Critical Appraisal Of Emerging Public Assessment 2 Answer

Assessment 2: Critical Appraisal of Emerging Public

Health Challenges

A critical review in epidemiology and public health evaluates the clarity, quality and originality of research, as well as its relevance and presentation. A good review carefully analyses an article's strengths and weaknesses - remember that no observational study is perfect – and then assess its overall value. Writing a critical review is a useful academic exercise that helps to improve basic epidemiological skills. By assessing the work of others, you will become familiar with specific evaluation criteria for public health research and develop critical thinking skills that has a more general application. Critiquing other scientific research will help you to develop good writing skills which will be essential for you in the future.

The learning outcomes from of this assessment are to:

1. efficiently and critically review and interpret the scientific literature in public health
2. apply principles of epidemiology when evaluating research

GETTING STARTED

Make sure you understand all requirements for the critical review that is specific to the type of study you are reviewing. There are different criteria for reporting different types of epidemiological studies, students are encouraged to explore different reporting guidelines relevant to the research paper they have chosen. There are multiple guidelines for conducting a critical review, most of which are specific to the epidemiological study design and can be found on the Equator Network here: Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research

You must follow the STROBE guidelines for an observational study (Strengthening the Reporting of Observational studies in Epidemiology). Once you have chosen ONE of the peer-reviewed journal articles for your critique, then have a look at the specific guidelines relevant for that paper.

Written Critique – 100% of the mark for Assessment 2.

THIS IS AN INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT.

Feel free to discuss it with your peers but you must submit your own individual work.

The written report should be of the highest standard of written scientific English and should display evidence of critical thinking and rigorous scientific consideration of the topic and appropriate references.

The written critique must be no more than 2,000 words. The file MUST be uploaded as a word document NOT .pdf

Structure of the critique

Please follow the STROBE checklist relevant to the research paper you have chosen (available via EQUATOR) for example for a case-control study, cohort study, or cross-sectional study. When you are reviewing the paper and writing your critique make sure you refer to the STROBE explanation and elaboration.

Vandenbroucke JP, von Elm E, Altman DG, Gøtzsche PC, Mulrow CD, et al. (2007) Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE): Explanation and Elaboration. PLoS Med 4(10):e297. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0040297

1. General description of the study
   • What is the study about?
   • Does the paper have a logical construction?
   • Is the paper written in a clear and easily understandable style?
   • Is the paper free of grammatical or typographical errors?
2. Article critique (Here you critique the specific components of the paper, using the STROBE checklist)
   • Title and abstract [STROBE Item 1]
   • Introduction [Items 2,3]
   • Methods [Items 4-12]
   • Results [Items 13-17]
   • Discussion [Items 18-21]
   • Other information [Item 22]
3. Overall assessment and conclusions of your critique. (The written critique should conclude with a general discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of the research and what might be done to further the scientific merit of the research conducted.)
4. The written critique will be assessed according to the assessment rubric on the LMS