4 questions about social science
Nancy 00001
Howtoanalyzeanacademicarticle.pptx
How to analyze an academic article
This presentation will help you to complete the paper #1 and #2 assignments
Intro and purpose
The purpose of these assignments is to teach you how to quickly find an analyze certain parts of an academic article
This is a transferable skill – meaning that it is isn’t limited to this class or to Sociology as a discipline
Structure of an academic article
NOTE: not all articles use these specific headings for each section, but the ORDER and CONTENT will be similar.
Abstract (this provides an overview of the article)
Introduction (introduces the topic and why the author thinks it is important)
Literature review (includes a review of previous studies and may include a discussion about theoretical perspectives. This is where the author shows you that they have done their homework and know the background)
Method and sample (tells you how and from whom the data has been collected)
Data/results (tells you the author’s own research findings)
Discussion and conclusion (discusses the findings and may make recommendations for the future)
What are we looking for?
The main argument based on the research findings/results
Information about the research method and sample
Examples of data that is presented to support the main argument
Evidence of academic rigor – i.e. how do I know this is trustworthy information?
Tip – do questions 2 and 3 FIRST
Why?
Because #2 is probably the easiest question to answer (I’ll tell you why in a minute)
and
#3 gets you to explore the data that the main argument is based on (which will help you answer question #1 accurately)
Answering the questions: #2
The information about method and sample can usually be found in a section called ‘research methods” or “methodology”.
It’s usually really easy to identify this section and the information in it.
Let’s look at a couple of excerpts from academic articles
Method: How did they get the information?
Methods <this is the title of the section>
“This research is part of a multi-year study of urban change in the DTES of Vancouver, including multiple field visits to Vancouver between 2011 and 2015 and key informant interviews with planners, service providers and others who were connected to the lives and work of informal recyclers in Vancouver. The data for this article were collected in 2012 in a series of interviews with 17 informal recyclers and workers at the United We Can recycling depot, which was located in the DTES at the time (it has since moved to a larger site just outside of the neighbourhood). Of the 17 respondents, seven identified as both workers at the depot and informal recyclers, nine were recyclers only, and one was a depot worker only.”
Interviews are the method
This is how they collected the data for the study
Sample: Who did they study? How many did they study?
Methods
This research is part of a multi-year study of urban change in the DTES of Vancouver, including multiple field visits to Vancouver between 2011 and 2015 and key informant interviews with planners, service providers and others who were connected to the lives and work of informal recyclers in Vancouver. The data for this article were collected in 2012 in a series of interviews with 17 informal recyclers and workers at the United We Can recycling depot, which was located in the DTES at the time (it has since moved to a larger site just outside of the neighbourhood). Of the 17 respondents, seven identified as both workers at the depot and informal recyclers, nine were recyclers only, and one was a depot worker only.
Who: recyclers and workers at a recycling depot
How many: 17
This study doesn’t give us a lot of information about the sample.
Sample: Example #2 (more detailed information)
Methodology <this is the title of the section>
I conducted forty-two <sample size> interviews <method> with participants who met the sampling criteria based on educational attainments and career aspirations (university educated and looking to enter the ICT sector), family status (married with preschool-aged children), and nationality (Indian).
All participants were between thirty and fifty years of age.
Twelve participants discussed their caste— four persons identified as Brahmins and three as Rajputs. The remaining five participants identified as non-Brahmins but distinguished themselves from lower-caste groups.
The majority (36) identified as Hindus, and the remaining six as Sikh.
All families lived in large, urban metropolitan areas in India (Ahmedabad [5], Chandigarh [4], Kolkata [8], New Delhi [7], Pune [4],Mumbai [6], Bangalore [4], and Chennai [4]) prior to moving to the Waterloo Region.
Example #2 – sample characteristics (continued)
Eight couples, only two of whom had preschool-aged children, lived with other family members, including parents and siblings.
Twenty-four participants had a bachelor’s of science or bachelor’s of engineering degree, and eighteen had a master’s of science or master’s of business administration degree.
Twenty participants were working as computer/information technology engineers, twelve were computer/software programmers, eight were computer/software analysts, and two worked as systems testers.
Ten couples had one preschool-aged child, six couples had two preschool-aged children, one couple had one preschool-aged child and two school-aged children, and four couples had no children. Although these four couples were outside of the sampling frame, they provided an interesting comparison for the gendered division of household work, which I discuss briefly in a separate section
SO – in this example, the author has told us about the following characteristics:
Age
Caste
Religion
Marital status
Family structure (living arrangements; number of children)
Nationality and city of origin
Current city (all from Waterloo, Ontario)
Education
Occupation
In your answer to number 2, you would give the details of the characteristics
Answering the questions: #3
The information about the research data or results is the central part of the article.
This is where the authors tell you what they found in their research study
In question #3, you are providing two pieces of data and relating them to themes/findings that are part of the main argument
There will be more than 2 examples of data in the findings, so choose 2 that you thinkl are important or the you find interesting.
Answering the questions: #3 continued
If the research is based on interviews, the data or results section will be organized into themes and quotes from participants are the data that is used to illustrate/support the themes.
Answering the questions: #3 continued
In the case of quantitative studies (such as large surveys or secondary data analysis), the data is often expressed in tables. If you don’t know how to read the mathematical analysis, don’t worry. The Author should explain the important points in the text of the article.
Answering the questions: #1
Now that you know what the authors found in their research study, you can address question 1. Here you will report the main findings/argument in a CONCISE way.
Answering the questions: #1 continued
In order to provide an answer for #1, you should:
Consider the overall findings of the study (i.e. what were the themes in an interview study? What were the data that the author emphasized in the larger quantitative study?)
Look for places in the article that summarize the findings
This may be in the abstract, or discussion/conclusion sections
Answering the questions: #4
This section explores the information provided by the authors and the transparency of the research
These are the things you should look for to answer #4
Author’s credentials - what degrees do they have?
Authors’ institutional affiliations – where do they work?
Adequacy of the literature review – did they do their homework (background research)?
Adequacy of the bibliography – are many sources included? Do they come from academic publications?
Outline of the research – does the author clearly explain how the research was done? Does the author include the necessary information about the sample? Does the author discuss the limitations of the research? (NOTE: give details, not just yes or no answers)
Summary: where do you look for the answers in the article?
Answers to number 1 will be based on the data presented by the authors in their results and may be summarized in some places in the article like the conclusion or abstract
Answers for #2 will be found in the method section
Answers for #3 will be found in the data/results section (NOTE: do not report information from the literature review here)
Answers for #4 require you to examine all the parts of the article in order to answer as many of the questions listed in the hint sheet as you can
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