Posted: April 1st, 2015

Applied Social Research

Applied Social Research

Order Description

A1 Description The first assessment (Critical Review #1) is an exploratory exercise in which students use skills learnt
in tutorials 1,2 and 3 to examine a ‘real world’ research report that has been based on qualitative
research methods.
Step 1: Students must find a published research report in their area of study (policing, criminology,
social work etc) that has used qualitative research methods (this can be part of a mixed method
design). The report chosen must NOT BE a journal article, but rather, a government/nonprofit
or
other organisational study. The report must have been published in the last 10 years (post2004).
You cannot use a report studied in 400337 Social Research Methods or used in 101552 Applied Social
Research for teaching purposes i.e. in lectures, tutorials or workshops. It must be a report you have
found yourself.
Step 2: Students are required to write a 1,200 word critical review of the published research report
that:
• Identifies who has done the research (organisation, institution, individual, group of individuals etc)
and why the research was undertaken (e.g. to inform policy, to evaluate a program)
• Identifies the research question and aims and provides a brief summary of the qualitative method.
• Evaluates whether the research was successful (in terms of answering the research question and
achieving the aims) and is legitimate/valid. Students need to discuss these issues with reference to
what data were collected, how they were collected and how they were analysed and presented.
Discussion of funding bodies, researcher’s qualifications/associations and publisher will also be
needed to evaluate the validity of the project. Students are to think about limitations of the research
e.g. research bias, sample size and exclusions and use academic sources to support their answer.
Well supported responses will use at least 5 relevant and well chosen academic sources.
The critical review is not an essay so an introduction and conclusion are not needed. Students may
use headings to organise their response. A reference list is required. Intext
references and the
reference list are not included in the word count.

This is the link to the publication I am using (Association for services to torture and trauma survivors) and its on (Domestic Violence) within Sudanese, Somalia, Ethiopian, Liberian and sierra Leonean community in Australia. Also with any other 5 academic sources or journal article to support the main publication.