National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools

I recently completed a search for evidence for a project that I am working on – at this point I have a pile of papers on my desk. I could start at the top and start reading but I’m wondering if there is a way I could prioritize the pile? There is no way I have time to read it all.

Good question! We have gone from a situation of having no information, to having too much information for some issues in public health.

I am assuming this is a question of effectiveness of some intervention.

Read only the methods section of the abstracts. As you read the abstracts, put the papers into piles using the categories listed below and then read the papers in the same order. If you have a high quality, recent systematic review, you can stop there. Likewise, if there is a no systematic review, but there is a good randomized trial, and the population in the study is similar to yours, you can stop there.

1. Systematic reviews.
2. randomized trials
3. two group (one group gets the intervention, one does not) with measurements before AND after
4. one group before/after
5. one group after only
6. case control


For future reference, you can limit your search in the above order, to prevent ending up with the piles of paper!

Donna

Do you have any criteria for rating research? How do I know if what I am looking at is of good quality?

There is a document on our website called “A Compendium of Critical Appraisal Tools for Public Health Practice” . This document provides direct links to full, free-access critical appraisal tools. So, for example, if you have a systematic review, you would find a link to the criteria for the critical appraisal of a systematic review, in this tool.

Most of the recommended tools are from the Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) and give an explanation for each criteria.

Have a look. http://www.nccmt.ca/pubs/2008_07_CompendiumToolENG.pdf


Donna

Are there any resources that you can think of that would help me freshen up my skills related to critical appraisal? I’ve been to workshops but I find when I get back to my desk, it’s all a bit of a blur. I’m looking for something that I can access on my own timelines as my days are pretty full with meetings and managing staff.

thanks

There are three possibile resources that come to mind.

1) If you are looking at tools to help you, you can go to NCCMT website to find the Compendium of Critical Appraisal Tools Compendium Tool ENG or Compendium Tool FR There you will find active links to critical appraisal tools for different questions (interventions, systematic reviews, etc).

2) If you are looking for more skill development, you might try the on-line module that we developed for CIHR:
CIHR module ENG or CIHR module FR

3) If you are looking for support, you can post a question, or even suggest a particular article that we could use to review the steps of critical appraisal together. We can do this on the Dialogue PH discussion forum
Discussion forum


Donna