Critical review and appraise three pieces of evidence on a health related topic

Critical review of three articles on a particular topic (50%), 3000 words, Students undertake a critical review and appraise three pieces of evidence on a particular topic(health related),

• analyse their application into practice,
• discuss the possible barriers and strategies to manage those barriers, and
• make evidence- based recommendations.

The aim of this assessment is to ensure the evidence is relevant, reliable, valid and applicable in the context of the related healthcare setting. Students must select evidence related to a specific topic, not older than 7 years. Students need to attach copies of the review papers to their assignment.

You will required to appraise the evidence using the appraisal tool below.

Assessment Guide/ Appraisal Tool

The critical appraisal tool is provided as an aid which you might like to use when analyzing the article(s). You might find it useful to use these sub-headings to appraise, compare and evaluate your selected articles using the following items.

Authorship
Consider the strengths and limitations of the authors’ expertise, based on their cited qualifications and affiliations and whether there might be possible conflicts of interest for possible grounds for bias in the paper.

Research Questions, aims/objectives or hypotheses
Identify the research questions/s, aims or hypotheses underpinning the research and discuss how the author’s justification of their study. That is, 1), the significance of the research topic or problem is identified 2) the research topic is discussed, 3) gaps in the research /literature on the topic have been identified.

Research Design
Identify which methodology (qualitative versus quantitative) was used in the articles selected, and whether the authors justified the choice of design as appropriate for answering the research question(s), aims or hypothesis.

Data Collection
Identify how the author(s) justified the sampling method, location and means of recruiting participants.

Data Analysis
Identify whether the author(s) used any software (NVivo in qualitative study /SPSS in quantitative study) or theoretical construct (in qualitative study) and conceptual framework in (in quantitative study) to analyse their study.

Discussion
Identify whether the author(s) had made any limitation/recommendation of the research.