LibGuides: Evidence Based Practice: Appraising Source Quality

Critical Appraisal and Risk of Bias Tools

AXIS from Downes, Brennan, and Dean
Source: Downes MJ, Brennan ML, Williams HC, Dean RS. Development of a critical appraisal tool to assess the quality of cross-sectional studies (AXIS). BMJ Open. 2016 Dec 8;6(12):e011458. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-011458. PMID: 27932337; PMCID: PMC5168618.
Centre for Evidence-Based Management (CEBMa)a
Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Tools
LEGEND Evidence Evaluation Tools
Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS)
ROBINS-I
STROBE Checklist

Centre for Evidence-Based Management (CEBMa)a
Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM)
Critical Appraisals Skills Programme (CASP)
Evidence Evaluation Tools & Resources (LEGEND)
Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Tools
NIH Study Quality Assessment Tools
NTACT Quality Checklists
PROBAST
Source: Wolff RF, Moons KGM, Riley RD, Whiting PF, Westwood M, Collins GS, Reitsma JB, Kleijnen J, Mallett S; PROBAST Group†. PROBAST: A Tool to Assess the Risk of Bias and Applicability of Prediction Model Studies. Ann Intern Med. 2019 Jan 1;170(1):51-58. doi: 10.7326/M18-1376. PMID: 30596875.
SANRA-a Scale
Source: Baethge C, Goldbeck-Wood S, Mertens S. SANRA-a scale for the quality assessment of narrative review articles. Res Integr Peer Rev. 2019 Mar 26;4:5. doi: 10.1186/s41073-019-0064-8. PMID: 30962953; PMCID: PMC6434870.
STROBE (STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology)

CASP- Qualitative Studies
Centre for Evidence-Based Management (CEBMa)a
Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM)
Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Tools
LEGEND Evidence Evaluation Tools
Methods for assessing methodological limitations, data extraction and synthesis, and confidence in synthesized qualitative findings
Source: Noyes J, Booth A, Flemming K, Garside R, Harden A, Lewin S, Pantoja T, Hannes K, Cargo M, Thomas J. Cochrane Qualitative and Implementation Methods Group guidance series-paper 3: methods for assessing methodological limitations, data extraction and synthesis, and confidence in synthesized qualitative findings. J Clin Epidemiol. 2018 May;97:49-58. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2017.06.020. Epub 2017 Dec 13. PMID: 29247700.
Quality of qualitative research in the health sciences: Analysis of the common criteria present in 58 assessment guidelines by expert users
Source: Santiago-Delefosse M, Gavin A, Bruchez C, Roux P, Stephen SL. Quality of qualitative research in the health sciences: Analysis of the common criteria present in 58 assessment guidelines by expert users. Soc Sci Med. 2016 Jan;148:142-51. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.11.007. Epub 2015 Nov 22. PMID: 26698197.

Quality Assessment and Risk of Bias Tool Repository

Quality Assessment and Risk of Bias Tool Repository
Contributors: Leila Ledbetter Steph Hendren
Identifier: DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/WS824
Category: Project
Description: A resource for finding and selecting a risk of bias or quality assessment tool for evidence synthesis projects. This project was created and is maintained by Duke University's Medical Center Library & Archives.

Additional Tools

robvis
Create publication quality risk-of-bias assessment figures
Source: McGuinness, LA, Higgins, JPT. Risk-of-bias VISualization (robvis): An R package and Shiny web app for visualizing risk-of-bias assessments. Res Syn Meth. 2020; 1- 7. https://doi.org/10.1002/jrsm.1411
Avoiding Bias in Selecting Studies (AHRQ)
Chapter from "Methods Guide for Effectiveness and Comparative Effectiveness Reviews."
Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE)
A guide to critical appraisal that they believe is more comprehensive and holistic than some of the checklists available
Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies (PRESS)
Guideline statement for systematic reviews, health technology assessments, and other evidence syntheses
RobotReviewer
A machine learning system which allows users to upload RCT articles and see automatically determined information concerning the trial conduct (the 'PICO', study design, and whether there is a risk of bias).
Systematic Review Data Repository (SRDR+)
A free tool for data extraction, management and archival during systematic reviews

Assessing Resources

Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) Resources

Evidence-Based Medicine is the integration of best research evidence with clinical expertise and patient values. (Sackett DL, Straus SE, Richardson WS, et al. Evidence-based medicine: how to practice and teach EBM. 2nd ed. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone, 2000.)

Painless evidence-based medicine by edited by Antonio L. Dans, Leonila F. Dans, Maria Asuncion A. Silvestre
Publication Date: 2017
This book looks at nothing but how to appraise articles of varying sorts. Clear definitions of different elements that must be examined in each kind of study.