A common evaluation tip for journal articles is to check whether or not the paper has been subjected to the rigour of a Peer Review Process. This means that the content of the paper has been subjected to an evaluation and checking process before publication.
There are two types of Peer Review, Open and Closed.
Whilst peer review indicates that a paper has been carefully scrutinised externally, it is not a guarantee of the quality of the research concerned. Further checks in the form of critical appraisal should be applied. See the later section in this guide on Reporting and Quality (risk of bias).
With acknowledgements to Paula Anne Goodall of Library Services, University of Birmingham, and Dr Clare Davenport, Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham.
In terms of literature searching to support EBM, it is important to note the difference between primary (or unfiltered) and secondary (or filtered) information.
The diagram below shows these different types.
CFCF (2015)
CASP (2020) Critical skills appraisal programme. Available at: https://casp-uk.net/ (Accessed 12 October 2020)
CFCF (2015) Research Design and Evidence. Available at: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Research_design_and_evidence_-_Capho.svg (Accessed 8 December 2023). CFCF, CC BY-SA 4.0
Different study designs are used to help answer different types of questions.
Clinical practice requires answers to a wide variety of questions, not just those about the effectiveness of interventions.
Acknowledgement: thanks to Dr Clare Davenport of the Institute of Applied Health Research, University of Birmingham, for content on this page.
Ranked from A (best) to C. Unsuitable designs for each question are excluded.
Adapted from Muir Gray, J. A. (2009). Evidence based healthcare. London: Churchill Livingstone. 3rd edn.
Georgia State University Library (2022) Evidence-based medicine: study designs. Available at: https://research.library.gsu.edu/c.php?g=115558&p=1966291 (Accessed 6 October 2022)
Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (2016) What types of studies are there? Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK390304/ (Accessed 6 October 2022)
Greenhalgh, T. (2019) 'Chapter 3. Getting your bearings: what is this paper about?' In How to read a paper: The basics of evidence-based medicine and healthcare. Oxford: Wiley. [UoB: available on FindIt@Bham as ebook]
Muir Gray, J. A. (2009) 'Chapter 5. Appraising the quality of research' In Evidence-based healthcare and public health. 3rd ed. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone. [UoB: available in print at Barnes Medical Library].