You Need Multiple Tools Based on Your Method and Study Design

Are you using CASP, JBI, or MMAT without understanding your study design?
Many nursing students and healthcare researchers unknowingly misuse these tools in their dissertation writing or evidence-based studies.

Choosing the right quality tool is never an option; it is essential.
In qualitative or quantitative research, using the correct quality assessment tool ensures validity, rigour, and reliability. A mismatch between your tool and study design can undermine your entire thesis or systematic review.

To improve your research credibility and academic impact, it is important to master the application of assessment tools. Depending on your research design, learning how to apply these tools is important in your Thesis or Dissertation writing.

Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR 2) is widely used to critically appraise systematic reviews.

Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM) contains a collection of critical appraisal tools for studies of all types and examples of usage.

Cochrane risk-of-bias (RoB 2) tool is the recommended tool for assessing quality and risk of bias in randomized clinical trials in Cochrane-submitted systematic reviews.
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National Academies of Sciences, Health and Medicine Division provides standards for assessing bias in primary studies comprising systematic reviews of therapeutic or medical interventions.

Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) is also used in non-observational studies of cohort and case-control varieties.

Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS-2) tool surveys diagnostic accuracy studies on four domains: index test, reference standard, patient selection, and flow and timing.

Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) framework is often used to measure the quality of cohort, case-control and cross-sectional studies.

Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) use for critical appraisal and offers appraisal checklists for a wide range of public health reviews.

Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) provides robust checklists for the appraisal.