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AHSC 404 - Research in Health Sciences

Evaluating Information: The CRAAP Method

 

 

What are Peer-Reviewed, Scholarly, and Popular?

Peer-Review (Refereed): The process an article may go through prior to being published. Peer-review involves multiple experts in a particular field reading an article, making comments and suggestions, and sending back to the author for revision. Not all articles are peer-reviewed.

Scholarly: An article whose intended audience is experts in their field and is written by experts. While most scholarly publications are peer-reviewed, they are not always. However, if an article is peer-reviewed, it is typically scholarly.

Popular: Articles that are published without going through the peer-review process. They are typically written for the general public. Examples of resources that offer popular articles include The New York Times, Time, and People. Popular articles may be edited, but this is not the same as peer-review.

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Evaluating Information: The PICO Method

The first stage of any evidence-based practice process is formulating an answerable question. This forms the foundation for quality searching. A well-formulated question will facilitate the search for evidence and will assist you in determining whether the evidence is relevant to your question.

An answerable question has a format that follows the PICO concept. The acronym translates to:

  • P – Populations/People/Patient/Problem
  • I – Intervention(s)
  • C – Comparison
  • O – Outcome

The question used in this guide was developed using the PICO concept. View the completed form.

"What interventions reduce the incidence and severity of bed sores in residents of aged care facilities?"

This website from the University of Wisconsin-Madison may help you to understand and use the PICO concept to create a search strategy.