Paper details:Small Group Discussion 3: Quality of a Research Study

Discussion Context: Prior to discussion make sure that you have read the Appendix B in the Engel and Schutt book, and then, please read the article by Pomeroy, Kiam, and Abel posted for this week.

Discuss:

First, please consider the introduction section of this article (up to the methodology section only) and critique the quality of the literature review of this quantitative research study – in this discussion, please address the purpose of the literature review and whether the literature review as presented in the Pomeroy et al. study/article accomplished its purpose, did it justify the direction of the study, explain why or why not – and if not – please explain in what way the authors could have strengthened their discussion of this information in presenting a good literature review;
Now, please consider the actual methodology section of the Pomeroy et al. study – and critique this sections: identify the design, and the sample, address whether the study design and the way sample was selected met the objective /purpose of their study, and whether the authors seem to adequately inform their audience of the strengths or weaknesses to the internal or external validity of the study design, and discuss what these strengths and biases were as well; and
Finally, consider whether you could replicate such a study in the future, and if you were to replicate such a study – address how or in what way you would improve this study in order to have a stronger causal inference for documenting that the intervention is responsible for changes in the planned outcomes, and how you would handle the sample formation, or data collection, of design, and why.
In the overall discussion, when you are offering your critique/opinion on the quality of this study, please make sure that you back up your critique/opinion based by the page-evidence from the article or by using any other “authoritative” reference (such as the current textbook – page reference, or another article reference) that supports discussion.