AJOT Research Articles, 2017–2022: Research Type and Level of Evidence
| Category . | n (%) . | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 (N = 100) . | 2021 (N = 91) . | 2020 (N = 93) . | 2019 (N = 91) . | 2018 (N = 85) . | 2017 (N = 81) . | |
| Research type | ||||||
| Effectiveness | 20 (20.0) | 18 (19.8) | 22 (23.7) | 24 (26.4) | 28 (32.9) | 19 (23.5) |
| Instrument development and testing | 23 (23.0) | 10 (11.0) | 18 (19.4) | 18 (19.8) | 15 (17.6) | 8 (9.9) |
| Basica | 17 (17.0) | 15 (16.5) | 15 (16.1) | 23 (25.3) | 17 (20.0) | 27 (33.4) |
| Professional issues | 6 (6.0) | 4 (4.4) | 1 (1.1) | 8 (8.8) | 5 (5.9) | 1 (1.2) |
| Health services | 6 (6.0) | 1 (1.1) | 0 | 0 | 2 (2.4) | 1 (1.2) |
| Critical reviewsb | 18 (18.0) | 20 (22.0) | 24 (25.8) | 8 (8.8) | 17 (20.0) | 17 (21.0) |
| Education | 1 (1.0) | 4 (4.4) | 6 (6.4) | 7 (7.7) | 1 (1.2) | 4 (4.9) |
| Methodology | 2 (2.0) | 1 (1.1) | 3 (3.2) | 3 (3.3) | — | 4 (4.9) |
| Exploratory or qualitative inquiry | 7 (7.0) | 18 (19.8) | 4 (4.3) | — | — | — |
| Level of evidence (effectiveness studies)c | ||||||
| I | 16 (53.3) | 19 (59.4) | 16 (41.0) | 14 (48.3) | 23 (53.5) | 23 (67.6) |
| II | 4 (13.3) | 5 (15.6) | 1 (2.6) | 0 | 1 (2.3) | 0 |
| III | 7 (23.3) | 7 (21.9) | 11 (28.2) | 8 (27.6) | 14 (32.6) | 7 (20.6) |
| IV | 2 (6.7) | 1 (3.1) | 8 (20.5) | 3 (10.3) | 3 (7.0) | 3 (8.9) |
| V | 1 (3.3) | 0 | 3 (7.7) | 3 (10.3) | 2 (4.7) | 1 (2.9) |
| Unable to be classified | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (3.4) | 0 | 0 |
| Category . | n (%) . | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 (N = 100) . | 2021 (N = 91) . | 2020 (N = 93) . | 2019 (N = 91) . | 2018 (N = 85) . | 2017 (N = 81) . | |
| Research type | ||||||
| Effectiveness | 20 (20.0) | 18 (19.8) | 22 (23.7) | 24 (26.4) | 28 (32.9) | 19 (23.5) |
| Instrument development and testing | 23 (23.0) | 10 (11.0) | 18 (19.4) | 18 (19.8) | 15 (17.6) | 8 (9.9) |
| Basica | 17 (17.0) | 15 (16.5) | 15 (16.1) | 23 (25.3) | 17 (20.0) | 27 (33.4) |
| Professional issues | 6 (6.0) | 4 (4.4) | 1 (1.1) | 8 (8.8) | 5 (5.9) | 1 (1.2) |
| Health services | 6 (6.0) | 1 (1.1) | 0 | 0 | 2 (2.4) | 1 (1.2) |
| Critical reviewsb | 18 (18.0) | 20 (22.0) | 24 (25.8) | 8 (8.8) | 17 (20.0) | 17 (21.0) |
| Education | 1 (1.0) | 4 (4.4) | 6 (6.4) | 7 (7.7) | 1 (1.2) | 4 (4.9) |
| Methodology | 2 (2.0) | 1 (1.1) | 3 (3.2) | 3 (3.3) | — | 4 (4.9) |
| Exploratory or qualitative inquiry | 7 (7.0) | 18 (19.8) | 4 (4.3) | — | — | — |
| Level of evidence (effectiveness studies)c | ||||||
| I | 16 (53.3) | 19 (59.4) | 16 (41.0) | 14 (48.3) | 23 (53.5) | 23 (67.6) |
| II | 4 (13.3) | 5 (15.6) | 1 (2.6) | 0 | 1 (2.3) | 0 |
| III | 7 (23.3) | 7 (21.9) | 11 (28.2) | 8 (27.6) | 14 (32.6) | 7 (20.6) |
| IV | 2 (6.7) | 1 (3.1) | 8 (20.5) | 3 (10.3) | 3 (7.0) | 3 (8.9) |
| V | 1 (3.3) | 0 | 3 (7.7) | 3 (10.3) | 2 (4.7) | 1 (2.9) |
| Unable to be classified | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 (3.4) | 0 | 0 |
Note. AJOT = American Journal of Occupational Therapy; — = not applicable. Research categories are based on those developed by Richards (2015).
Includes studies used to establish relationships between conditions and occupational limitations, prevalence or incidence of conditions or client factors, predictors of outcomes, or taxonomies.
Includes systematic, mapping and scoping reviews, meta-analyses.
Effectiveness studies include systematic reviews of effectiveness studies but do not include scoping reviews; systematic reviews of instruments; or diagnostic, prevalence, or incidence studies. Levels of Evidence ranked on the following scale: I = systematic reviews, meta-analyses, randomized controlled trial; II = two or more groups, nonrandomized (e.g., cohort, case-control); III = one group, nonrandomized (e.g., pretest–posttest, before and after); IV = descriptive studies that include analysis of outcomes (e.g., single subject design, case series); V = case reports and expert opinion that include narrative literature reviews and consensus statements.