Template for Critique of Quantitative Research Article
Journal and Authors
Was the paper published in a peer reviewed journal?
What is the background of the authors?
Did they have the appropriate expertise to conduct such a study?
Could this have predisposed to a bias of any kind? If so was this recognised?
Title
Appropriateness, clarity and representativeness.
Research Question
Did the author make the research question clear?
Abstract
Did the abstract summarise the background, methods, results and conclusion of the study?
Literature review. Has the literature review been comprehensive? You may need to conduct a quick literature search to evaluate this.
Did the author justify the need for the research i.e. did the paper add to the existing knowledge by filling an identified gap?
Have they fulfilled the purpose of a literature review?
Methods. Were the methods appropriate to answer the research question? In particular the:
• study setting,
• recruitment, selection sample size and randomisation;
• inclusion/exclusion criteria;
• data collection techniques,
data collection tool development;
•
• issues relating to bias e.g. reliability and validity?
• any assumptions stated
Ethical considerations
• What were the ethical issues which needed to be considered in conducting this study?
• How were the ethical issues addressed?

Results
• Were the appropriate statistics used to analyse results?
• Were the results presented appropriately and in logical sequence using text, tables, figures etc.?
Discussion
Did the author’s conclusions align with the results?
Were the study limitations acknowledged?
Were the implications for practice identified?
Were suggestions given for future research?
Reflection
What are the implications of this article for your practice and / or practice setting?
References