Library Homepage: Nursing Programs: Critical Appraisal Frameworks

Why Use a Framework?

Frameworks can help:

focus the question, protocol/project/scope and search strategy,
identify inclusion/exclusion and data extraction element and clarify the theoretical framework and
provide clarity for reviewers, readers/funders.

Critical appraisal is the systematic evaluation of clinical research papers to see if they address a clearly focused question, use a valid methodology, and have important results applicable to the researcher's question.

Adapted from CEBM: The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine

PICOT

PICOT is useful for Clinical Questions about therapies and outcomes, often with a comparison.

Sample Topic:

Find evidence based medicine on alternatives to narcotic medicating for the elderly within home settings.

P = elderly in home, senior, geriatric, home care
I = cognitive behavior therapy (CBT)
C = no opiates/narcotics
O = lessened anxiety and associated behaviors (eg. over-eating, alcohol consumption)
T = within 3 months

Adapted from CHLA 2021 Conference presentation

SPIDER

Research questions framed using the SPIDER tool tend to begin with "What are the experiences of ...?"

Best for qualitative research questions that measure attitudes and experiences rather than clinical interventions and outcomes.
Focused more on the design of the study and less on the subjects (people or groups).

Taken from: Cooke, C., Smith, A., Booth, A. Beyond PICO: The SPIDER Tool for Qualitative Evidence Synthesis. Qualitative Heath Research. 2012 vol 22(10) :1435–1435.

Sample Topic:

What are the experiences of doctoral nursing students in using their library?

S = Doctoral students
PI = Library use
D = Survey
E = Experiences (of using the library)
R = Qualitative