HLTH1306 WEEK 4 – INTERPRETING AND APPRAISING RESEARCH ARTICLES

This is the basic level of appraisal we would expect you to undertake of the material you are reading for your literature review assignment.

1. What is the focus of the article?

2. When was the article published?

3. Is the journal peer-reviewed? How did you (or how could you) find out?

4. What study design did the research use? (is it qualitative or quantitative? Is it a cohort study, case-control study, randomised controlled trial etc)

5. How many participants were involved in the study?

6. What did the research find?

7. What were the limitations of this research?

8. How might this piece of research contribute to a literature review on the focus of the article (e.g. if your article is about obesity in pregnant women how could you use the findings of that article in a broader review of the literature)? Think about the study design used (was it high quality?), what were the findings (conclusive or inconclusive? Positive or negative?), does this seem like important knowledge to have on the topic?