How to Appraise Research

When a practitioner wants to practice evidence-based practice they must know the good from the bad. If a practitioner is to make important clinical decisions based on research, then poorly conducted research can lead to poor decisions in practice. The discerning practitioner must know which research is good and should be used, which has some problems and should be used with caution, and which is poor and should be thrown in the bin. How to appraise research is written in eight chapters, with each chapter examining a different research article relevant to chiropractors and other manual therapists. Each article is appraised in detail with the original article reproduced and sections highlighted with notes in the margins, intertwined with true/false and multi-choice questions that examine the reader's knowledge. At the end of each chapter answers to the questions are given, with relevant information explained in further detail. How to appraise research claims to be able to guide the chiropractic student and practitioner, and other disciplines, in making decisions about the quality of published research. The title suggests that this book will show readers how to appraise research, however this is a little deceiving, in that it doesn't cover basic concepts that are a prerequisite for doing this. The title should have been something like " Advanced appraisal " because a novice in critical appraisal who thinks they will get everything they need from this book will become quickly confused. As the introduction to this book states, this book is to be used in conjunction with another text and/ or course in critical appraisal that actually teaches you how to do it. The novel approach this book has adopted to teaching critical appraisal is interesting, but I must admit I found it quite confusing. The layout of the sections were cluttered. The notes in the margins were criss-crossed with highlighted text and lines and led at times to a confusing array of text, lines and boxes. I think the layout would have worked well as a webpage, with links and hypertext taking the reader to further explanation if they desired, however in a book it is just plain busy and confusing. The practical nature of the book must also be questioned. The author has three " quick and dirty " checklists for appraisal of different types of research papers, introducing an original array of mnemonics that some find helpful for remembering lists. …