4 Levels of Evidence

While researchers need to consider the most appropriate design to use to answer their research question, they also need to assess the strengths and weaknesses of their chosen design for the purposes of testing hypotheses. One helpful tool is the levels of evidence ranking the types of studies from level I (providing the strongest evidence) to 7 (weakest evidence).   

Figure 12. Levels of Evidence

Another type of level of evidence pyramid is useful when searching for evidence. The video entitled 6S Pyramid provides a tool that helps you find evidence quickly and efficiently (National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools, n.d.), helps researchers conduct a search to answer practice-based questions. 

As demonstrated in the image and in the video, the type of Research Design used in a study is linked to the level of evidence, and in turn, the contribution of a study’s findings is linked to evidence-informed practice!