critical review
you are required to place a footer at the bottom of the pages of your assignments with your name, student number, assignment
For example: Firstname Lastname– 12345678 – Critical Review #2 – word count 1,180
See the assignment details for what is included in the word count.
A2 Description The second assessment (Critical Review #2) is an exercise in which students hone their skills as critical consumers of research to inform their own research approach. Students are to use skills learnt in tutorials 4 and 5 to examine a ‘real world’ research report that has used quantitative research methods and has been disseminated in the media.
Step 1: Students must find a media article (newspaper report, magazine article, television transcript) that has reported on published quantitative research. The media article should be related to their area of study (policing, criminology, social work etc). The media article cannot be one used in tutorials for teaching purposes. It must be an article you have found yourself.
Step 2: Students must find the original published quantitative research that was cited in the media article.
Step 3: Students are required to write a 1,200 word critical review that:
• Discusses how the media article has used the published research including:
What information/data did they use from the published research and why? What message is the media article trying to communicate?
Is there any data/information of the published research that has not been included in the media article? Why do you think this information has been excluded? Does the author provide justification? Has the media article provided adequate and reliable insights into the published research?
• Evaluates strengths and limitations of the original published research by referring to the research question, method (e.g. sampling, procedures, analysis) and results (e.g. error rates). Were these strengths and limitations addressed in the media article? Use academic sources to support your answer.
• Proposes alternate methods of data collection or analysis that could address the limitations identified in question 4. Use academic sources to support your answer.
The critical review is not an essay so an introduction and conclusion are not needed. Students may use headings to organise their response. Well supported responses will use at least 5 relevant and well chosen academic sources. A reference list is required. Intext references and the reference list are not included in the word count.
