Critique of a Research Study

CANVAS - PSY326 Week Three Welcome to Week Three of Psychology 326, Research Methods at Ashford University. This week we reached the halfway point of the course. Our focus is on the descriptive category of research designs. Most of Chapter 3 in the textbook is dedicated to explaining three descriptive research designs that can be carried out with either qualitative or quantitative methods. These are case studies, archival research, and observational research. The chapter concludes with a section on describing data. In qualitative research, the description of data is done with words or pictures. Quantitative data description can include a variety of graphs and descriptive statistics. In this week's discussion, you will summarize the characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages of each of these three descriptive research designs. As much as possible, explain these designs in your own words. Being able to state the information in your own unique way instead of relying on quotes from the textbook or other sources shows that you really understand what makes each design different from the other designs. For each design, include an example of a suitable research topic. Then decide which of these three designs you like best. And explain why. Maybe you prefer a design that allows you the most control. Or maybe you would choose a design because it's the best way to study the research topic that you happen to be interested in. There's no one right answer to this question. What counts is that you can explain your reason for choosing a particular design as the best descriptive design. Don't forget to look for peer reviewed journal articles to give you more information and other perspectives on what or more of these three descriptive research designs. How are ethical principles applied in descriptive research designs? Although descriptive research is the least likely of the design categories to run into ethical problems, it can still have them. As you prepare your discussion response, think about what a researcher using one of these designs would have to do to make sure the research is conducted in an ethical manner. The quiz this week is on non-experimental descriptive research design concepts covered in Chapter 3. The written assignment is a critique of the study you selected in Week One. Each week you have learned a little more about research methods and some of the characteristics of the study. Now, you're ready to do a critical analysis of the study. Read the detailed assignment instructions in the Course Guide or at the assignment link for Week 3. Print out a copy of the grading rubric and use it as a checklist to make sure you include everything required in your paper. Read through the full text of the research study at least twice. Trust me, the more you read it, the easier it will become to understand it.

On the second or third reading, you'll notice some details that slipped by you the first time. Identify the specific research design used in the study. And use the Ashford libraries databases and the research methods research guide to find an article about that design or some of the methods used. The information in such an article will help you judge how well the researchers carried out the study. You may also want to look up another study on the same topic to see if the methods used and the research results were similar or different. As you read, think about other methods or approaches you could use to study the topic. After evaluating the chosen study, make a suggestion for future research on the topic. Be sure to indicate the design and methods you would recommend using and any other changes you would make to the way the study was done before. This is important because it will be the starting point for your final paper in Week 5. As always, email your instructor if you have any questions or concerns. And if you think your question could help others in the class, post it in the ask your instructor forum. Have a great week.