ABSTRACT

The purpose of the current article is to define critical appraisal, identify its benefits, discuss conceptual issues influencing the adequacy of a critical appraisal, and detail procedures to help reviewers undertake critical appraisals. A critical appraisal involves a careful and systematic assessment of a study’s trustworthiness or methodological rigour, and contributes to assessing how confident people can be in the findings of a set of studies. To help reviewers include high quality critical appraisals in their articles, they can consider differences between quality and bias, the value of total quality scores, the advantages and disadvantages of standardized checklists, the relevance of the experimental hierarchy of evidence, the differences between critical appraisal tools and reporting standards, and the challenges involved in appraising qualitative research. The steps involved in a sound critical appraisal include: (a) identifying the study type(s) of the individual paper(s), (b) identifying appropriate criteria and checklist(s), (c) selecting an appropriate set of criteria and checklist, (d) performing the appraisal, and (e) summarizing and using the results. Although these steps apply to critical appraisals of both quantitative and qualitative research, they require reviewers to make and defend a number of decisions resulting from the subjective features involved in assessing research.

摘要

本文的目的是定义批判性评估，确定其好处，讨论影响批判性评估充分性的概念性问题，以及帮助审阅者进行批判性评估的详细程序。批判性评估涉及对研究的可信度或方法严谨性进行仔细和系统的评估，并有助于评估人们对一组研究结果的信心。为了帮助审稿人在他们的文章中包含高质量的批判性评价，他们可以考虑质量和偏差之间的差异、总质量分数的值、标准化清单的优缺点、实验证据层次的相关性、批判性评价之间的差异工具和报告标准，以及评估定性研究所涉及的挑战。健全的批判性评估所涉及的步骤包括：(a) 确定单篇论文的研究类型，(b) 确定适当的标准和清单，(c) 选择一组适当的标准和检查表，(d) 执行评估，以及 (e) 总结和使用结果。尽管这些步骤适用于定量和定性研究的批判性评估，但它们要求审稿人做出并捍卫因评估研究所涉及的主观特征而产生的许多决定。(d) 进行评估，以及 (e) 总结和使用结果。尽管这些步骤适用于定量和定性研究的批判性评估，但它们要求审稿人做出并捍卫因评估研究所涉及的主观特征而产生的许多决定。(d) 进行评估，以及 (e) 总结和使用结果。尽管这些步骤适用于定量和定性研究的批判性评估，但它们要求审稿人做出并捍卫因评估研究所涉及的主观特征而产生的许多决定。