PHIRIC working group activities: peer review criteria

Intervention description and contextual factors

To what extent has the population health intervention been adequately described?
To what extent does the proposal assess contextual factors (e.g., social political, physical, cultural) thought to affect the population health intervention?
To what extent will the implementation of the intervention be monitored by researchers, including variation and adaptation?

To what extent have researchers considered possible contingencies and/or alternative research approaches in case the intervention is not implemented as planned?
To what extent has the study population(s) and setting(s) been examined and described in detail?
To what extent will the selected research design be appropriate for making inferences at the population-level?

(only apply to outcome-oriented research)

To what extent are possible subgroup effects of the population health intervention being considered?
To what extent are the outcomes being measured consistent with intervention objectives?
To what extent are rival explanations for possible outcomes of the intervention going to be considered and taken into account (plausibility)?
To what extent will the team assess factors affecting the potential sustainability (i.e., continuation) of the intervention and/or its outcomes beyond the timeframe of the proposed study, if applicable?
To what extent will the research be able to capture health-related or non-health-related outcomes beyond the intended intervention outcomes?

To what extent does the team plan to engage with end users of population health intervention research (PHIR) (e.g., decision-makers; community organizations)?

To what extent does the applicant(s) have relevant PHIR specific expertise and experience?
To what extent does the research team demonstrate a commitment to interdisciplinary approaches to PHIR (e.g., collaboration of experts from a broad range of research disciplines and sectors)?