-I provieded an example on how critique.
-I provided the reading that you will need crtique.
Summarize the study background – including the research problem and the
theories used in the study
Ask yourself, for example, these questions:
1. What was the goal of the study? Was this study designed to fill any specific gap in
the existing literature? What is the problem the study tackles?
2. Were there any theories mentioned in the literature review? If so, what were they?
What did the literature review help to teach us about this topic?
3. Were the researchers testing hypotheses? If so, what were the hypotheses?
– Summarize the research design of this study (i.e., experiment) and how the data
was collected. The focus of your critique should be on how the treatments in this
study were administered. Make extensive use of our course concepts (i.e., types
of internal and external validity) ). Ask yourself, for example, these
questions:
1. What is the research design (e.g., laboratory or field experiment, classic or factorial
design)? Where and when was the study conducted? What was the sample size?
How did they decide what cases to include in the sample? What are the overall
characteristics of the sample?
2. What were the treatments? Did they include any control variables? If so, what were
they? What are the dependent variables in this study, and how were they
operationalized/measured?
3. What are the challenges to internal and external validity the study faces? For
example, was internal validity threatened by diffusion of treatment or history effects?
Or were the treatments administered consistently? Overall, how was the
administration of the treatments controlled, and how well was this done?
4. Do the administered treatments capture the full range of the concepts they are
supposed to measure (e.g., problem-based policing)? Can you think of alternative
ways of designing the experiment?
– Summarize the major findings and conclusions of the study.
Ask yourself,
for example, these questions:
1. What are the findings?
2. What did this study do to help us better understand criminal justice? Are there any
policy implications here?
3. What were the limitations of the study? Are the study results, for example,
generalizable?
