Overview 

This 3-session series is designed to be interactive and provide you with guidance on how to effectively read, critique, and write about journal articles.  We will primarily focus on quantitative study design and how to understand the statistical analyses found in articles so you can synthesize articles for your Learning Achievements and dissertation. 

Session Overview

Even though an article is published in a peer-reviewed journal, it may still have some study design, data reporting, or discussion issues.  In this session, we’ll review what questions to consider when evaluating study design, including the research question and appropriateness of the analyses used, how results were reported, and the conclusions drawn by the author.  We will also discuss how the research question could have been answered through different study design approaches.

Topics we will cover:

• Critiquing study design
• Thinking about study design from a qualitative and quantitative lens
• Critiquing data reporting
• Evaluating how well the discussion and findings match the statistical data

What you will take away:

• Basic knowledge of evaluating how well a study answers the research question posed
• Greater comfort with the language of quantitative research
• Awareness of key components guiding the critique of research

Required Reading: Ronfeldt, M., Brockman, S. L., & Campbell, S. L. (2018). Does cooperating teachers' instructional effectiveness improve preservice teachers' future performance? Educational Researcher, 47(7), 405-418. doi: 10.3102/0013189X18782906 

Access article directly at: https://doi-org.antioch.idm.oclc.org/10.3102%2F0013189X18782906.  This link will require you to use your AU login to view and download the article.