When answering a clinical question or treating a patient, it's important to find the best level of evidence. The video below explains how to use three different level of evidence tools - the Evidence Based Medicine Pyramid, the NHMRC Evidence Hierarchy, and the Oxford Centre for Evidence Based Medicine's Level of Evidence Table.
For most types of clinical questions, a well-done systematic review or meta-analysis of all available studies is the best level of evidence. A comprehensive systematic review will compare multiple randomised controlled trials that have studied the same treatment and aggregate their results.
The list below shows which study types are the most appropriate to answer different clinical question types.
For more information about study designs, see 'How to read a paper' by Trish Greenhalgh.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are advised that this website may contain images, voices and names of people who have died.
The University of Sydney Library acknowledges that its facilities sit on the ancestral lands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, who have for thousands of generations exchanged knowledge for the benefit of all. Learn more
