In order to help assess whether existing research studies are credible and relevant to a particular educational context, researchers at Teachers College, Columbia University, developed two indices, the Relevance Index (RI) and the Credibility Index (CI). These rubrics can help decision-makers evaluate existing studies of educational programs, strategies or interventions and determine how the findings might apply in their own context. They can also be useful when identifying comparable studies to use in cost-effectiveness analysis. The development of these rubrics was supported by the William T. Grant Foundation.

• The Relevance Index helps decision-makers determine how well a study’s findings apply to their own setting by assessing the extent to which various characteristics of the study population and context are similar to the decision-maker’s own context.

• The Credibility Index helps decision-makers assess how seriously to take the findings of a study by scoring it on the quality of study design.

The Relevance Index and Credibility Index are available as templates in 3 different formats: as a Word document, as a PDF, and as an Excel workbook that calculates the relevance and credibility indices automatically using your inputs. A technical document accompanies the Excel version to explain the calculations.

Click below to download the RI and CI templates in your preferred format: