Critical Appraisal of Research Article. Weighting: 50% Length and/or forma t: 3000 words Purpose: To develop skills in critically appraising two published research articles (one quantitative and the...

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Critical Appraisal of Research Article: Goel et al (2017)
1. Yes. The study has an aim to evaluate the conformity of public places with the smoke free legislation in India and to find out the factors related to active smoking tendency at the public places. The study was thought important because in India, every year more than one million people die due to excessive use of tobacco. India has specific smoke free legislations like COTPA and rules which imply ban of smoking at the public places. However, effective monitoring is required to measure the compliance. A similar study conducted by Kumar et al.(2013) also emphasized on evaluating the compliance with smoke free legislation. Therefore, the objective of this study is appropriate to evaluate the extent of compliance of people’s smoking behavior with legislation.
2.
No. The study evaluates the smoking behaviors of the general people at public places. It requires observation of the conduct at different places for 3 years. It requires a cross sectional analytical quantitative survey performed by the team of trained field investigators, measuring the conformity of conduct with observational structured checklist at 6875 public places. The observational analysis performed was used as a guide to record the collected results. The checklist involved the factors like active smoking at public places, evidences of recent smoking like bidi ends or butts, display of signages, presence of smoking aids and smell of smoke. The investigators personally had visited the places of interest to observe the compliance. Similar study by Kumar et al.(2013) also involved similar methodology where the investigators’ team visited the public places to identify the compliance. According to Yang (2015), a better method to record this could be to record the nicotine levels in air at the public places. The research of Yang (2015) was conducted in Ahmedabad in India, where air nicotine levels were measured through sampling of vapor phase nicotine with help of passive monitors. However, the author states that this method would not be possible to implement in resource constrained environment of developing countries like India.
3.
Yes. The research design involves a cross sectional observational study organized in 22 districts of Punjab in India. This design is appropriate to conduct population based surveys during the present time (Setia, 2016). The researchers have discussed how they conducted cross sectional study by visiting different study sites like restaurants, government buildings, transit stations, healthcare facilities, at 336 wards and 735 villages on weekdays at unannounced timings to observe typical smoking behavior of people. This design is appropriate for such studies as also adopted in Kumar et al,(2013) and Yang (2015).
4. Yes, the research explained that the participants were selected randomly and proportionately from rural and u
an areas. Among the rural areas, the five sub center villages were chosen randomly from each of the 147 blocks while among the u
an areas, 2 wards were chosen from 168 towns. It involved a large sample size. There was no interaction of investigators with the sample public place. Just the informed consent was taken from the in charge of public place, before collecting the data.
The research explained that the sample size for this study was selected on the basis of a similar study conducted earlier by Goel et al in 2016 at Mohali district in Punjab, which showed compliance rate of 92%. Punjab is selected as the state for study because it is the ‘first tobacco smoke free’ state leading in its tobacco control and monitoring efforts.
5. Yes, the data was collected in a conducive manner abiding to the goals of research. A team of two research investigators collected data. They had experience of conducting similar study and were further trained for the smoking policies and data collection at regular time frames to maintain the quality of collected data. They visited the public places notified to them through a checklist and observed the random smoking behavior of the people at those places without any interaction. The investigators visited the office buildings during the working hours and the schools during the open hours. The shopping malls and stations were visited at busiest hours and the hospitals were visited from 10 am to 11 am and 16:00 hours to 20:00 hours. The onsite training was also given to the investigators during the collection of data. The team spent on an average 20 to 30 minutes at a study location. They also took proper informed consent from the in charges of the public places before collecting data. According to research methodology, observation is one of the effective qualitative methods of primary data collection to ensure greater understanding about the topic (Research Methodology, 2019). I think the method is effective way of data collection.
6. Yes. The researchers examined their own role while collecting data. The investigators visiting the public places for the observations and data collection were trained for the knowledge of Smoking Policies in India. They took appropriate informed consent from the owners of the public places where the observations were done. They did not establish any interaction with the participants however just observed the random smoking behaviors of the people at busiest public locations, government offices, schools and the other transit stations. According to Sutton (2015, the researchers can access to the feelings of participants to develop understanding. They followed all the ethical and formal requirements to perform the study. The investigators were experienced in conducting such studies in the past. I feel that it is an effective approach to monitor real time behavior response of the public. I think that the factors like display of signages, active smoking at public areas, smell of smoke and evidences of recent smoking can genuinely reflect the compliance rate.
7. Yes. There are adequate evidences that the study was organized ethically. The investigators visiting the places of study were trained for the regulations. The research was approved ethically by the Institute Ethic Committee of PGIMER and State Tobacco Control Cell in Punjab. The research was also peer reviewed externally. The study also involved taking informed consent from the owners of public places for observation of smoking prevalence in their area. No...