Covidence

Quality Assessment is used to appraise the methodological quality of each study included in the data extraction phase. Preforming this extra step helps the reviewers reduce the risk of bias. Just like the Data Extraction phase a template must be created and published before it can be used by the reviewers. To access the template select "Quality assessment template" button at the top of the Extraction page.

You will be given the choice between starting with a default template called "Cochrane RoB1 template" or "Custom template". RoB1 stands for Risk of Bias 1, this means that it is a template designed to work with assessing randomized controlled trials and can still be edited. The second template allows you to start from scratch and customize the quality assessment to best fit your project. 

Choosing the Cochrane RoB template populates domains in line with Cochrane’s original Risk of Bias tool for randomised controlled trials, which can be edited as required.

On the quality assessment template, you can define outcome groups. 

When extracting data for a study you can categorize outcomes that are reported into outcome groups and you can choose to assess the quality of each outcome group independently instead of for the study as a whole. 

This might be useful if you’re expecting outcome groups to differ in their risks of bias for example subjective outcomes vs objective outcomes. Below is an example of categorizing an outcome for a study into an outcome group:

When assessing the quality of a study, this allows you to provide a judgement for each outcome group:

Once you are happy with the domains and outcome groups defined within the template, save the changes by clicking the Publish template button at the top of the screen. This will make the template available to all authors of the review.

To complete quality assessment for an article, click the Start button for the record you want to analyze and then click the Quality Assessment button. The PDF for the article will open along with the list of criteria you are using to evaluate the article.

Click the Make Judgement button for each criteria and then select the option that matches your assessment. You can also enter free text annotations or comments for the other reviews to read. Be sure to click the blue Save button to record your vote. 

Once you’ve finished data extraction and quality assessment for that study, click the blue Send for Consensus button.

NOTE: Once you’ve sent the form to consensus, this can’t be undone. Prior to that, however, you can edit your form by clicking the Edit button on the study. Complete both Data extraction and Quality Assessment (if required) before you send for consensus.