What is quality assessment or critical appraisal?
Answer
Quality assessment, also know as critical appraisal, refers to the evaluation of the studies you selected for inclusion for rigour and relevance.
- Rigour: refers to the reliability of the results; studies were designed, conducted and reported in a reliable way
- Relevance: studies answer the initial research question.
This is an important step in the knowledge synthesis process and should be mentioned in the discussion section of your manuscript.
There are a number of tools to help guide you when conducting a quality assessment. These tools ask questions appropriate questions about reliability and bias. See:
Center for Evidence-Based Medicine