Areas of critique Questions to be answered regarding article Intent of the Is the title of the study clear? (1) Research (7) What is the research question(s) if stated? What is the hypothesis if stated? (3) What are the issues or variables being studied? Are there Independent & Dependent variables identified? (3) Significance of How is the research problem significant to study (5) nursing? How will the findings improve practice? (5) Methods (26) What is the study design? Describe. Was this appropriate? (5) What is the level of evidence in this research? Describe model used to evaluate level of research (3) Was the sample randomized or not randomized? Was the sample selection addressed?(3) Was the sample size adequate? Was there a power analysis done? (3) What evidence was provided that biases were eliminated or minimized? What steps were taken to control confounding participant characteristics that could affect the equivalence of groups being compared? Were these steps adequate? (6) What were the inclusion and exclusion criteria? (3) Describe the instruments used- were they reliable/valid? Is this addressed? (3)