Critical Appraisal Skills

Overview

This module has been designed to enable the students to undertake an in-depth critical appraisal of research methods currently used in healthcare research. In order to critically appraise and assess suitability of research for application in practice, the student will need to develop an understanding of methods commonly used in health care research. To this end, research methods such as interviews, focus groups, Randomised Control Trials (RCTs) and other epidemiological methods will be presented and the pros and cons explored.

The process of critically appraising these qualitative and quantitative research methods using appropriate published checklists will be explored. This module will also address: literature searching in order to identify appropriate literature; ethical principles surrounding research; methods of analysing and interpreting data; and will explore evidence-based practice issues surrounding the application of research into practice.