Step by step tutorial to use Grade and Gradepro for evidence appraisal, part I: basic concepts and gameplay

… step by step tutorial for using Gradepro for evidence appraisal of a study question

Gradepro (?link) is an evidence appraisal and research evidence grading tool. The tool lives on the web, and you should be able to use it over the Internet. Gradepro allows you not only to critically appraise evidence, it also allows you to write a report, and generate tables of data. Before you use gradepro, you need to understand how GRADE works.

What is GRADE and what is outcomes based evidence appraisal?

What do we do for single studies?

Note that GRADE is NOT suitable for appraising a SINGLE study. Do not use GRADE for appraising a single study. If you have a single research article, you can appraise the article either based on your understanding of what constitutes best evidence using checklists from the JAMA series (see the CASP checklist below), or you can use checklists from different other sources. For example, in order to critically appraise observational epidemiological studies, use the STROBE checklist:

STROBE Statement: Available checklists

Here, download the STROBE checklist for case control study and give it a go:

STROBE checklist for case control study: click on the image to download the file and give it a go

Now, you will see that as a checklist, it is helpful if you are writing a case-control study report, but also, if you were to appraise a study that reported a case-control study design. As a student, you could also use the CASP checklist for a case control study design:

CASP checklist for case control study design

I mentioned in both cases case-control study designs as these are the most widely used observational study designs. For intervention trials, I’d use the CASP randomised controlled trial study design checklist, you can obtain from here: