Available at www.understandinghealthresearch.org – this tool guides you to review and interpret a pulished research paper, through a series of questions. Funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) UK, its evolution is well described in the website, and makes interesting reading.
The aims of the tool are to:
- Allow lay and professional audiences to understand how to assess the quality of research evidence
- Raise awareness of what evidence is and how it is generated
- Teach or reaffirm critical health literacy skills
Take a research paper that you have with you. Go to the site, and answer questions they ask, as you read the paper. At the end, guided by the steps, you would have understood the paper better than before!
