Directions:
Complete one article review for each the following methods: focus group, interviews, oral histories (3 brief reviews total – ULO 4).
The objective for this assignment is to expose you to good examples of qualitative research so you can develop a sense of what makes good research and good writing.
Please include an introduction that previews and a conclusion that summarizes. Type the full article citation at the top of each page before the introduction. Be sure you include a title page, and reference page, and your paper is in Times New Roman, 12 point font. Write a minimum of three pages (one for each article.
Article Reviews –
For this assignment, select an academic article reporting on a piece of qualitative research in communication from the list at the bottom of the assignment. You should be able to click the link on the list and go to the library log in page. One you log in, the article should display.
Read the article and answer a few of the following questions in a two-page paper. Your goal is to identify the things this article does well or doesn’t do well and to summarize the method and how it was applied in this instance. You MUST answer question 12.
How does the author justify the study?
What are the research questions?
What are the main concepts? How does the author operationalize them (define for purposes of research)?
What biases do you think the author has? What leads you to that conclusion?
What method(s) was/were used? Was the method explained clearly?
Why were the methods chosen and what does the author say about their strengths and weaknesses?
How were participants selected? Why?
What were the main results/findings?
Do the results confirm or dis-confirm the research questions proposed?
What research should come next, according to the author?
What are the limitations of the study?
Evaluate the article using Lincoln and Guba’s criteria for evaluating qualitative work.
Articles for review:
Select one using focus groups, one using interviews, and one using oral histories
Interviews
Cowan, R., Hoffman, M. (2007). The flexible organization: How contemporary employees construct the work/life border. Qualitative Research Reports in Communication, 8, 37–44. doi: 10.1080/17459430701617895 Persistent link: http://pegleg.park.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,uid&db=cms&AN=27240858&site=ehost-liveLinks to an external site.
Mabweazara, H., Strelitz, L. (2009). Investigating the popularity of the Zimbabwean tabloid newspaper uMthunywa: A reception study of Bulawayo readers. Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies, 30, 113-133. Persistent link: http://pegleg.park.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,uid&db=cms&AN=47756451&site=ehost-liveLinks to an external site.
Oral History
Cohen, Y. (2011). The migrations of Moroccan Jews to Montreal: Memory, (oral) history and historical narrative. Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, 10, 245–262. doi: 10.1080/14725886.2011.580984 Persistent link: http://pegleg.park.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,uid&db=aph&AN=63546181&site=ehost-liveLinks to an external site.
Choi, S. (2008). Silencing survivors’ narratives: Why are we again forgetting the No Gun Ri story? Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 11, 367–388. Persistent link: http://pegleg.park.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,uid&db=cms&AN=35374320&site=ehost-liveLinks to an external site.
Focus groups
Kulyk, V. (2011). Beliefs about language status and corpus in focus group discussions on the Ukrainian language policy. Int’l. J. Soc. Lang., 212, 69–89. doi: 10.1515/IJSL.2011.047 Persistent link: http://pegleg.park.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,uid&db=cms&AN=67045594&site=ehost-liveLinks to an external site.
Green, E., Singleton, C. (2007). Mobile selves: Gender, ethnicity and mobile phones in the everyday lives of young Pakistani-British women and men. Information, Communication & Society, 10, 506–526. doi: 10.1080/13691180701560036 persistent link: http://pegleg.park.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,uid&db=cms&AN=26419291&site=ehost-liveLinks to an external site.
