Physiotherapy: How to evaluate your results

You should also read BMJ Series: How to Read a Paper

This series "introduces the non-expert to searching the medical literature and assessing the value of medical articles." -Trisha Greenhalgh

Use the following questions to help evaluate information resources, whether books, journal articles, or web sites.

What is the purpose of the resource?

Who is responsible for the content?

Who is the intended audience?

What content is covered?

How is the information organised?

Where is the information coming from?

How current is the information?

Is it primary or secondary information?

Is there direct research or summaries of research?

Are references listed?

Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP)

This set of eight critical appraisal tools are designed to be used when reading research, these include tools for Systematic Reviews, Randomised Controlled Trials, Cohort Studies, Case Control Studies, Economic Evaluations, Diagnostic Studies, Qualitative studies and Clinical Prediction Rule.
 
These are free to download and can be used by anyone under the Creative Commons License.

Articles can be published in a variety of periodicals, such as peer-reviewed journals, scholarly journals, trade publications, magazines or newspapers. Refereed and scholarly periodicals have the most academic credibility.

Peer-reviewed (refereed) journals

Sometimes the phrases “refereed journals” or “scholarly journals” are used to describe the same type of journals. But what are peer-reviewed (or refereed or scholarly) journal articles, and why are they important when doing research?

Three categories of information resources:

• Newspapers and magazines containing news - Articles are written by reporters who may or may not be experts in the field of the article. Consequently, articles may contain incorrect information.
•  Journals containing articles written by academics and/or professionals — Although the articles are written by “experts,” any particular “expert” may have some ideas that are really “out there!”
• Peer-reviewed (refereed or scholarly) journals - Articles are written by experts and are reviewed by several other experts in the field before the article is published in the journal in order to insure the article’s quality. (The article is more likely to be scientifically valid, reach reasonable conclusions, etc.) In most cases the reviewers do not know who the author of the article is, so that the article succeeds or fails on its own merit, not the reputation of the expert.