Unit 14: Critiquing Research Reports

Unit Objectives | Opening Reflection | Essential Elements | Resources

Unit Objectives

By the completion of unit 14 you should be able to:

Describe aspects of a study's findings that are important to consider in developing an interpretation of qualitative and quantitative findings.
Describe the purpose and elements of a research critique.
Evaluate the substantive and theoretical; methodological; ethical; interpretive; and presentational dimensions of a study.
Assess research reports to determine those that would be useful.
Complete a critique of a research report.

Finding research reports that are interesting and applicable to you and your work is the first step in incorporating research into your practice. Visit the AU library online or check out the following websites:

http://www.health-evidence.ca/

This website is a Canadian resource based at McMaster University. It focuses on research in the areas of health promotion and public health. You need to sign up to access the research articles; this is free of charge.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/

This site is sponsored by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institute of Health. There is an excellent section called the PubMed Quick Start Guide. You will find details regarding how to search for research articles.

Retrieve at least two research publications that you might find helpful. Choose articles published by journals from your discipline (e.g. nursing research articles published in nursing journals by nurse researchers for those of you who are nurses).

II. Essential Elements

Required Reading

Canadian essentials of nursing research (version 3 or 4)

Loiselle, C., Profetto-McGrath, J., Polit, D., & Beck, C. (2011). Canadian essentials of nursing research (3rd ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins – Chapter 9, Box 9.1, Chapter 10, Box 10.1, and Chapter 17, Critiquing Research Reports.

Woo, K. (2019). Polit & Beck Canadian essentials of nursing research (4th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer. Chapter 9, Box 9.1, Chapter 10, Box 10.1, and Chapter 4.

Learning Activities

Please select the learning activities that are meaningful and useful for you and your learning.

Activity 1 – Examine a Qualitative and a Quantitative Research Article to Identify the Major Dimensions of a Research Report

Select a qualitative and a quantitative research article of interest to you published in a journal specific to your discipline (e.g. nursing, physiotherapy). You may use studies:

referenced in any of the units in this course
included in the course textbook
retrieved from the AU journal database
located at the health-evidence or PubMed websites as indicated in the "Opening Reflection".

In preparation for this activity, you are encouraged to review the critiques of the research articles presented in Appendix C and D of the course textbook. The critiques are found at the end of each article. Review Boxes 9.1 and 10.1, found in Chapters 9 and 10 respectively, in your textbook.

Once you have located two articles and read them, determine which aspects of the reports would be considered the:

Substantive and Theoretical Dimensions
Methodological Dimensions
Ethical Dimensions
Interpretive Dimensions
Presentational Dimensions

Discuss your decisions with your tutor through the course email.

Activity 2 – 10 Crucial Questions

Prepare a list of 10 crucial questions that you would ask when doing a critique of the methodological aspects of a qualitative research study.

Activity 3 – Research Decisions Matching Exercise

The following questions would be useful to ask when critiquing a quantitative research study. Determine which questions relate to each of the following and mark the appropriate letter beside each question.

Click for Interactive Exercise | Text Version | Answers

Activity 4 – Discuss Research With a Researcher

Many research articles include the name and mail address of the researcher. After reading an article, mail the researcher to discuss the research. You might choose to ask specific questions about the design, sampling procedures, data collection methods, analysis or interpretation.

One researcher's story is on the web at: http://fhd.athabascau.ca/faculty/jvallance/

Activity 5 – Conduct a Written Research Critique

Utilize the knowledge you have gained to complete a research critique. The guidelines in Box 17.3 and Tables 17.1 (quantitative) and Table 17.2 (qualitative) should direct you. You are encouraged to review the critiques of the research articles presented in Appendix C and D of the Loiselle, Profetto-McGrath, Polit and Beck (2011) textbook. The critiques are found at the end of each article. See Assignment 3 for further instructions.

Resources

Loiselle, C., Profetto-McGrath, J., Polit, D., & Beck, C. (2011). Canadian essentials of nursing research (3rd ed.). Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Woo, K. (2019). Polit & Beck Canadian essentials of nursing research (4th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer.