Step 6. Reviewing and critically appraising your results
Critical appraisal of your found literature is an important part of the research process. This ensures that your results are meeting the needs to answer your research question.
Depending on your specific question and scope you may have varying criteria when it comes to the level of validity, the uniqueness, the types of methods used, etc., of the studies you are looking at. This may vary from what you had hoped to examine at the outset of your literature review, and it will certainly differ from other colleagues.
Regardless of varying expectations in appraisals with other colleagues, it is most important to remain consistent across all of resources you consult.
Resources:
There are a variety of checklists available online for free from institutions around the world that promote critical appraisal as an important part of the research process. These may not always meet the specific guidelines you are after, but are designed to act as a template that you can make your own for your specific research question. You might find that you need to add more detailed questions, or you may need to simplify them.
Check out Evaluating & Citing Sources here.