I am currently appraising studies for a systematic review using JBI quality appraisal tool. What tools should be used for ecological studies? What is the best approach?
Currently, JBI does not have a specific tool for ecological designs/studies. JBI has study-design specific critical appraisal tools. We intend to develop one in the near future. As far as I know there are currently no validated tools for appraising ecological studies. It would probably be best to check STROBE Statement (although it is not an appraisal tool) or may be a quick Google search. Article/s authored by Greenland on 'ecological studies' may be helpful (don't remember the exact citations). All the best for your systematic review.
Thank you for your response- it would be good to have a tool for ecological designs as even though ecological studies are low on evidence they can help provide useful information. I'll have a look at the paper you recommended.
If you are referring ecological designs to environmental and occupational health, the GRADE working group has been developed a tool to assess the quality (or certainty) of the evidence in these type of studies.
I´ve attached a PDF file that, likely, can answer your question.
This could help http://www.environmentalevidence.org/guidelines/section-8 (Environmental Evidence guidelines for critical appraisal from Collaboration for Environmental Evidence)