There are a number of tools and checklists available to help assess the quality of studies to be included in a review. Studies included in a systematic review should be assessed for their quality and only good and reliable studies should be included.
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A number of bodies involved in reviewing have developed very useful checklists which allow rapid appraisal of the quality of articles to be made.
CASP (link opens in new window) — Critical Appraisal Skills Programme includes checklists for systematic reviews, RCTs, qualitative studies etc.
RoBiS (link opens in new window) — Risk of Bias in Systematic Reviews
RoB 2 (link opens in new window) — Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized trials
AACODS (link opens in new window)— Checklist for appraising grey literature
Centre for Evidence Based Medicine (link opens in new window): tools and downloads for critical appraisal.
Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal tools (link opens in new window)
These are some books which you might find useful when critically appraising research.
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