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What kind of paper is this?

Critical appraisal means deciding, systematically, whether to believe what a paper claims. It starts with a question that takes about a minute: what kind of study is this? A randomized trial, a quasi-experimental evaluation, a cohort study, a qualitative study — each uses different logic to answer a different kind of question, so each needs different questions from us. The title and the design description in the methods are usually enough to tell. We classify first so the questions we ask fit the study we have.

Also covered: evidence-based medicine · case-control study · cross-sectional study · systematic reviews and meta-analyses · mixed methods evaluation