Quality Assessment Tool

Health Databases	Hand Searching
Psychological Databases	Key Informants
Social Science Databases	Reference Lists
Educational Databases	Unpublished
Other:

Did the authors describe the level of evidence in the primary studies included in the review?
LevelI (RCTs only)
LevelII (non-randomized, cohort, case-control studies)
LevelIII (uncontrolled studies)

Do the authors provide a clear description of the range of methods in each of the primary studies included in the review?

Did the review assess the methodological quality of the primary studies including:
(minimum requirement: 4/7 of the following)
research design
study sample
participation rates
source of bias(confounders, respondent bias)
data collection (measurement of independent/dependent variables)
follow-up/attrition rates
data analysis

Did the review assess the methodological quality of the primary studie including:
(minimum requirement: 4/7 of the following)
suitablity of methodology/paradigm to the research question
sampling (selection of participants/settings/documentation)
clear description of context, data collection, and data analysis
rigor:

i) audit trail
ii) some coding by 2 or more coders, if appropriate
iii) deviant case analysis (negative cases)
iv) respondant validation (member checking)

triangulation
reflexivity (researcher and research process)
relevance (credibility, consistency, applicability, transferability)

Was it appropriate to combine the findings of results across studies?

Is there a description of how reviewers determined results were similar enough across studies to compare or combine them?