Reference no: EM132366638

CRITICAL APPRAISAL

Critical appraisal

One important part of using research is the ability to understand and appraise research. Appraising research incorporates understanding how research is conducted, critically appraising the study strengths and limitations, and understanding implications of the research.

In this assignment you are required to critically appraise two (2) peer-reviewed research articles, one involving quantitative and one involving qualitative research. Your papers are as follows:

Liang, Z, Howard, P & Wollersheim, D 2017, 'Assessing the Competence of Evidence- Informed Decision-Making Amongst Health Service Managers', Asia Pacific Journal of Health Management, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 16-23.

Priest, N, Thompson, L, Mackean, T, Baker, A & Waters, E 2017, '‘Yarning up with Koori kids' - hearing the voices of Australian urban Indigenous children about their health and well-being', Ethnicity & Health, vol. 22, no. 6, pp. 631-47.

You will need to:

• Retrieve the two research articles specified above from the Deakin library database.

• Read the articles and make sure you understand the content, argument, vocabulary etc. Use the resources from this unit to help you discuss relevant research principles and terms relating to these two articles. Use the resources available through the Library website to develop your understanding and to find additional sources to support your analysis.

• Identify the kind of study being reported in each of the two articles. Locate a critical appraisal tool for each article that is appropriate to the study type. Cite the source/s of the original tool and provide a brief explanation of why you selected the tool.

• Use the appropriate critical appraisal tool to examine each article, first noting answers to the questions/items listed in the tool and then synthesising your analysis. This forms the main section of your written appraisal. Include page numbers from the research article in your answers to the appraisal tool (i.e. cross reference where in the research article you are finding the answers to the critical appraisal tool questions/items). Use additional sources to help evaluate issues of validity, representativeness etc.

• Ensure that when you describe the various strengths and weaknesses of the article that you explain your analysis. For instance if the quantitative article had non-random sampling you will state that, and then explain what implications of this type of sampling. This will mean you also need to consult and cite relevant articles and books on research methods. By doing this you will be able to show the marker that you understand why the aspect you have noted is a strength or a limitation of the study you are analysing.

Assignment structure

Your critical appraisal should consist of the following sections:

1. Introduction (~100 words)
A brief introductory paragraph where you outline the purpose and main sections of your appraisal. This will include which field you will be summarising the implications for (e.g. public health, health promotion, social work, health & human services management).
2. Tool selection (~150 words)
Explanation of tool selection. Attach a copy of the appraisal tools in their original format to your assignment as an appendix (does not contribute to the word count).
3. Critical appraisal (~1600 words)
Analysis based on the critical appraisal tool selected to discuss strengths and weaknesses of each article. Provide an overall appraisal of each article.
4. Ethical issues (~350 words)
Description of main ethical issues and discussion of how these have or have not been addressed.
5. Summary of the appraised papers (~300 words)
Short summary of the strengths and weaknesses of the two papers with implications for practice.