Journal Review
Learning Outcomes
The student should be able to:
• carry out a literature search to find relevant research
• critically evaluate research design and findings
• evaluate research within the context of wider psychological knowledge.
Guidelines for Critical Review
Students will write a critical review of a recent psychology journal article (within the last 2 years) or an appropriate unpublished ‘preprint’. This review should place particular emphasis on design and analysis used, and students should also consider the theoretical ideas discussed. The article selected should be one that could be greatly improved, or where an alternative explanation/argument is possible. The review should be submitted by 10am Friday 3rd December 2021.
Notes for guidance on writing the journal review:
New research articles are ‘peer reviewed’ – with researchers providing comments to journal editors highlighting strengths and weaknesses of the presented work and how it could be improved. In this piece of coursework, you take the role of this reviewer, and critically evaluate your chosen article, making suggestions for amendments. Look at each section of your chosen article and critically evaluate what is presented. You should also present suggestions for changes, or alternative explanations and experiments that could test them. Examples of this kind of peer review will be given at the seminar associated with this course on 7th October 2021.
Note – your review should not be written in essay format, as this is not the way reviews are presented. Put your comments into sections, using subheadings, such as:
General comments:
Give an overall critique of the paper. What claims do the authors make? How do these claims relate to methods they have used? Do you agree with their conclusion?
Introduction:
Critically evaluate the background to the study. Is this information clearly presented? Are the aims of this study clear? Are the hypotheses clear, and are they appropriate for the study?
Method:
Look at the design used and consider whether this is an appropriate method for the research questions. Are there any issues with the methods they have chosen? Would alternative measures provide clearer answers to the research questions? Are the variables used valid and/or reliable measures relevant to the hypothesis tested? Are the details of the study clear?
Results:
Discuss the type of analysis used, and how the results are presented. You could suggest possible alternative analyses and discuss what this would have shown. Is anything missing? Should additional analyses have been carried out?
Discussion:
Evaluate the explanations given for the results. Consider whether alternative explanations could be given for these findings. Is it possible to generalize these results, or are they specific to a particular paradigm or population? What further studies or experiments should be conducted to test the authors’ hypothesis or rule out an alternative explanation?
