• To inform clinical practice
• To facilitate practice change
• To adhere professional responsibilities to ensure practice is EBP
• To aid the literature review
• To provide a rationale

Question 3

What are the strategies to develop critical appraisal skills ?

Answer 3

• Reading papers about research studies
• Through reading as much relevant literature as we can, develop a deeper understanding of the research process and methods.
• Begin to notice the different strategies researchers put in place to enhance their study’s strength and minimise limitations and weakness.
• Begin to identify approaches researchers should have taken but did not.
• Key thing is that what your reading is relevant- filter reading skills to ensure that you avoid unnecessary reading.
• Reading the right topic can mean the right research methods, right research design, participant groups, geographical location and/or methods of data collection.

Question 4

What are the frameworks for critical appraisal ?

Answer 4

• CASP tool

- Structures the appraisal process

Question 5

How to critically appraise academics assessments ?

Answer 5

• Establish whether you are required to use a particular framework.
• aim to take a balanced and constructive view of the study.
• Weight up the study’s pros and cons.
• Read papers again and again.
• Annotate and highlight the strengths, weaknesses and limitations as you read
• Any terminology you are unfamiliar with
• Use supporting evidence to substantiate each points that you make about the study’s strengths and weaknesses.
• Suggestions that you make about alternative approaches- support these statements with a reference from an appropriate source.
• If the information is not on the research paper ask yourself why is it missing.
• Lead to an overall judgement about a study- whether the strengths outweigh the weaknesses, should inform your decisions about the implementations of the study’s findings in practice and the way in which the findings compare to the findings in other studies.