Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences

Not all information is created equal!

Use the CRAAP test to evaluate the relevance and quality of the information or evidence you have found.

Currency- how timely is the information? Does your topic require current information, or will older sources work as well?

Relevance- does the information answer your question and make sense in your context?*

Authority- is the source of your information trustworthy? Do the author, journal, publisher or institution have appropriate credentials? Is the article peer reviewed?

Accuracy- is the content reliable, truthful, and correct? Is it evidence-based? Is there a list of references?

Purpose- what is the reason the information exists? Is there potential for bias? Are they selling something?

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.