Student Worksheet: Analyzing a Journal Article for EBP
Article title: Making Inferences From Text: It’s Vocabulary That Matters
Author: Rebecca Lucas and Courtenay Frazier Norbury
Date: August 2015
Source: Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research
Step 1. What is the purpose/hypothesis/aim/objective of the study?
a. Write down the exact statement in which the authors describe what they were testing. (Hint: This information may be provided in the article as a purpose statement or as a hypothesis). Include quotation marks around the exact wording, and indicate page number(s).
b. Now describe the purpose of the study (as you understand it) in your own words.
c. What was the “gap” in the research that the authors were trying to fill by doing their study?
Step 2. What is/are the major finding(s) of the study?
a. Make some notes about the authors’ major conclusions or findings as written in the article. Include quotation marks whenever you use their exact wording, and indicate page number(s).
b. Now write those conclusions (as you understand them) in your own words.
Step 3. How did the authors test their hypothesis?
a. Briefly summarize the main steps or measurements that the authors used in their methods. Try to explain in your own words as much as possible.
b. Do the authors suggest any problems or limitations with their methodology? Do you see any problems or limitations with their methodology?
c. How did the authors analyze their data? What test/s did they use?
d. What type of research design does the study utilize: randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental design or single-subject experimental design?
e. Are measures collected pre and post treatment?
f. Are the participants randomly assigned into groups?
g. Did the study use controls within or across participants?
Step 4. How reliable are the results?
a. Does the study use independent evaluators who are blinded and/or were the inter/intra- judge reliability measures applied?
b. Do the authors suggest any problems with the study that could lead to unreliable results?
c. Does the study report no influential changes in the study/participants were made or accounted for?
d. Does the study use appropriate and accessible tools and measures? Were they described in sufficient detail to form this conclusion?
Step 5. Based on your analysis, are the claims made in this journal article accurate?
a. Do the conclusions made (about the results) by the author make sense to you? Are the conclusions too broad or too narrow based on what was actually done in the study?
b. Based on the accuracy of the methodology and the reliability of the results as described in Steps 3 and 4, do you think the conclusions can be believed?
c. Have the authors distinguished between speculation and data-based conclusions?
d. Were the results clinically meaningful?
Step 6. What is the importance of this scientific work?
a. Write (in your own words) the significant contributions of the experimental work in this journal article as reported by the authors.
b. Re-read your notes and explain why you think this is
– a strong or weak scientific article,
– a strong or weak scientific study
c. Is there specific implications from this research? Limitations? The need for additional research? Explain.
d. Why do you think it is necessary to integrate clinical research into daily practice?
e. What are 2 ways for the SLP to stay up to date on research?
Copyright University of Guelph 2013; http://www.lib.uoguelph.ca/sites/default/files/student_worksheet.pdf
Borrowed and Adapted by S.Scripture M.A.,CCC-SLP November 2015
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