Evaluation of a Research Study
I. Initial submission:
This is the most crucial assignment for this course- the “boss level,” if you will. Use all the skills and knowledge you have gained throughout the semester to write this paper.
For this assignment you will choose one of the articles in Chapter 7 (NOT the appendix!) of the Jones & Kottler text
Using the template provided in Ch. 7 of Jones & Kottler and what you have learned from the course content, evaluate the study.
You will include specifics, details, examples, etc. from the chosen article, text, or other sources to support your evaluation. Pretend that your reader hasn’t read the article you have chosen; it’s your responsibility to ensure your reader understands why you have evaluated the article as you have. Don’t talk about the template itself in your paper. Do as the template suggests without referencing its existence. It’s important to treat templates as guidelines instead of rules. Just because the template looks a certain way doesn’t mean you have to stick to exactly what’s on the page. Your skills as a writer will help you produce great content far more than sticking to a defined format every single time will.
For example, rather than say, ‘The discussion section was clear’, you should explain HOW it was clear, and include details and specific information to support your claim that the section was clear. Ask yourself, “How would the person reading my paper know this if I don’t tell him/her?”
Your paper should:
Be organized
Be written in prose/essay format (not just the list of questions with an answer)
Follow APA format (see your style manual)
Include correctly cited sources*
Include a cover page and reference page
Be well written and include proper use of grammar and spelling.
*For the purposes of this paper, you should cite the article using the authors of the article, NOT the text book! Cite the article as if you found it in the journal in which it was published. Jones and Kottler did NOT write the articles. Cite them for info from the text, but cite the research study authors for anything from the article you chose. You should also use correct APA format (the text was published before the latest edition of the APA manual, so the citation in the text is not correct by current APA standards).
Ex:
Lemieux, P., McKelvie, S.J., & Stout, D. (2002). Self-reported hostile aggression in contact athletes, no contact athletes, and non-athletes. Athletic Insight – The Online Journal of Sport Psychology 4(3). Retrieved from http://www.athleticinsight.com/Vol4Iss3/SelfReportedAggression.htm
Also, since you are using the version in the book rather than the article from the journal, when citing direct quotes, just use the page number in the book. However, if you want to be more precise, you may use the pdf version from the journal which would include the page numbers appropriate from the journal. NOTE: The D’Cruz article online doesn’t have pagination so just use the page numbers in the book.
If you need assistance with writing, I encourage you to use the writing tutors in the CFAA
II. Revision
You will revise your paper based on the feedback I provide on your initial version.
The better job you do on your initial version, the less work you’ll have to do on your revision.
Considering there is not much time to get the revision done, it’s in your best interest to do a great job on the initial version!
Initial Revision Notes:
This is a very well-written, expertly organized essay. It really is beautifully written, Annie. The problem is, you didn’t submit this article to me for approval in advance. This is not an article I would have approved, frankly. It’s primarily based on education, as opposed to the allied health sciences. I’ll allow it this time, though.
You’ve done a wonderful job with your discussions. No declarative statement or argument posed is left unsupported- kudos to you. One major problem here is you haven’t discussed the study participants. This is hugely important when evaluating a research study.
You hone in on several very important points for analysis and include a lot of valuable discussions. However, there are several points I would like for you to include in your evaluation: bias, power and external validity. It’s imperative to expose possible sources of bias. It is human nature to be biased in some way, so it’s almost impossible to have absolutely no bias. The best you can do in an analysis is discuss the measures the author(s) took to mitigate sources of bias. Power has to do with a study’s sample size. Are there enough participants to be able to determine a statistical difference if a difference exists? Further, would you be able to draw solid, accurate conclusions from the data collected from this sample size? Basically, ask yourself whether or not the study is “underpowered.”
External validity forces you to look at the characteristics of the study’s participants. Is the participant pool diverse enough to be generalizable, or are there too many groups left out? Look at things like gender, race, socio-economic status, location, etc. Location is particularly important to evaluate because it can help you answer the following question: is this study uni-centered or multi-centered? (Are all the participants from the same place or multiple locations across the globe?). These things are what help determine the validity of a research study.
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