STEP 3 - QUALITATIVE CRITICAL APPRAISAL TOOLS
A PROCESS INSTRUCTION CHART FOR SPECIALISTS AND MANAGERS
Introduction
This process chart for Qualitative Critical Appraisal Tools has been designed to
assist Specialists and Managers within Peel Public Health in choosing the
appropriate critical appraisal tool to assess qualitative research literature.
This document describes the hierarchy of evidence, provides recommended critical
appraisal tools and describes the process for starting your critical appraisal of the
evidence. This document does not describe how to critically appraise literature that
has not been peer-reviewed. Critical appraisal of quantitative literature is described
under the “Quantitative Critical Appraisal Tools – A Process Instruction Chart for
Specialists and Managers”.
There are many levels of evidence as shown in figure below entitled the “Hierarchy
of Evidence”. Ideally, it is best to obtain evidence from summaries, synopses of
syntheses, and syntheses. Sometimes, however; there is only evidence available
from either single studies or from synopses of single studies. Searching through
the literature for this type of evidence can be time consuming. The stop sign shown
in this hierarchy of evidence means that staff should consult with their
Manager/Supervisor and Librarian to discuss whether it is appropriate to conduct a
search and evaluate the research evidence at this level.
It should be noted that research may be published in peer reviewed journals or it
may be found on websites; some of which have very strong methodological
requirements for document review and some which do not.
Hierarchy of Evidence
Start here with
clinical query
Systems
Summaries
Synopses of Synthesis
Synthesis
Synopses of Single Studies
Single Studies
Haynes, 2007
CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
What kind of qualitative study do I have?
Refer to the following article:
http://www.srs-mcmaster.ca/Portals/20/pdf/ebp/qualguidelines_version2.0.pdf
How do I critically appraise qualitative literature?
These articles will help you with your critical appraisal of qualitative literature.
Jenny Ploeg. Indentifying the best research design to fit the question. Part 2:
qualitative design. Evidence-Based Nursing, April 1999, Vol 2 No 2 p36-37
Thompson, Carl. If you could just provide me with a sample: examining sampling in
qualitative and quantitative research papers. Evidence Based Nursing. 1999;2;6870
Thorne, Sally. Data analysis in qualitative research. Evidence Based Nursing.
2000;3;68-70.
Jack SM. Utility of Qualitative Research Findings in Evidence-Based Public Health
Practice. Public Health Nursing Vol 23 No 3, 2006, pp 277-283.
Russell CK; Gregory DM. Evaluation of qualitative research studies. Evidence
Based Nursing 2003;6;36-40.
What do I use to critically appraise?
Recommended Tool
McMaster (tool adapted for Peel Public Health):
http://www.peelregion.ca/health/library/downloads/PPH Qual review adapted.pdf
and guidelines: http://www.srsmcmaster.ca/Portals/20/pdf/ebp/qualguidelines_version2.0.pdf
Other tools:
CASP: http://www.sph.nhs.uk/what-we-do/public-healthworkforce/resources/critical-appraisals-skills-programme
What is the process for critical appraisal?
 Using the literature search you conducted in the Step 2 – Searching the
Evidence, obtain the full text articles from your search.
 Discuss the result of the literature search with your Manager/Supervisor to
determine whether you have the right number of studies.
 Critically appraise the research studies starting with the most recent article
by following the instructions in this document – Step 3. Please note, after
you critically appraise your studies, you will be required to provide the
completed critical appraisal documents to your Manager/Supervisor along
with the other documents described in Steps 4 to 6.
 Create a data extraction table highlighting key themes emerging from the
data as outlined in Step 4 – Data Extraction for Systematic Reviews
using RefWorks or other software. This table is required for the final 1,2,20
Report : Step 6 – Literature Review Report Template.
Note to Managers/Supervisors: Critical appraisal requires reading the article
at least twice. Please ensure enough time is allowed for this process.