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In response to your request for a peer review of your manuscript on the
relationship between intrinsic spirituality and grit, I have addressed what I believe
to be two areas of strength and three areas of potential improvement.
Strengths
1. The variables of interest are plainly stated. The null hypothesis is clearly
stated and accurately rejected, based on the results of a Pearson’s r
correlation, which was the appropriate statistical test to use with these
two scale variables.
2. The use of percentages is a meaningful way to represent the
demographic data collected, clearly showing the breakdown of
participants by age group. The sample size and method were also
presented concisely.
Weaknesses
1. Presenting the mean and standard deviation for age groups is not
particularly meaningful and it was unnecessary to include the SPSS
output for the demographic data, per the assignment instructions (Harris,
2022).
2. Although you correctly rejected the null hypothesis, as supported by the
SPSS output, there were multiple errors in the statistical write up,
including: incorrect degrees of freedom, switching the values for r and p
(which indicates that the results are insignificant [0.49], when, in fact,
they are significant), inclusion of confidence intervals, and failure to
include both directionality (one or two-tailed) and the coefficient of
determination. Finally, because correlation does not infer cause and
effect, it would be more appropriate to conclude, “The null hypothesis is
rejected. There is a relationship between intrinsic spirituality and grit” (St.
Peters, 2022).
3. Throughout the manuscript, there are numerous errors related to
American Psychological Association (APA) style and formatting.
• “Results,” “Discussion,” and “References” are presented with Level 2
headings, but they each require the use of Level 1 headings (APA, 2.27).
• The tables and figures are incorrectly formatted. Both the number and
title should be above the table, following specific formatting instructions
regarding the use of bold or italic font, title case, and spacing (APA,
7.9). c
• In regards to in-text citation, the ampersand is used in parenthetical
citation with two authors (APA, 8.17); three or more authors requires the
use of “et al.” (APA, 8.17). All information based on others’ work must
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be cited. For example, the manuscript states, “One theory suggests that
because gratitude is…” Which theory? According to whom (APA, 8.1)?
• In regards to the reference list, the first entry is missing an author;
entries 1, 3, and 5 are presented using title case, but sentence case is
appropriate; entry 3 is missing a DOI (APA 9.7, 9.19, 9.35).
• Defining “Grit” every time that it used, is redundant (APA, 4.5).
• Revealed is misspelled (“reveled”), in the Results section (APA, 4.3).
As you continue to prepare for publication, I hope that this feedback proves useful.
In reviewing your writing, you have a couple of strengths and weaknesses that I
have identified and would like to bring to your attention. One of your very apparent
strengths is the professional tone of your article, which makes the paper easy to
read. Your second strength is that your supporting articles are relevant to your
topic. They provide additional information on previous findings. The relevant
information also assisted in keeping my attention and making me desire to
continue reading. However, your areas that need improvement are related to APA
formatting that is either missing or incorrect. First, your Results section should
follow directly behind the Methods section and be Level 1 headings. Level one
headings are bold and centered with the title case heading. Also, your Discussion
section should follow the same format as Level one heading, see Section 2.27
(American Psychological Association, 2020, p. 47). Second, your figure components
are also not APA formatted.
The figure number should be above the figure in bold, not below; see section 7.23
(American Psychological Association, 2020, p. 225). Also, in Figure 1, to make your
information more concise, you should have three columns of data, c the
participant's age group, the number of participants in the age group, and their
weighted percentage in the survey. The arrows may require the reader to go back
up to the information to ensure they understand what you are relaying. Lastly, your
parenetical and in-text citations need to be double-checked to ensure they are APA
7 formatted. For instance, you have the authors written as (Chopik, Newton and
Jarden 2017); however, this should be (Chopik et al., 2017). APA 7 guidelines
indicate that three or more authors should be shortened using et al. as a
replacement for the remaining authors; see Section 8.12 (American Psychological
Association, 2020, p. 263). Therefore, I suggest that you double-check your APA
formatting throughout your article and spelling and make any necessary
corrections.
c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c References
American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American c c c
c c c
c c c Psychological c Association (7th ed.). https://doi.org/10.1037/0000165-000
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Harris, D. (2022). Discussion thread: M6 research project review. Research Methods
c c c and Statistics in Psychology II. Retrieved April 22, 2022, from
c c c https://canvas.liberty.edu/courses/336469/discussion_topics/2028942?
c c c module_item_id=25799396
St. Peters, M. (2022). Correlation and Regression in SPSS. Research Methods and
c c c Statistics in Psychology II. Retrieved April 22, 2022, from
c c c https://canvas.liberty.edu/courses/336469/modules
