PSY3405 Peer Reviewed Journal Article Critique

DUE April 7th via BLACKBOARD

For the individual project, you will select chronic illness categorized as either  A) Cardiovascular Illness, B) Chronic Pain Disorder, or C) Cancer.  Your task is to identify a primary source of psychological literature/journal article (primary source) on the topic of your chosen illness and racial minority individuals.   Using PsychInfo, the purpose of this activity is to provide critical thinking approaches to applied health psychology topics.  Specifically, you will apply your knowledge of research methods to critique a related peer-reviewed journal article. You will then describe the space (context) in which the research was conducted, and finally you will write a brief personal reaction to the article.

Here’s a document to help you find the article:  PsychInfoHandout

Paper Components:

Critique Summary

Context/Space Description

Personal Reaction

In 4-5-page typed, double-spaced paper, you will introduce the source of the research, describe the context in which it was conducted, identify the research question(s), present the methodology of the study, and discuss the limitations and future directions of the research as well as your reaction to and opinion of the article.

Critique Summary: This is where you will summarize the journal article.  Describe the research and include the following:

1. What questions were addressed?
2. Who were the participants in the sample (ages, gender, ethnicity, etc.)?
3. What was the dependent and independent variables?
4. What procedures did the study follow?  How was the study conducted?
5. Describe the results. What did the author discover?
6. How is this information to be applied to health psychology? (i.e., How can health psychologists use this information?)
7. Discuss the implications of the study. Do the findings correspond with one of the health behaviors theories covered in class? Which one? Which components of the theory are emphasized?
8. Suggest research questions that could be considered in future studies and generate one hypothesis you would like to see tested

Context/Space Description:  Here you describe a bit about where the research was conducted.

1. Where (geographically) was this research conducted?
2. What university/medical center housed this research?
3. Describe the goals/mission statement of the institution where the research was conducted.
4. Provide the demographic information— that is, what is the percentage of the population sampled in the space where the research was conducted? (e.g., research conducted on Latinos in Utah—tell me what percentage of Utah residents are Hispanic)

Personal Reaction: This is where you give your personal reaction to and opinion of the article.  The following points should be considered when writing your personal response.

1. Provide an explanation of what interested you in the article.
2. Describe what you liked or disliked about the article.
3. Describe anything you did not understand.
4. Discuss your thoughts about the results and conclusions.
5. Explain what you would do differently if it were your research project.
6. Discuss any cautions you would use about the results of the research.

Please include you Self Assessment worksheet available HERE

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