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1. Is the research relevant?

This is essentially the same principle discussed in the Frame section (read this section if you have not yet done so yet). In order to determine whether the study or synthesis is relevant, we need to be clear about the question it asks. We do so using the format:

Patient population,
Intervention,
Comparison Intervention, and
Outcome.

The research question should sound something like, “In patients with the particular condition, is drug A more effective than drug B with respect to a list of specified outcomes.” Ideally, the researchers will have written the question this way. If not, it’s helpful to reformat it as such.

Next, look at your question and ask yourself, “Were the result of this question true would it change what I would want to or could do.” You then march down each of the components of the question to consider:

Do these patients in the research represent me?
Consider issues such as sex, age, ethnicity, nationality, disease severity, and certainly whether the study subjects were human to begin with. It is hard to extrapolate from studies done on rats or other animals.
Can I get this intervention to begin with?
For example, is it on my health plan and/or affordable.
Is the intervention compared against the currently accepted standard of care?
Remember it is only helpful for us to be guided by research comparing the efficacy of an intervention against placebo when doing nothing is the standard of care).
Do the research outcomes address things that will mean something to my life?
Research that shows changes in laboratory test values, like changes in cholesterol may be interesting, but we really want to know how the intervention will affect outcomes such as heart attack or stroke, outcomes that more directly reflect what we truly care about – length and quality of life.

Thus, if the population in the research truly reflects you, the interventions are available and compared against the current best available standard, and the outcomes studied are meaningful to your life, the research is relevant, having the capacity to impact what you would do.

Is the Research Believable?

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1. Is the research relevant?