Theory13
For this exercise, you will practice how to read a research study in a peer-reviewed journal so that you can apply relevant communication research studies to resolving your workplace problem.* You should be able to use the material that you develop here in your analytical annotated bibliography. Before you tackle this exercise, please make sure you have read the Week 3 course materials.
(*Remember, if you are not employed or cannot discuss your workplace, you should be using a communication problem from another organizational setting in which you are involved for your final project, such as school, church, or a community group.)
Objective: Completing this activity will help you be a competent researcher by giving you experience with finding and reading research studies published in peer-reviewed, scholarly journals in a library’s database. You will be able to use your information in your final project’s annotated bibliography. The journal articles you find and the notes you take will help justify your analysis and conclusions in your final paper.
Background: Please begin this exercise by reading the following information carefully.
Activity:
This week you must report on the research that you have been doing for your final project. The paper’s argument must be supported by relevant evidence from at least five authoritative sources, at least three of which must be peer-reviewed journals. For this exercise, you will analyze one research study on your communication theory and your workplace communication problem* from a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal.
Steps:
1. Your first step must be to come up with search terms.
- Think about your workplace problem.* Which communication context did you decide the problem involves?
- Next, look at the list of communication theories in the Week 1 materials again. Does your chosen theory address issues in the same communication context as your problem?
- If your theory reflects the right communication context for your project, start your search for academic journals by pairing its name with words that describe your workplace issue.
2. Once you have figured out your search terms, use them in the UMGC library’s One Search tool at the following link:
http://sites.umgc.edu/library/index.cfm#databases
. Search its database of peer-reviewed journals for articles about research studies done on the communication theory that you would like to apply to your workplace communication problem. Make sure to check the box next to “scholarly journals only” at the start of your search!
3. When you find a published research study that seems relevant to your project, use the “Worksheet for Reading a Research Study Article in a Scholarly Journal” in the Week 3 learning resources to guide you through its contents. You will need to download the worksheet to type your answers directly into it.
Worksheet for Reading a Research Study Article in a Scholarly Journal
Use this worksheet to record notes on the research studies that you reviewed for your final project in peer-reviewed, scholarly journals. These notes can help you to complete the Week 2, Discussion 2.2 exercise, and to write the introduction and literature review portions of your final paper.
Your Name:
Your research question or working thesis:
Sections of a Published Research Study
Your Notes
Title
The title may include terms like “outcomes,” “effects,” “treatments,” and “reactions” that indicate the article deals with research.
1. Answer this question: What is your journal article’s title?
Citation
Provides the author(s) name(s) and publication information.
2. Write an APA-style citation for your journal article:
Abstract
Used by readers to quickly evaluate the overall article content. Introduces topic and specific research question, usually provides statement regarding methodology and a general statement about the results and findings.
3. Answer this question: What does your journal article’s abstract say is the topic and specific research question investigated in this study?
4. Answer this question: Why do you think this study is useful to your research project?
Introduction
Introduces the broad overall topic and provides basic background information. Then narrows down to the specific research question relating to the topic. Provides the purpose and focus for the rest of the article and sets the justification for research. Sometimes this includes a literature review, which describes past important research and relate it specifically to the research question.
5. Answer this question: What does the introduction to your article say is the purpose of this study?
6. Answer this question: What are some of the terms that the article “operationalizes” or defines?
7. In a few sentences, summarize the background information provided about the study’s topic:
Methods
Describes the research design and methodology used to complete the study. Includes the sample of who was studied and sample size.
8. Answer this question: Is this a qualitative, quantitative, or mixed research study?
9. Briefly describe the methodology employed in the study:
Results
Presents the results of the analysis related to the research question or problem.
10. Briefly describe some results from the study’s data analysis:
Discussion/Conclusion
This section should be a discussion of the results, and the implications on the field. The research question should be answered and validated by the interpretation of the results. This section could also discuss how results relate to previous research, any cautions about the findings, and potential for future research.
11. Complete this sentence about the research article’s discussion: The data reported here provide evidence of …
12. Answer this question: What are the study’s limitations?
13. Answer this question: What recommendations does the study make for future research?
14. Summarize the conclusion that the authors reached about their study’s research question.
References
This section will be an alphabetized list of all the academic sources of information utilized in the paper, written in APA style.
15. Provide two of the references listed on the article’s reference page:
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2018