Research Critique: Quantitative Assignment Instructions

Overview

During this course, you will complete three research critiques: quantitative, qualitative, and applied, mixed methods, or program evaluation. The focus is on the word research, not article. For each research critique, you will select an article reporting research in some area of the field of education. This assignment helps you learn how to evaluate research, identify the main components of good research, and start building your literature review.

Instructions

Select one quantitative peer-reviewed research study published in an article related to your topic of interest. All articles must be from educational studies conducted and published in the United States or Canada within the past five years. You may not use literature reviews, systematic reviews, meta-analyses or meta-syntheses, longitudinal studies, or instrument validation studies; all research evaluated must be original.

After thoroughly reviewing the study in the selected article, compose a 4–6-page review (not including the required title and references pages). Under four pages, you are probably leaving out sufficient detail.  Over six pages, you have not summarized sufficiently. Brevity is crucial as it forces you to include only the most essential information. An abstract should not be included.

Using the provided Research Critique: Quantitative Template,

• Provide a brief, three-sentence introductory paragraph introducing the article and the purpose of the critique. Note the article author’s last name with the appropriate in-text citation.
• Under the Summary heading (Level 1), provide the following information. The short paragraph under each Level 2 heading (see template) should have at least three sentences.
  • Purpose of the study
  • Description of participants/sample (e.g., who, how many, selection method used)
  • Research design(s) (e.g., experimental, quasi-experimental, casual-comparative, descriptive, correlational, regression). See the Read: Quantitative Research: Common Types of Analyses and Research Designs item in the Learn section of this module for comprehensive information about research designs.
  • Method(s) of data collection (e.g., survey, test, questionnaire, GPA. Think about what types of data were collected, when they were collected, and how.
  • Method(s) of statistical analysis (e.g., t-test, ANOVA, ANCOVA, chi-square, Pearson Product-Moment correlation, Spearman rho). See the Read: Quantitative Research: Common Types of Analyses and Research Designs item in the Learn section of this module for comprehensive information about common types of analyses.

Note: If the article you selected does not identify how the data was statistically analyzed, it is likely the article is either not a quantitative study or not an actual research report but a summary of a study. In this case, you must select another article.

• Results – be specific with statistical data findings and provide a layperson’s interpretation.
• Under the Critical Analysis heading (Level 1), the short paragraph under each Level 2 heading (see template) should have at least three sentences. Think critically through the research study’s main points. Who was the intended audience? Did the author clearly communicate the main points to the intended audience? Did the author provide adequate support to back their claims? Also address the following items:
  • Opportunities for further research not already stated in the articleThreats to validity or rival hypotheses not already discussed (validity of the research can be explored by discussing the limitations)Other original insights or criticism
  • Implications of the findings (who, possibly researchers or practitioners, can use the findings and how)

One peer-reviewed source (your textbook or other research study) in addition to the article you are critiquing should be cited in this section to support your opinions of the validity of the study, its research methods, and/or findings.

• Under the Discussion heading (Level 1), provide the following in a minimum of five sentences:
  • Insight from your professional experience as related to the issue in the article
  • Connection to the topic you are considering researching for your degree
  • Biblical integration
• Reference page (Level 1 heading): Include a references page with three references: the article being critiqued, the Bible, and one additional peer-reviewed resource to support your claims.

Current APA formatting is expected throughout your paper. The Research Critique: Quantitative Example has been provided for your reference.

Note: Your assignment will be checked for originality via the Turnitin plagiarism tool.