Application and Evaluation of Real World Research
- Subject Code :
CULT3001
Critical Review 1:
2.5 Assessment
Details 2.5.
1 Critical Review (1) - application and evaluation of real world research
Weight: 30%
Type of Collaboration: Individual
Due: Tuesday the 20th December 2022 by 11:55 pm
Submission: This assignment must be submitted online via Turnitin Format:
The critical review is not an essay so an introduction and conclusion are not needed. Students may use headings to organise their response.
A reference list is required. In-text references and the reference list are not included in the word count. Length: 1,000 words
Curriculum Mode:
Critical Review Overview: The first assessment (Critical Review #1) is an exploratory exercise in which students use skills developed through their online learning and in tutorials to examine a real world research report of their choosing.
The chosen research report MUST be an example of qualitative social research.
Step 1:
Students must find a published research report.
The report must:
- Be relevant to their area of study (policing, criminology, social work, tourism, planning etc)
- Discuss research that used qualitative methods (data collection and analysis).
This can be part of a mixed method design
- Have been published in the last 10 years (post 2012) -
- NOT be a journal article (instead look for government, non profit or other organisational report)
- NOT be a report used in CULT3001 Applied Social Research for teaching purposes i.e. in online learning material, tutorials or workshops. - Students must find their own report.
Step 2:
Students are required to write a 1,000 word critical review of the published research report.
The review must:
- Identify who has done the research (organisation, institution, individual, group of individuals etc) and why the research was undertaken (e.g. to inform policy, to evaluate a program)
- Identify the research question/s and aims
- Provide a brief summary of the qualitative method (including data collection and analysis)
- Evaluate the success of the research project
- Use at least 5 relevant and well chosen academic sources In evaluating the success of the research project, the critical review should:
- Determine whether the research answered the research question and/or achieved the research aims
- Discuss the relevance of data collected, method of data collection (e.g. sampling methods, confidentiality), if the data was appropriately and thoroughly analysed, and if the results were clearly presented in the report
- Discuss limitations of the research e.g. research bias, researchers qualifications, sampling and exclusions
Worked Example of Finding a Qualitative Research Report
Step 1:Students must find a published research report.
The report must:
- Be relevant to their area of study (policing, criminology, social work, tourism, planning etc)
- Discuss research that used qualitative methods (data collection and analysis). This can be part of a mixed method design. But please dont use quantitative (number) research reports. There will be penalty
- Have been published in the last 10 years (2012 onwards)
- NOT be a journal article (instead look for government, non profit or other organisational report)
- NOT be a report used in CULT 3001 Applied Social Research for teaching purposes (i.e. in online learning material, tutorials or workshops).
- Students must find their own report.
Tips:Please work through the library help sheet in the student workshop handbook. Finding a research report (not a journal article) is the hardest part of this assessment to. We focus on research reports in this assignment because, unlike journal articles, research reports have not been peer-reviewed (if they had been this review exercise pointless would be pointless), you will more likely read research reports in your future career (reports are published quickly and aligned to areas of policy action), and research reports typically contain a lot more information about the methodology. The research report can be an international study. However, it must be relevant to your degree. It makes the most sense for humanitarian and development students to use an international research report. You can use a mixed methods report. If you do, focus on the qualitative component in your review.
Example:There are a range of places to look for a research report, many are listed in the library help sheet. I find the easiest way is a general google search (not google scholar) or to go directly to a relevant NGO, government department, etc website and use the search function on this website.
Go to google. Type in your search terms. I used interviews and research report and a topic of interest to many students (particularly those in social work and criminology/policy) domestic violence. You could use any qualitative method in your search terms but interviews are probably the most common (we live in an interview society). If you are not getting many hits try to vary your topic of interest. Think of a topic that is a public concern and likely to have been the focus of a recent study (domestic violence, urban living, child poverty etc). It might also be useful to add Australia to narrow your search.
I used the search terms, research report, interviews, Australia and domestic violence. My third hit was to a relevant research report:
The Evaluation of the State-wide Domestic Violence Pro Active Support Service published by Urbis.
ANROWS Horizons -- Seeking help for domestic and family violence: Exploring regional, rural, and remote womens coping experiences: Final report
Check the report against the criteria: relevance to your area of study, used qualitative methods, was published in the last 10 years, is not a journal article, was not used for teaching purposes.
Note: Since Im using this report now, you CANNOT use it for your critical review 1.
Tip:Some reports will enable you to answer the questions in the learning guide in more detail and therefore gain a higher mark for the assignment. Check your report to see if it contains enough information on the research methods to answer the questions in the learning guide well and to evaluate the research.
Step 2:Students are required to write a 1,000 word critical review of the published research report.
CR1 criteria checklist (use in conjunction with the LG & Marking Criteria)
- This is not an essay - so no introduction and conclusion required. But could organise content under bullet points as below. You may want to look into the marking rubric as well.
Marking Criteria (30 marks)
- Identify who has done the research (organisation, institution, individual, group of individuals etc) and why the research was undertaken (e.g., to inform policy, to evaluate a program) (3 marks)
- Identify the research question/s and aims, & provide a summary of the qualitative method (including data collection and analysis) (7 marks)
- Evaluation evaluate the success & limitations of the research report (10 marks)
- Was there a clearly defined research question(s)/aim(s)? Did the research answer the research question(s) and/or achieve the aim(s) stated?
- Discuss the relevance of data collected, method of data collection (e.g., sampling methods, confidentiality), if the data was appropriately and thoroughly analysed, and if the results were clearly presented in the report.
- Discuss limitations of the research (e.g., research bias, researchers qualifications, sampling and exclusions (some points to guide you here - the relationship between who funds the research and research aims and outcomes; Researchers qualifications and associations with particular organisations/institutions and how this may impact research outcomes; Methodological limitations such as participant recruitment, sampling limitations/exclusions, sample size etc.)
- Writing style (5 marks)
- Use of academic literature (3 marks) include 5 scholarly references
- Referencing & citations (2 marks)
Tips:Criteria 1 & 2 are more descriptive (so no evaluation is needed for the first two criteria). But criteria 3 (evaluation) is about the strengths and limitations of the research report and needs references. In the evaluation for criteria 3, the focus is on theresearch processand NOT the findings of the research report (i.e., what they found). So it is in Criteria 3 where you should include your references.
