Posted: August 1st, 2015

Critical appraisal of a research article

Critical appraisal of a research article

Order Description

Dear,
please follow the assignment structure. I will attached files. Please make more than 1400 words.

Assignment 1
Weight: 40%

1500 words
Task: Critical appraisal of a research article
• Choose one of the two research articles below. Briefly justify your choice by research area or methodological interest.
1. Lewis et al. (2005). Teachers’ classroom discipline and student misbehavior in Australia, China and Israel. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21(6), 729-741.

2. Frederickson et al. (2005). Evaluating Web-supported learning versus lecture-based teaching: Quantitative and qualitative perspectives. Higher Education, 50(4), 645-664.
• Describe the key elements of the research design and process focusing on:
1.
1. Paradigm — in which research paradigm do you think this question falls into? Justify why you think this.
2. Methodology – appropriateness for the research questions being asked
3. Methods — differentiate from the methodology and describe the relationship between the two
4. Ethics
5. Analysis
6. Sampling
7. Validity and reliability
• Critically analyse the appropriateness of the conclusions with regard to the study design and methods. Consider these elements with regard to the feasibility, reliability and generalisability of the methods (not findings). Justify.
Points to consider in your assignment
This critical appraisal requires you to carefully consider the following points in relation to your chosen article:
• Is the title of the research paper informative and congruent with the text?
• (If there is an abstract or a summary) Does the abstract/summary contain sufficient information, including the stages of the research process (e.g. aims/objectives, research design/approach, participants, data collection, data analysis, findings)?
• Is there an introduction? If yes, does it provide an overview of the entire paper? Is the background and significance of the study convincing? If not, why not?
• Is there a literature review? If yes, are most pieces of literature current and relevant to this research study? Is it appropriate or necessary to include the older literature? If there is no literature review, is this appropriate?
• Is there a stated purpose and are the study aims/hypotheses clearly stated?
• What is the research methodology (i.e. phenomenology, grounded theory, experiment, survey, case-control, action research, etc)? Is this an appropriate choice?
• Do the methods appear to be appropriate for the research question?
• Are the key concepts/variables clearly defined and/or operationalized?
• Are the settings, sampling and recruitment strategies, data collection and analysis methods appropriate and clearly explained?
• Are there any ethical issues in relation to this study?
• Do the stated findings clearly flow from the data?
• If theory or hypothesis is stated, does the author indicate how the findings are related to it?
• How do the findings relate to the purpose and aims of the study?
• (If there are conclusions) Are the conclusions well supported by the findings?
• (If there is discussion) Is the discussion well supported by the findings and the literature?
• Does the author state the implications of the findings? If yes, is it convincing?
• Does the author state the limitations of this study? Any other limitations you can identify?
• Are there any issues related to validity and reliability of the research process and research instruments?
• Are there any inconsistencies to be found among different sections?
It is quite common to find inconsistencies. Some examples are:
It is stated as a phenomenological study in the abstract but as a grounded theory study in the main body.
The number of respondents is reported as XX in the abstract but YY in the result section.
Numbers do not add up.
A number listed in a table is different from that stated in the text when they should be the same.
• Your overall comments/conclusions about the research article.
Structure
• Write this assignment in an essay format.
• You may use headings and sub-headings to make the presentation clearer, but please do not use the questions above as headings in your assignment, nor use the order of the questions to organise your paper. Arrange the sections in a way that makes the presentation logical and clear.
• After you have made your draft, you should use these questions as a checklist to assess the completeness of your assignment.
• You are required to refer to your textbook and about 10-20 relevant book chapters and journal articles, as well as any other resources of your choice to support your critical appraisal.
• Referencing in text and a reference list at the end of the paper is required. You MUST use the APA referencing style. Follow the link at the top right of this page for information about and examples of the APA referencing style.
Criterion referenced marking criteria
Your assignment will be assessed according to how well you have critically appraised the article. Marks will be allocated using the following criteria:
Footnote*
• Any articles published in the past ten years (i.e. after 2001) are considered as current. However, marks will be given only if the reference can be considered as relevant to the ideas.
• Marks may be given to the articles published on or before 2001 which can be considered as providing good insights or historical background. However, marks will be given to a few of these classical references only, not all of them.
Check before you submit
Referencing should use the APA style. A reference list, not a bibliography, is required for this assignment.
In all your submitted written work, you are also expected to be familiar with the requirements of the University policy and to pay attention to the issue of plagiarism
Read the information in the right hand column and make sure the plagiarism issues are cleared before you submit.
Referencing
You must use the APA referencing system. Follow the link at the top right of the page for information and examples.
Marking criteria
Please refer to the marking criteria above when preparing your assignment.