Evidence-Based Practice / Unit 6 EBP 0813 worked example, 60 to 90 seconds
Appraising a Quantitative Study
The idea
The technique: identify the design and its level for this question type, then ask the three questions in order — are the results valid, what are the results, will they help these patients — checking at each stage the biases that design is exposed to, and separating statistical from clinical significance before deciding whether the study is limited enough to discount.
In practice
A review of trials. Design identified, Level I for an intervention question. Validity: eligibility prespecified, method reproducible, search across several databases, included studies assessed for risk of bias. Results: effect size with its interval. Applicability: population comparable, setting able to deliver it. Statistical significance noted; clinical significance judged separately. Kept, with its restriction recorded.
Where people slip
A study is discounted for being unusable, never for being imperfect. Every study here is imperfect.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
- 0751Levels Follow Design
- 0757What Rank Buys You
- 0758Only Randomisation Establishes Cause
- 0762Limited, or Limited Enough to Discount
- 0763The Three Rapid Critical Appraisal Questions
- 0764Question One Is Validity
- 0765Question Two Is Reliability
- 0766Question Three Is Applicability
- 0770Bias
- 0772Bias Can Enter at Any Point
- 0786True Experimental Designs
- 0788What a Systematic Review Is
- 0794A Review of Trials Is Level I
- 0800Appraising a Trial: Was Randomisation Real?
- 0810Misconception: A Level Describes a Study
Unlocks
- Nothing yet depends on this.
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