At the onset of this project, looking for research articles involved a perspective that more is better. While it continues to be important to have enough of a broad range of resources from which to choose, the evaluation table allowed for a more clear understanding of quality over quality. Even within journals that are highly reputable and academic in nature, Bergstrom (2007) explains that it is necessary to evaluate the article independently to ensure that it adds value to the present research study or proposed intervention project. In other words, simply because it appears to be connected to the study, a careful analysis must be conducted. The rapid critical appraisal helps to narrow the extensive list of potential sources and provides the researcher with the ability to determine the relevance to practice as well as the level of evidence that the source provides (Fineout-Overholt, Melnyk, Stillwell, and Williamson, 2010).
In terms of my personal experience through this project, despite the benefits of using the rapid critical appraisal, I cannot speak for the rapidness of the process. At first, due to my own level of interest in the sources that I had located, I found myself reading through each article. As time did not allow for this, I had to adjust my method to include reading the abstract and then setting the article aside. Once I had numerous articles that were not excluded through reading the abstract, I was then able to give these articles better attention. I used the abstract reading to narrow the list and then focused on the methods and results to determine how much attention to give each article. I believe that this would have been a much quicker and smoother stage in the project had I have went straight to this method from the very beginning.
- Bergstrom, C. (2007). Measuring the value and prestige of scholarly journals. College & Research Libraries News, 68(5), 314-316.
- Fineout-Overholt, E., Melnyk, B. M., Stillwell, S. B., & Williamson, K. M. (2010). Evidence-based practice step by step: Critical
appraisal of the evidence: Part I. AJN The American Journal of Nursing, 110(7), 47-52.
