Evaluate the appropriateness of the research methods and analytical approaches used in the study.

For the Week Three Assignment, you will create an article critique. Please ensure that the critique is in your own words. Refrain from copying information from the article. While quoting is not prohibited, it should be minimal and all quoted material must be enclosed in quotation marks and cited according to APA guidelines. Again, try to use your own words as much as possible.

You will need to access the University library and locate the following article to critique:

Farmer, J. R., Mackinnon, S. P., & Cowie, M. (2017). Perfectionism and life narratives: A qualitative study. SAGE Open, 7(3), 1-14. doi: 10.1177/2158244017721733

In your paper,

• Summarize the research question, methods, and findings of the assigned qualitative study.
• Evaluate the appropriateness of the research methods and analytical approaches used in the study. Support the position with evidence cited from the textbook and at least one other scholarly source about the research design or method.
• Analyze ethical issues pertaining to how the study was carried out.
• Critique the strengths, weaknesses, and limitations of the study.
• Recommend a research question and methods for a follow-up study on the topic.
• Utilize the provided template with section headings.

The Qualitative Research Critique paper

• Must be four to five double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) using the template provided and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center (Links to an external site.)’s APA Style (Links to an external site.) The template is a Word document that is pre-formatted in APA style. If unable to use the pre-formatted template, see the following instructions for formatting.
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted

For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Word 2013 (Links to an external site.).

• Must utilize academic voice. See the Academic Voice (Links to an external site.) resource for additional guidance.
• Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear thesis statement that indicates the purpose of your paper.
  • For assistance on writing Introductions & Conclusions (Links to an external site.) as well as Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.), refer to the Ashford Writing Center resources.
• Must use at least one scholarly/peer-reviewed source in addition to the study being critiqued and the course text, for a total of at least three references.
  • The Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
• Must document any information used from sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.)
• Must include a separate reference page that is formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. See the Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Ashford Writing Center for specifications.Running head: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH CRITIQUE 1

  QUALITATIVE RESEARCH CRITIQUE 3

  Qualitative Research Critique

  [Student’s Name]

  PSY 326 Research Design

  [Instructor’s Name]

  [Date submitted]

  Qualitative Research Critique

  Introduction

  [Instructions for using this template: Replace the text in brackets on the title page with your information. Answer the questions and provide the required information indicated below, in the order these items are presented. Use complete sentences in your response and delete the question or instruction, including this paragraph, after you have finished typing your answers. Throughout the paper, cite the source of the information. List the references for all sources that are cited, as indicated in the note on the References page.]

  What is your purpose for writing this paper?

  What is the title of the study you are critiquing, and who are the authors?

  Summarize the research question(s) in your own words as much as possible. If your instructor allows quotes and you find it necessary to quote from the article, use quotation marks around the quoted passage and cite the quote in APA format with author’s last name, year of publication, and page number where the quoted material appeared.

  Briefly summarize background information on the topic from the study’s literature review.

  Comment on whether or not there is any apparent bias in the selection of studies in the literature review.

  Summary of Methods

  Which qualitative research design was used?

  Name the sampling method and describe how the participants were selected.

  How did the researchers collect data from the participants?

  Did the researchers mention bracketing, epoché, or reflexivity?

  What coding and analysis procedures were used to analyze the data?

  What efforts were made to ensure trustworthiness, credibility, and/or dependability?

  Summary of Findings

  What themes or other findings were presented in the study?

  Was sufficient evidence provided to support the conclusions drawn by the researchers? If so, what is the nature of the evidence? If not, what is missing?

  Ethical Aspects

  Did the researchers explicitly address ethical issues in the article? If not, was there evidence in the report that the participants’ wellbeing and confidentiality were protected?

  Was an approval process by an Institutional Review Board or similar ethics review committee mentioned?

  Were any of the practices ethically questionable? If so, what could have been done to resolve these issues?

  Evaluation of Study

  Referring to a source about the research design and methods used in this study to support your evaluation, do you feel the researchers used these methods appropriately to investigate the research question?

  What do you see as the strengths of how this study was done?

  What limitations or weaknesses were mentioned by the authors?

  What limitations do you see (if any) that they did not mention?

  What suggestions did the authors make for future research on the topic?

  Do you think another approach might be better for the research question than the research design and methods that were used in this study? If so, what other methods would you consider?

  Conclusion

  Briefly review the main points of your summary and evaluation of the study.

  What would you recommend for a research question and methods for a follow-up study on this topic?

  References

  [Note: List references here in alphabetical order by the first author’s last name, in APA format with a hanging indent. Include all sources cited in the body of the paper. Do not list any that are not cited in the paper. At a minimum, you should use the article being critiqued, one article about the research design from the Research Methods research guide in the Ashford Library, and the course textbook. An example citation featuring the textbook follows this note.]

  Newman, M. (2016). Research methods in psychology. (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education.