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Key Points
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What is a Critical Appraisal?
A critical appraisal is a systematic assessment of the quality of research paper including evaluating its strengths and weaknesses and supporting your arguments or opinions with evidence-based literature. Remember that being critical does not mean to criticise in a negative manner. Instead, it is meant to demonstrate your knowledge on the topic, your ability to discuss it from different perspectives and connect it to the theories, principles, approaches and frameworks in your subject.
A critical appraisal can be done by including the following themes:
How do I structure it?
Critical Appraisal Tools?
Critical appraisal tools are used to help in developing a systematic approach to evaluating research paper and include guided questions that need to be asked of each paper reviewed. A design specific critical appraisal tool is preferable to generic appraisal tool as it provides an appropriate structure for the review with questions related to specific study. Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) have developed designed specific critical appraisal tools for different study. Appraisal tools produced by Joanna Briggs Institute is another tools used.
Adapted From:
Mantovani, N., Pizzolati, M. &Edge, D. (2017) Exploring the relationship between stigma and help-seeking for mental illness in African-descended faith communities in the UK. Health Expect, 20(3), 373-384. doi: 10.1111/hex.12464
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A critical appraisal was conducted on the paper “Exploring the relationship between stigma and help-seeking for mental illness in African-descended faith communities in the UK” by by Mantovani et al. (2017). In order to critique the article, the Qualitative Studies Checklist developed by CASP (2018) was used to ensure……* The study utilized semi-structured interviews to examine the various ways in which stigma affected help-seeking behaviour among people with symptoms of mental illness. The sample consisted of 26 men and women who were participants in an intervention programme aimed at enhancing mental health in minority populations in London. The interviews were conducted face-to-face and a thematic approach to data analysis was applied. The research design was evaluated using the CASP Qualitative Studies Checklist (CASP, 2018), which indicated that the design was appropriate to the aims of the research in terms of the recruitment strategy, setting and data collection method. However, the role of the researchers was not made clear in the article; that is, it is not known whether the researcher was also the interviewer or only analysed the interview data that had been obtained. The role of the researcher is important to consider in any qualitative study, as researchers may influence the data collected and the analysis process (Slembrouck, 2015).
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The introduction includes the full title of the paper being analysed and mentions a tool used for appraising the research. *The introduction is abridged.
This body paragraph succinctly summarises the research design and only includes key details
The critical appraisal is clear and justified by referring to the evaluation tool used and other supporting literature. |
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Introduction to the analysis |
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The study/article/report aims to... The author argues that..., which is supported by... This paper seeks to critically evaluate... The key premise underlying the argument is... |
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Evaluating strengths |
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One strength of this argument is.. The research provides compelling evidence for.. A notable contribution of the study is.. There is strong evidence that….. The use of (methodology/data) effectively demonstrates… |
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Identifying weaknesses |
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The evidence provided is insufficient to support…. The study claims that….. However, a major limitation is…. This argument does not take into account..... It is not clear whether….. Such approaches, however, have failed to address … However, the main weakness of the study is the failure to address how … However, such explanations tend to overlook the fact that … |
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Discussing findings/implications |
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One interesting finding is … Another important finding is that … This finding is consistent with that of Smith (2020) who … The findings suggest that... The implications of this research are significant because... This study contributes to the field by... The research highlights the importance of... |
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Concluding remarks |
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In summary, the argument is convincing due to... While the study contributes valuable insights, further research is needed to... Overall, the study successfully addresses..., but fails to... The critical evaluation highlights that... Despite its limitations, the research offers... Despite these promising results, questions remain. |
