It will provide a research framework when appraising, reporting and conducting oral health RCTs.
As such, the purpose of the proposed study is to provide a first step in the development of a research framework for appraising, reporting and conducting RCTs in oral health research.
Additionally, it can be used by readers, peer reviewers, and editors to help them critically appraise reports of RCTs [23].
Noblit and Hare's [ 15] seminal book gave no guidance on how to sample or appraise study reports for inclusion in a meta-ethnography (although they did not advocate formal appraisal of studies prior to synthesis) and the analytic process of synthesising was not clearly defined [ 20].
However, the reviewers did not apparently employ systematic means of appraising the reports or extraction of data and findings.
However, the extent of practicing the different components of evidence-based practice on a monthly basis varied considerably, from 10% of the nurses (appraising research reports) to 80% (using information sources other than databases to search for knowledge).
This article provides an overview of important considerations when critically appraising a report, such as selection of the study population, features of the study design used, potential sources of bias, and evaluation of the statistical evidence.
Our search strategy identified a large number of published critical appraisal tools that are currently available to critically appraise research reports.
Consequently, readers are unable to appraise the reports adequately.
