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Evaluating Research
All research is not created equal! Bibliographic databases include citations to articles reporting on studies of all types and quality. It is up to readers to sift through the results of a search and select those citations that will be most valid and useful to their work.
Judging the validity and quality of reported studies
- NCDDR Technical Brief Number – "discusses principles and standards for quality research, the basis for these standards, and strategies for reporting quality research."
http://www.ncddr.org/kt/products/focus/focus9/ - Pedro – "This short tutorial is designed to help readers of clinical trials differentiate those trials which are likely to be valid from those that might not be."
http://www.pedro.org.au/english/tutorial/ - Examples of "Evidence Pyramids"
Finding Research Syntheses in the CIRRIE Database of International Research
- Review links above prior to searching.
- Search with "reviews" as a subject heading combined with your focus subject heading.
Or - Search by "Campbell Collaboration Reviews of Intervention, and Policy Evaluations (C2–RIPE)" or "Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews" in the journal field to obtain citations to systematic reviews. Combine with a subject heading from the CIRRIE Thesaurus for systematic reviews in your focus area.
- After obtaining the results of your search, look for the notation of "Campbell" or "Cochrane" in study field of the citation to indicate that this article was used in a systematic review. (Note: An article may report quality research but not be used in a systematic review due to an out of focus topic.)
- Judge the validity of studies using the Evidence Pyramids cited above