DEDUCTIVE RESEARCH ANALYSIS WORKSHEET
EDRM 700
Directions: Use this worksheet to help you analyze research that follows the deductive research
process. You should be able to complete most items for most deductive research studies, though
sometimes this may require that you make inferences. In cases where there is no information in
the article to assist in completing the item, simply write "no information" in the space provided.
Title of Article: ______________________________________________________
1. What is the research question?
2. Summarize the main points of the literature review in a couple of sentences.
3. List a few examples of current and primary sources from reputable publications cited in
this research to verify that the researchers used such sources.
4. What is the statement of purpose?
5. What is the research hypothesis?
6. Is this research basic or applied?
7. Is this research descriptive, relational, or intervention research?
8. Is this research cross-sectional or longitudinal?
9. Identify the major constructs being studied by the researchers and provide constitutive
definitions for these.
10. Identify the explanatory and response variables and provide operational definitions for
these.
11. What are a few potential extraneous variables?
12. How did the researchers validate the operational form of the constructs?
13. What method of observation was used?
14. What level of measurement was used when obtaining the data?
15. What are the units of analysis in this study?
16. How did the researchers address instrument validity?
17. How did the researchers address the reliability of the measures?
18. What are the major strengths of the construct validation process used by the researchers?
Consider both implementation concerns (for interventions, treatments, and programs) as
well as measurement concerns.
19. What construct validity issues still exist, if any?
20. What is the most likely target population?
21.
What is the most likely accessible population?
22. What was the intended sample and what was the final sample?
23. What is the sample size?
24. What method of sampling was used?
25. How did the researchers address the proximal similarity of the sample to the population?
26. What are the major strengths of the external validation process used by the researchers?
27. What external validity issues still exist, if any?
28. What extraneous variables did the researchers mention or otherwise demonstrate that they
were aware of in this study?
29. What research design did the researchers use?
30. What extraneous variables and threats to internal validity did the researchers address with
either the design or through other means?
31. What threats to internal validity still exist, if any?
32. What kind of graphical displays were used?
33. What descriptive statistics were used?
34. What inferential statistics were used?
35. List the statistical hypotheses that were tested.
36. What were the results of each hypothesis test?
37. How did the researchers address threats to conclusion validity?
38. What conclusions can be made from the results of this study?
39. Are the conclusions consistent with the discussion of the study? If not, identify the
inconsistencies.
40. What is the answer to the research question?
41. What suggestions for further study did the researchers make?
42. Briefly summarize the major strengths and weaknesses of this article.
43. Provide an overall assessment of article quality using the following Likert scale: (a) very
weak and of little value, (b) weak, but makes a limited contribution to the discipline,
(c) strong with minor flaws that limit the conclusions, (d) very strong with believable
conclusions. Briefly support your assessment.