1) carefully read the article
2) use the questions in the instructions below to identify the important concepts and elements of
the study’s research design that we have discussed in Unit 1
3) evaluate how the research was conducted and how the Unit 1 research concepts were utilized in
the article
***
This is not a research or argumentative paper (with a thesis and evidence to support it)
You do NOT need a title page
***
Please remember that there will be some information in the scholarly articles that we have NOT
discussed in class (particularly in the data analysis and results sections). Our goal is to focus on the
research concepts we have discussed in Unit 1 so focus your efforts there: for example,
justification/rationale (novelty, impact, contributions to theory or an ongoing conversation in the field,
etc), concepts of measurement (conceptualization, indicators, and operationalization), etc. As best you
can, try not to get bogged down in the details of the analysis which are usually shown in the “results”
or “findings” section of a scholarly article. The researchers may use analytical techniques (e.g.,
statistics) and present their results in ways that are unfamiliar (e.g., quantitative data tables) – that’s
okay. We don’t have the tools yet to evaluate those, so try to focus on the tools you do have (which
the questions below emphasize)
You are not required to use outside resources. If you draw exclusively from the
articles/chapters/lectures from class to complete this exercise, you do not need to include a
references list. If you do decide to draw on outside sources or readings to help you, then you should
include a references list at the end of the exercise in addition to in-text citations. Any in-text
citations and references included in a references list should be formatted according to APA 7th
edition style.
Assignment Instructions:
Step 1: Read through the article carefully. Consider taking notes as you read
on the relevant concepts we’ve discussed from Unit 1.
Step 2: Analyze the article by responding to the following questions. (25pts)
1.) First, briefly summarize the research that was conducted in the scholarly article (without
excessively quoting directly from the article – summaries should bein your own words and brief).
Your summary should ONLY include the following (you do NOT need to include details about the
study design that we have not yet discussed)
A) the purpose of the research (descriptive, exploratory, and/or explanatory)
B) the researchers’ main research question(s) in your own words
C) the authors’ hypothesis/hypotheses in your own words (if the hypothesis is not
stated, were they implied – could you determine what the authors’ hypotheses
were anyway? Why do you think predictions are not explicitly made?)
D) the authors’ main finding(s) and implications (what did the authorsfind/conclude
and what do these findings mean?) in your own words.
2.) What justification or rationale (novelty, originality, etc) do the authors provide for doing the
study? How does their justification align (or not) with our discussion of justifications for research
from class? Are there justifications that the authors do not state explicitly in thearticle that you
identified while reading – in other words, are there other ways to justify the study or its value
that the authors didn’t mention?
3.) What is the role of theory in the article – does a particular theory drive the article’s
purpose and how so? Do the authors discuss how their findings contribute to or inform
theory – what do they say?
4.) What are the key concepts of interest that the researchers studied (that is, what are the
variables or constructs that they set out to measure)? How were these key concepts/variables
conceptualized (i.e. how did the authors conceptually define their variables)? For instance, if they
were studying “self-esteem,” how did they conceptually define “self-esteem” as one of their
concepts of interest?
5.) How were concepts/variables operationalized? How did the authors precisely measure their
concepts/variables? Were there clear indicators identified by the authors? For instance, if they
were studying “self-esteem,” what aspects (indicators) of self-esteem did they set out to measure
and how did they measure them?
6.) How did the researchers address issues of validity and reliability in their study? Often issues of
validity and reliability are presented in the methods section of an article (usually where the measures
used for the study are described). For instance, if a study uses an established survey to measure
“depression,” sometimes they report how reliable/valid the measure is from previous research).
–
If the researchers did not explicitly discuss validity/reliability, how do you understand
validity/reliability to be relevant for this particular study?
Critique the scholarly article (15pts)
1) Consider the overall purpose of the study you identified in your summary: Did the researchers achieve their stated aims? Explain why or why not.
2) How do the researchers approach the design of their study? Is it inductive, deductive?
Quantitative, qualitative? Or something else? Describe how you know or how you
determined whether the study was quant/qual, inductive/deductive or utilized more than
one approach?
3) Consider this design of the study (quant/qual, inductive/deductive): Is their approach
appropriate for this study? Explain why or why not.
4) Was this research conducted in a way that was thorough and effective? Explain why or why
not. How did you come to evaluate the effectiveness of the research? Your answer to these
questions should be grounded in concepts from class and not just your opinion. For example,
you might highlight how a concept or construct was conceptualized or operationalized – for
instance, you could point out what the conceptualization might not have considered that is
important for understanding the construct. Or you might highlight what measures were used
to operationalize constructs and consider if other measures might have done a better job (or
not!) and why
5) What limitations or difficulties did you observe in the study? (Most research studies identify and discuss their limitations and it’s great to mention limitations that the
authors themselves identify, but you should identify others not mentioned.) What could the
authors have done to improve upon the study?
6) In your opinion, what was the greatest strength of the study and why ?
Application/Reflection (5pts) – For these questions, you can include your opinion.
1) Why is it important to understand and evaluate the elements of research as it is presented
in scholarly publications?
2) In your opinion, what is the most challenging information/concept to understand in the
research article you read? What do you feel like was most confusing and why?
3) Identify and discuss two possible strategies one might use to improve their research
literacy skills – that is, what might one do to improve their comprehension and
understanding of how research is presented in published writing? Why is this important
to do?
***you don’t need to worry about a thesis or
topic sentence. It is fine to simply write your answers to the questions in paragraph form ***
