EXSC 787 – Assignment 1: Review of SIX original research articles
• Provide a 1-2 paragraph introduction overview of the main research topic chosen. Introduce the broad topic area and why it is of interest to researchers. Briefly introduce the articles you have selected and why you selected those articles.
• At the end of your document, include a brief summary of the main points of interest outlined in your analysis.
• After the summary, include a bibliography of any citations used which includes the selected articles and any additional citations. You may choose any bibliography format (but stick with one format only eg: APA,
AMA, Harvard etc)
• Upload a separate archive file (eg: zip) with ALL six of the full-text pdfs of the articles chosen
• Answer the questions below for EACH INDIVIDUAL ARTICLE.
• No more than one paragraph is required for each question. Be brief and concise in your answers.
• You may include articles in which the authors do NOT appropriately establish a strong rationale, validity
or reliability measures, internal validity of the experimental design, state the Hr clearly, or make
conclusions which violate aspects of external validity. In this case, you can offer a critique of where the
authors “went wrong”.
• 12 questions x ≈ 40 words per question (average) x 6 articles + 400 words (intro + summary) ≈ 3300 ←
this is the MAXIMUM expected word count (the questions themselves are not included in the word
count). A minimum word count would be ≈ 2000.
1. What causal effect is this study attempting to address?
2. What are the Ho (null hypothesis) and Hr (research hypothesis)?
3. What was the study design? (provide a little bit of commentary here about the experimental design also)
4. What was the authors’ rationale for selecting this design? (may not be directly mentioned)
5. What is the reliability and validity of their experimental measures? (may not be mentioned)
6. What are the Unit of Analysis, Measurement (observation), and Randomization?
7. What are the threats to Statistical Conclusion and Internal Validity?
8. What are the threats to Generalizability (Construct and External Validity)?
9. Was their any missing data? If so, how did they handle missing data?
10. To whom do the authors want to generalize their findings?
11. Do the authors’ conclusions match with the study’s findings (ie: the results)?
12. What additional design characteristics might you use to help minimize the threats to internal validity?