It is essential to appraise qualitative and quantitative studies before using them critically. Hill and Spittlehouse (2003) define critical appraisal as “the process of systematically examining research evidence to assess its validity, results, and relevance before using it to inform a decision.” The purpose of doing this is to assess whether the hypotheses, methods, and findings are sufficiently valid to produce useful information. Numerous characteristics ought to be appraised when assessing qualitative and quantitative research design. These characteristics include addressing the credibility, validity, reliability, objectivity, strength, and weaknesses of the study. Other features include reviewing the whole research study and also examining prudently the research expert.
There is need to thoroughly appraise the characteristics mentioned above to evaluate the strength and weakness of the methodology, the strength of the study’s evidence, as well as to determine if the study is appropriate to be used to inform a decision. Among the features mentioned above, evaluating the credibility of the study and evaluating the strength and weaknesses of the study are the most important characteristics in quantitative design.
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Validity and reliability are important concepts in research. Validity refers to the extent to which a research study measures what it intends to measure while reliability is our aptitude for trusting the uniformity of an expert’s study (Drost, 2011). Credibility refers to our ability to trust an expert’s study based on his or her tone as well as reliability. An instrument can be reliable without being valid, but an instrument has to be reliable first for it to be valid. Validity and reliability of an instrument have a significant influence on the credibility of a study and value of the evidence. For a study to be credible and have strong evidence, the instrument used to undertake the study ought to be valid and reliable.
References
Drost, E. (2011). Validity and Reliability in Social Science Research. Educational Research Perspective, Vol. 38(1). 105-121.
Hill, A., and Spittlehouse, C. (2003). What is Critical Appraisal? Evidence-Based Medicine. [Online]. Available at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.524.2610&rep=rep1&type=pdf . Accessed 10 th April 2019.
