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title: "10.2.8 Critical appraisal or risk-of-bias assessment"
canonical: "https://jbi-global-wiki.refined.site/space/MANUAL/355862791/10.2.8%20Critical%20appraisal%20or%20risk-of-bias%20assessment"
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We do not advocate for the use of critical appraisal or risk-of-bias assessment for included evidence sources within scoping reviews. The question/s that a scoping review aims to answer typically do not require evidence sources to be examined for quality or bias. Critical appraisal or risk-of-bias assessments are undertaken to assess the validity of the findings in order to generate conclusions that can directly inform clinical practice and policy recommendations. However, there may be some exceptions to the rule, meaning critical appraisal or risk-of-bias assessments are useful for analysis. For example, when determining the breadth of the available evidence and its quality or the level of bias, these tools could be included within the data extraction table. The information collected would offer a description that, rather than allowing an assessment of quality or bias, helps determine if the findings should be integrated within clinical practice. Reviewers would be able to descriptively analyse these characteristics of quality and bias and potentially make suggestions on the need for researchers to improve these areas within their field of research. Another example would be to comment on whether the source included in the scoping review adequately addressed equity issues, such as having sufficient power to appropriately examine equity issues. Another instance in which critical appraisal may be conducted is when it is requested by a decision-maker or funder of a scoping review, who is interested in identifying what evidence is out there on a topic, as well as the quality of that evidence. However, these descriptive results of the quality and/or bias of the evidence sources should not be used to make recommendations for clinical or policy change.