Levels of evidence in Research
HCA 699 Topic 3 DQ 1
What levels of evidence are present in relation to research and practice and why are they important regardless of the method you use?
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
Levels of evidence in Research
Introduction
We’ve all seen the levels of evidence that are used in research, but what exactly do they mean? In this post, we’ll walk through the levels of evidence and explain their purpose.
Level I
Level I is the highest level of evidence, and involves systematic reviews of randomized controlled trials. This type of study is considered to be the most reliable because it has been conducted in a very controlled setting, using a specific protocol. This means that researchers have followed specific steps and have been careful to avoid bias in their research design and execution.
Level II studies include randomized controlled trials but also include other types of research designs such as case control or cohort studies. These studies are also very repeatable and have a relatively low incidence of bias; however, they can’t be used alone as evidence for an intervention because only clinical trial data can provide this type of information (see below).
Level II
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Level II evidence is based on a systematic review of single studies.
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This type of evidence is considered to be moderate, but it is still not as strong as level I evidence.
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Level II evidence can be used in practice to make decisions, but the recommendation should be followed with caution because it does not have enough information about potential harms associated with the treatment and has only been confirmed by one study.
Level III
Level III evidence is the most common type of evidence in medical research. It is a systematic review or meta-analysis of Level I and Level II evidence.
Level II evidence comes from randomized controlled trials without a concurrent control group. These would be considered the highest quality evidence in medical research, because they compare two groups and one group gets treatment while another does not.
Level I evidence comes from systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials that have been conducted according to good clinical practice guidelines, as well as other types of high quality studies such as cohort studies (which compare groups at different times), case series (where multiple patients with similar symptoms are studied), cross sectional studies (where information about patients comes from multiple sources without any control group) and descriptive studies where doctors describe how many people have certain conditions
Level IV
Level IV evidence is expert opinion. It’s based on the experience and knowledge of the researcher, not on a systematic review of literature. There are many situations where researchers use this type of evidence in their work, but it isn’t used to make clinical decisions:
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Doctors might use Level IV evidence when they know something about how to treat a disease or condition but can’t find any studies that prove its effectiveness (and they don’t want to waste time looking for them).
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Medical journals may publish articles describing new treatments or research findings based on Level IV research only if those findings seem likely to be useful in treating patients later down the road.
Takeaway:
What did you learn?
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Level I evidence is the highest level of evidence. It is used to establish that a hypothesis is true, and that it can be used as a basis for further investigation.
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Level II evidence is a lower level of evidence than Level I. It should be used when there are some doubts about whether or not your hypothesis holds true or not, but you still want to move forward with further research.
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Level III evidence is also known as “inferred logic”, and it means that you have enough information gathered from multiple sources (e.g., studies) where it’s possible for someone else who reads them (or hears them being spoken) will be able to make a reasonable conclusion based on those facts alone without having any other details about what was analyzed during each study done beforehand by researchers/scientists who conducted them – which means there’s no need for these types anymore!
Conclusion
The takeaway from all this is that there is no one perfect way to create a research paper, and in fact you don’t even have to stick to these levels. However, if you want your research papers to be as strong as possible then it’s important that they follow some sort of plan. This plan will ensure that everything is done properly and accurately – which means less work for you but more time spent on what matters most!
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