Master of Clinical Exercise Science and Rehabilitation: Websites

On this page

This page provides tips on using internet resources at university and a list of useful web resources for this unit.

Evaluating statistics

Check if statistical data meet these criteria:

Relevance: are the statistics relevant to your research?

Reliable: are the statistics from authoritative source? Eg: Government or Recognised International Organisation

Methodology: does the statistic source document the methodology used?

There are different data collection methods used across countries. Types, depth and date of data are not always consistent between countries as international statistics are dependent on the collection of data by national governments and other agencies. Collection of data, within individual countries,

  • can change over time
  • can be inconsistentt across states
  • can be disrupted by events such as regime change and war

Credit to: University of Melbourne, Statistics and Data Library Guide.

Other resources

Trip (Turning Research Into Practice) Medical Database is a smart, fast tool to find high quality clinical research evidence. Trip is updated using number of methods. The content from PubMed is added every two weeks, while content added manually is added once per month.

Evaluating websites

Information from web sites can be very easy to find. Due to the nature of the web, it is very important to evaluate anything that you find before including it in your assessments.

Anyone can author or publish material on a web site. No quality control process is required. This doesn't mean that you shouldn't use information from web sites! you just need to apply evaluation criteria to understand;

Authority - Who is the author?  What are their qualifications and are they experts in the field they are writing about?

Objectivity - Is the purpose and intention of the source clear, including any bias or particular viewpoint?

Accuracy - Fact or opinion?  What evidence is presented? Is it original research or copied from other sources?

Currency - When was it published? Has the field changed since it was published or last updated? Is this article relevant to your research?