What are two critical appraisal skills learners should develop in PT education?

• A. Evaluating study design and assessing bias
• B. Copying results
• C. Writing grant proposals
• D. Reading abstracts

Answer: (A)

Critical appraisal in physical therapy education means judging how trustworthy and applicable research findings are for practice. Two key skills to develop are understanding how a study was designed and identifying potential biases that could distort the results. Knowing the study design helps you assess the strength of the evidence: randomized controlled trials with proper controls generally offer stronger conclusions than studies without controls or with observational designs. Assessing bias involves checking for systematic errors that could skew outcomes, such as how participants were selected, whether those conducting or evaluating outcomes were blinded, how complete the data are, and whether results were reported fully. When you can evaluate both design and bias, you can decide how much confidence to place in a study and how relevant its findings are to your patients.

Copying results isn’t a meaningful appraisal skill because it bypasses judgment about quality. Writing grant proposals is about creating new research rather than evaluating existing evidence. Reading abstracts alone doesn’t provide enough detail to assess methodological quality or bias, so it’s not sufficient for critical appraisal.