Journal Critique Assignment

 

Assignment: Critique 3 journal articles each with a different research design to make explicit how they are or are not examples of the use of feminist methodologies. One of the 3 selections may be a literature review chapter from a dissertation. Most selections will probably come from research journals. Check with me if you are unsure about your selections. Click here to find feminist research.

Guiding questions for your critique:

 

1. Examine how knowledge is constructed and deployed.

 

2. Examine how interdisciplinary feminist perspectives inform research methods.

 

3. Examine how feminist analysis redefines traditional categories and disciplinary concepts through its attention to gender and other social categories social as race, class, culture, sexual orientation, and age.

 

4. Explore practical guidelines for feminist interventions for social change and policy revision.

 

5. How is the research article/text/video an example of the use of feminist methodologies? Or is it?

 

6. What counts as evidence in the study? What sources did the feminist scholars look to for information?

 

7. How were the objects/subject/interpreters of the research treated in the study?

 

8. What questions guided the feminist research?

 

9. What is the relationship between the object of research and the researcher?

Also refer to the course presentations and our discussions concerning what is feminist research methodologies.

Due: April 11. (Worth 20% of the course grade)

Purpose: To critically read and evaluate published feminist research.

 

Preparation: We will continue to study different research designs to prepare you to do this assignment. However, I thought that you might want the assignment now so that you could select 3 articles to critique between now and April 11. My experience has been that students increase in their ability to read and critique published research as the course progresses. I have provided tradtional formats to critique research articles described in the "Standards" section below.

 

Standards: I have provided "Standards of Adequacy" as links so that you use them to critique your selection of 3 research articles comparing the study to what is expected for each type of study. Use these guidelines or standards to evaluate the research within the traditions to help you see how the feminist research adheres or differs from these standards:

(link 1) an introduction on how to read research (read this first)

 

(link 2) how to read quantitative research

 

(link 3) standards of adequacy for true experimental designs, quasi-experimental designs, and single-subject designs

 

(link 4) standards of adequacy for descriptive research, correlational research, survey research, and ex post facto research

 

(link 5) standards of adequacy for a narrative literature review (use these criteria to critique a literature review chapter in a dissertation)

 

(link 6) standards of adequacy for qualitative designs--case studies

 

(link 7) standards of adequacy for ethnographic methodology

 

(link 8) credibility standards for analytical research such as historical and legal studies

 

(link 9) guidelines for a research proposal (these guidelines will be used to constructively critique your research proposal due on May 7, 2002)

 

Each link has the type of research methodology written on the top and the page numbers from the McMillian, J. and Schumacher, S. (1997). Research in education: A conceptual introduction (4th edition) textbook so that you may refer to it for further clarification. Definition of terms may be found in the chapter or in the glossary of this textbook.

 

Connections: You may chose articles that relate to your problem statement and/or that utilize the research methodologies that you are most interested. For example, you could select an article that reported survey findings, another that analyzed policies, and a third that reported a case study design. If so you would use: (a) link 4 with its 7 criteria listed for survey research; (b) link 8 in with its criteria for credibility for analytical research; and (c) link 6 on the standards of adequacy of a case study. Or you might choose a literature review, an analytical study, and a qualitative study. Or you might choose three qualitative studies that use different theoretical frameworks, data collection processes, and different analysis strategies. Another option could be to choose a survey research study, a literature review, and an ex post facto study. These are some examples of the range of combinations. You select the combination that is most useful to you.

 

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Email me if you have any questions about this assignment, your research, or the content of the course. I will help you on an individual basis if you would like guidance on choosing articles that would be most helpful to your own research.