E-DRUG: How to read a paper-III

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Dear E-druggers,

Abstract from this week's BMJ series on the above subject.
Full article can be accessed through Netscape (the URL/
website address: http://www.bmj.com). Thanks.

Syed Rizwanuddin Ahmad
E-drug moderator
Email: srahmad@essential.org
     
BMJ No 7103 Volume 315
           
Education and debate Saturday 2 August 1997
            
How to read a paper
                  
Getting your bearings (deciding what the paper is about)
Trisha Greenhalgh
                                                                    
This is the third in a series of 10 articles introducing
non-experts to finding medical articles and assessing their
value
       
                            Summary points
              
The first essential question to ask about the methods section of
a published paper is: was the study original?
              
The second is: whom is the study about?
              
Thirdly, was the design of the study sensible?
              
Fourthly, was systematic bias avoided or minimised?
                                                                   
Finally, was the study large enough, and continued for long
enough, to make the results credible?
     
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