Understanding and Evaluating Research: A Critical Guide shows students how to be critical consumers of research and to appreciate the power of methodology as it shapes the research question, the use of theory in the study, the methods used, and how the outcomes are reported. The book starts with what it means to be a critical and uncritical reader of research, followed by a detailed chapter on methodology, and then proceeds to a discussion of each component of a research article as it is informed by the methodology. The book encourages readers to select an article from their discipline, learning along the way how to assess each component of the article and come to a judgment of its rigor or quality as a scholarly report.

The book is intended to help students understand and interpret research articles and how to evaluate what was done in the research. It is not intended to show them how to do research but rather how to understand research articles and evaluate that research.

Much applied research takes place as if complex social problems--and evaluations of interventions to address them--can be dealt with in a purely technical way. In contrast, this groundbreaking book offers an alternative approach that incorporates sustained, systematic reflection about researchers' values, what values research promotes, how decisions about what to value are made and by whom, and how judging the value of social interventions takes place. The authors offer practical and conceptual guidance to help researchers engage meaningfully with value conflicts and refine their capacity to engage in deliberative argumentation. Pedagogical features include a detailed evaluation case, "Bridge to Practice" exercises and annotated resources in most chapters, and an end-of-book glossary.

Describes how to critique various types of study including: case studies, surveys, correlation studies, regression analysis studies, factor-analytic studies, discriminant analysis studies, factorial studies, and quasi-experimental studies.

Using examples of good as well as flawed research studies, this text explains how to decide whether the conclusions reported in an article are justified on the basis of the design and analysis of the experiment.

Evaluating Research in Academic Journals is a guide for students who are learning how to evaluate reports of empirical research published in academic journals. It breaks down the process of evaluating a journal article into easy-to-understand steps, and emphasizes the practical aspects of evaluating research – not just how to apply a list of technical terms from textbooks. The book avoids oversimplification in the evaluation process by describing the nuances that may make an article publishable even when it has serious methodological flaws. Students learn when and why certain types of flaws may be tolerated, and why evaluation should not be performed mechanically. Each chapter is organized around evaluation questions. For each question, there is a concise explanation of how to apply it in the evaluation of research reports. Numerous examples from journals in the social and behavioral sciences illustrate the application of the evaluation questions, and demonstrate actual examples of strong and weak features of published reports. Common-sense models for evaluation combined with a lack of jargon make it possible for students to start evaluating research articles the first week of class. New to this edition New chapters on: evaluating mixed methods research evaluating systematic reviews and meta-analyses program evaluation research Updated chapters and appendices that provide more comprehensive information and recent examples Full new online resources: test bank questions and PowerPoint slides for instructors, and self-test chapter quizzes, further readings and additional journal examples for students.

Clinically oriented professionals and students need to understand and evaluate the research and statistics in professional articles, especially given today's emphasis on evidence-based practice. This book demonstrates how the research approach and design help determine the appropriate statistical analysis. Understanding and Evaluating Research in Applied and Clinical Settings features: *short, independent, chapters that do not have to be read in order; *a guide to understanding why a particular statistic was selected; *an emphasis on effects sizes including measures of risk potency; *numerous cross-disciplinary examples to illustrate the material; and *methods to help determine practical and clinical significance and their relation to meta-analysis and evidence-based practice. This book is intended for practitioners and students in psychology, education, counseling, mental and allied health, nursing, and medicine, and as a text for courses on understanding research methods and statistics.

Where is the evidence in a nursing research study? What is the evidence? How good is the evidence? And, how is it relevant to providing evidence-based nursing care? Ensure that students can meet the AACN’s (American Association of Colleges of Nursing) goal of identifying valid research findings and using them to determine if they are providing care that is supported by evidence.

"Critical Thinking: A Methodology for Interpreting Information 'deconstructs' common errors in thinking and teaches students to become smarter consumers of research results. Written to complement a textbook or a collection of readings, this brief methods book strengthens students' ability to interpret information whenever and wherever data are used. It includes a wide range of examples along with end of chapter exercises for further discussion. This book will be a coursebook for the undergraduate social science courses where critical thinking, numeracy, and data literacy are common learning objectives"--Provided by publisher.

With insightful discussion of program evaluation and the efforts of the Centers for Disease Control, this book presents a set of clear-cut recommendations to help ensure that the substantial resources devoted to the fight against AIDS will be used most effectively. This expanded edition of Evaluating AIDS Prevention Programs covers evaluation strategies and outcome measurements, including a realistic review of the factors that make evaluation of AIDS programs particularly difficult. Randomized field experiments are examined, focusing on the use of alternative treatments rather than placebo controls. The book also reviews nonexperimental techniques, including a critical examination of evaluation methods that are observational rather than experimentalâ€"a necessity when randomized experiments are infeasible.