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MCTE 690 – Research Methodology
Assignment Three
To date you have learned what good research is, how to select a quality research topic
worthy of research, how to write research questions and hypotheses, and how to conduct
a literature search, all in preparation for the final assignment (assignment four) – the
writing of a high quality graduate level research paper.
As a final step to preparing for the writing of your research paper, assignment three will
require you to review, analyze and critique a peer reviewed/refereed journal published
article.
The steps for this assignment are:
1. Select one of the references you found in the literature search assignment. This
should be a good research article published in a peer reviewed/refereed journal.
Read the article thoroughly, noting the important sections (problem statement,
research questions, etc.) as the textbook author did in his review of the two
examples he used.
2. Before reading the article you should also read the FINE article that can be
accessed through the link at my website. This will help you in your critique of the
article.
3. Using the assignment outline below and the FINE article as a guideline, write a
critical review and analysis of the journal article. Note: this should not be a
summary of the article, but rather an analysis, pointing out the topic, problem
statement, research questions, hypotheses (if any), methodology used, etc. I am
looking for a deep understanding of the article for both its good points and bad
points.

Make sure you give me the reference information for the selected article in APA
format.

Suggested paper length is a minimum of 10 pages, double spaced (not counting
cover and reference page).
Outline/Topics Covered
Objective: The objective of this assignment is to provide the student with knowledge of
how to critically review and evaluate a published article from a peer reviewed journal.
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Tasks:
Read through the article carefully and write a report that addresses the following issues:
1. Problem addressed:
What is the main research problem addressed in the article?
Type of research:
What type of research is this? Qualitative or Quantitative
2. Prior research:
Briefly discuss the body of literature that is used to motivate the research. You will need to
review some of the key articles referenced by the authors. Identify any shortcomings in the
prior literature that the selected article addresses. Perform a literature search to determine if
there are any relevant articles that have not been cited by the authors.
3. Significance:
Explain why you think that the article makes a significant contribution to the field. Cite
references wherever possible to establish that there is a consensus among researchers that the
problem addressed in the article is indeed an important one. Discuss whether the contribution
is in the area of the methodology used for the study.
4. Methodology:
Discuss the methodology used for the study. Explain whether you think that the methodology
used is an appropriate one (cite references where relevant). Identify possible problems with
the methods used. For empirical work discuss the statistical models used and the sources of
data for the study. For theoretical work discuss the models and techniques used.
5. Contributions:
Summarize the significant results and contributions made by the authors.
6. Further research:
Identify possible areas in which the research can be extended. Does the article call for further
research on any specific issue? Identify limitations of the article and formulate them as
potential research questions.