Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences

Figure 2: Description of the QUEST criteria. Scores in the individual sections are weighted and summed to generate a total score of up to 28

Additional readings:

• Anatomy of a scholarly article
• How to read a scholarly article- basic
• Study designs

Even studies published in high impact journals can be poorly done. Authors can reach conclusions not supported by the data. Studies can be biased- did the authors do anything to mitigate this?

You need to assess whether the study is relevant to your patients and your context.

Critical appraisal is a systematic way of assessing the quality and relevance of a given research article.

• Focus is on the methodology section instead of abstract/conclusion.
• Is study well conducted/reported?
• What are the limitations? i.e. small sample size, not randomized etc.
• Is bias likely?
• Are the results relevant to your patient(s)/practice/environment?
• Different criteria are used for different study types.

Even studies published in high impact journals can be poorly done. Authors can reach conclusions not supported by the data. Studies can be biased- did the authors do anything to mitigate this?

You need to assess whether the study is relevant to your patients and your context.

Critical appraisal is a systematic way of assessing the quality and relevance of a given research article.

• Focus is on the methodology section instead of abstract/conclusion.
• Is study well conducted/reported?
• What are the limitations? i.e. small sample size, not randomized etc.
• Is bias likely?
• Are the results relevant to your patient(s)/practice/environment?
• Different criteria are used for different study types.

Readings:

• How to read a scholarly article- advanced

Critical appraisal frameworks:

Additional critical appraisal tools can be found on the Knowledge synthesis guide.