- Purpose: The
ability to critique research may be one of the most important takeaways
from this class. My purpose is to raise your awareness of the
fallibility of research. It is common to place great faith in
statistical studies, and many medical studies are portrayed by the
media as fact. In reality, statistics are easily flawed and
medical studies often have funding sources that bias the results.
(Example: a study "proving" the benefits of a certain drug, funded by
the company that manufactures this drug. It happens often.) The most trustworthy
research results are investigated multiple times over many years. This
is the real way we build knowledge - not through any one research
study. Therefore, I want you to always look a little deeper
before acting upon the result of research in any area.
- The article you choose for the Critique
assignment may be related
to your
Problem Project or AP. I would prefer this, because it builds in
some relevance. However, you
might be
interested in some other kind of study, like a medical study that deals
with an illness in your family. My main preference is that you
choose
a study of some authentic relationship to your life.
- Make sure
your articles IS a study. Research studies are recognized because
they contain most or all of these:
- hypotheses, purpose statements, or research questions;
- data
collection;
- analysis;
- results;
- discussion.
- Of these, data collection and analysis are most
indicative of a true research study.
- Articles that are probably not research studies might be of
these types:
- anecdotal accounts
- literature syntheses (although a special type,
meta-analysis, is considered a research study type)
- conceptual, theoretical, opinion-based essays
- prescriptive: "how to" - a sub-type of conceptual,
because no proof of effectiveness is provided
- "lite" research studies - this is my term - these are
based on research studies but do not formally report as such. They are
usually a practical adaptation or translation of a formal research
study. While very useful for educational projects, these are not
the best choice for this assignment.
- Read the study all the way through.
- Analyze it (What did the researchers do? purpose? method?
results?)
- Begin critical evaluation. Things to consider:
- Do results overreach? over-generalize? Are
recommendations
grounded? These are all very common problems.
- Are assumptions warranted or reasonable? (another
common problem!)
- Follow up on any negative reactions you experience. These
feelings of dislike or disagreement often mean something.
- Usefulness? Was this study worth its resources? (another
common
problem!)
- It is OK to applaud the value you find as well.
- Try
not to be intimidated by the thought of yourself critiquing some
imminent researcher in the field. No study is perfect; all have
one or
more weaknesses (which sometimes cannot be prevented). A good
researcher recognizes these in his/her own study, and should admit them
- look at these, too. I do not expect to see: "I love this study
and think it's perfect." If you don't feel comfortable publishing
negative opinions on your assignment page, you don't have to.
- Use Leedy
& Ormrod's checklist:
- Use this checklist as a springboard for looking at the
study. You need not answer every single question on the checklist.
- Theoretically, you should criticize every study you include
in a
literature synthesis. Writing a few deep critiques of studies
helps to
create your critical mindset, and develop healthy skepticism. You
won't be able to take this much time
as you work through all the studies in a typical literature
review.
However, healthy skepticism will help you notice
problems in studies you find. You should factor these into your
synthesis, considering a study more or less useful to your overall
problem
or project.
- Beware of the words "cause" and "prove." Logically,
it is almost
impossible to prove something (although not so hard to disprove a false
proposition). So, use of the "prove" word is a red flag.
Causality is
also very difficult to prove, especially with social research, because
of the difficulty of isolating variables. Claims of
causality are another red
flag - examine them closely.
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