Critical appraisal is the process used to evaluate and judge reports of research in order to identify methodological errors. When students learn critical appraisal, students are learning to perform the peer review process. Critical appraisal is essentially what professionals do when they critique research articles that have been submitted to scholarly journals.
Various tools have been developed to aid in critical appraisal. These critical appraisal tools usually take the form of checklists or questionnaires that provide helpful questions relating to principles of good research. There are many websites and sources available for critical appraisal tools created and shared by health researchers and educators.
