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Covidence

Quality Assessment

Once all reviewers have completed the full-text screening and resolved conflicts, and have also completed the Data Extraction, you are ready to move on to Quality Assessment. During the quality assessment phase, the authors appraise the methodological quality of each study selected for inclusion. 

 

Go to the Quality Assessment Template.

 

On the Quality Assessment Template, you can either:

  • Use the provided quality assessment tool (Cochrane Risk of Bias tool) without making modifications to the template.
  • Edit the provided quality assessment tool (Cochrane Risk of Bias tool) and add/edit domains.
  • Start from scratch and create a custom quality assessment template.

You can only have one template. Therefore, if you have a mix of study designs (e.g. experimental and observational) then you could add multiple quality assessment tools to one template. To differentiate the domains of each tool, add the study design or name of the tool to the domain labels.

For help in deciding which quality assessment tool(s) to use, download the spreadsheet named, "Repository of Quality Assessment and Risk of Bias Tools OSF" linked from this OSF Quality Assessment and Risk of Bias Tool Repository and use the Study Type/Intended Use dropdown menu in column F to find recommended tools based on study design.
 

Cochrane Risk of Bias

The Cochrane Risk of Bias tool assesses the risk of bias in Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs). If your systematic review will include RCTs only and you choose to use the Cochrane Risk of Bias template, you can customize the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool and still edit domains if you prefer. Here is guidance on using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool.

If your systematic review includes study designs other than RCTs, you should consider using another assessment tool by creating a custom template.

 

 

Uou will assess the risk of bias by answering a series of questions for each article that will be included in your systematic review.

For each question, make a judgment:

  • High 
  • Low
  • Unsure

You can highlight and annotate the associated PDF, and make judgment comments. 

Create Custom Quality Assessment Tool

If your systematic review includes study designs other than RCTs, you should use a quality assessment tool other than the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. Select, "I want to start from scratch" to create and publish a custom Quality Assessment template.

For help in deciding which quality assessment tool(s) to use, see this list of quality assessment tools.