Evaluating research can incorporate many skills, which you build as you complete your education in research methods and statistics.

Some basic tips for evaluating papers:

PICO can be used to read clinical research as well as find it!

When reading clinical research; identify:

• Problem/Patient/Populaion

• Intervention (or Exposure)

• Comparison (or Control

• Outcome

You can also read for the following information:

• Study design: was it a randomized trial? was it blinded or double-blinded?  was it a cohort study? a systematic review?
• Size of study (number of study participants):  how many participants (or papers if a review) we included?  is that a sufficient sample size to draw strong conclusions from?
• Statistics: what did the analysis of the results indicate? are the results statistically significant?