Subject Guides: Systematic Reviews: Evaluating Included Studies

Checklists for evaluating studies

Links are to checklists to evaluate various types of studies. There may be other discipline or subject-specific appraisal tools available. One way to search for those is to find existing systematic reviews related to your topic and see what appraisal tool was used.

Systematic Review Toolbox
To find quality assessment tools, in the Advanced Search section on the right, choose 'other tools' and 'quality assessment'
Amstar Checklist
AMSTAR stands for A MeaSurement Tool to Assess systematic Reviews.
CASP Checklists
Critical Appraisal Skills Programme, appraisal tools for systematic reviews, qualitative studies, randomized controlled trials, case-control studies, diagnostic studies, cohort studies, economic evaluations, clinical prediction rules.
CEBM Critical Appraisal Tools
Critical Appraisal Sheets for Systematic Reviews, Diagnostics, Prognosis, Randomised Controlled Trials (RCT), Qualitative Studies
EBP Checklists
Designed to help you ask the appropriate questions of different types of research design. Checklists for appraising the following types of articles: treatment or prevention, qualitative research, decision analysis, educational intervention, prognosis, harm or causation, guidelines, diagnosis or screening, systematic review, economic evaluation.
Equator Network
Reporting guidelines for multiple types of studies including Randomized trials, Observational studies, Systematic reviews, Study protocols, Diagnostic/prognostic studies, Case reports, Clinical practice guidelines, Qualitative research, Animal pre-clinical studies, Quality improvement studies, Economic evaluations.
Joanna Briggs Critical Appraisal Tools
Checklists for Analytical Cross Sectional Studies, Case Control Studies, Case Reports, Case Series, Cohort Studies, Diagnostic Test Accuracy Studies, Economic Evaluations, Prevalence Studies, Qualitative Research, Quasi-Experimental Studies (non-randomized experimental studies), Randomized Controlled Trials, Systematic Reviews, Text and Opinion
SIGN (Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network) Checklists
These checklists were subjected to evaluation and adaptation to meet SIGN’s requirements for a balance between methodological rigour and practicality of use. Checklists for systematic reviews, randomized controlled trials, cohort studies, case-control studies, diagnostic studies, economic studies
Study Quality Assessment Tools
Assessment tools for Controlled Intervention Studies, Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies, Case-Control Studies, Before-After (Pre-Post) Studies With No Control Group, Case Series Studies