Evaluating research articles from start to finish

by Ellen R. Girden

When you're reading a research article, how can you tell if the appropriate design or analysis was used? Using examples of both good as well as flawed studies, Ellen R. Girden shows readers how to critically read qualitative and quantitative research articles from beginning to end. Readers will learn how to decide whether the conclusions reported in an article are justified based on the design and analysis of the experiment. By first demonstrating how to analyze an article in each design category (correlation study, factor analysis, narrative analysis, etc.), Girden uses targeted questions to guide a reader's critique of each major section (description, methods, results, discussion) of an article. Appropriate as a core or supplemental text for research methods and/or statistics courses, as well as consumers of research, Girden's book offers readers "on-the-job training" for evaluating research articles.