Assignment 1 Briefing
• Not an essay- no introduction and conclusion required. But could
organise content under headings (perhaps guided by ru
ic)
Step 1: Students must find a published qualitative research report. The
eport must:
• Be relevant to their area of study (policing , criminology, social work,
tourism , planning etc)
• Discuss research that used qualitative methods (data collection and
analysis). This can be part of a mixed method design
• Have been published in the last 10 years (post 2010)
• NOT be a journal article (instead look for government, non-profit or
other organisational report)
• NOT be a report used in XXXXXXXXXXApplied Social Research for teaching
purposes i.e. in lectures, tutorial s or workshops.
• Students must find their own report.
Critical Review 1- Qualitative research- 30%; 3rd April 2020, 11:59pm
1200 word critical review (of the published qualitative research report)
Identify who has done the research (organisation, institution, individual, group of
individuals etc)
and
why the research w as undertaken ( e.g . to inform policy, to evaluate a program )
• Identify the research question/s and aims
• Provide a
ief summary of the qualitative method (including data collection and
analysis)
Reference here: Qualitative research report of your choice
Evaluate the success of the research report- 5 additional scholarly references
You are evaluating the quality of the report and not the findings with other reports of similar
nature
Research Success
1. Were there a clearly defined research question/aim?
2. See whether research answered the research question and achieved the aims stated
3. Were the methods appropriate- data collected (type of the data), methods of data collection (
eg sampling methods- are they suited to qualitative research, confidentiality- ethics)
Also, If the data was appropriately and thoroughly analysed, if the results were clearly
presented in the report. (Think about the data analysis method and how the data was presented
)
4. If the limitations of the research were discussed or addressed by researchers?(Researcher Bias
, Researchers’ qualifications, sampling and exclusions)
Evaluating the limitations of the report
The relationship between who funds the research and research aims and outcomes
Researcher’s qualifications and associations with particular organisations/institutions and how this may
impact research outcomes
Eg: Think who is the researcher working for. Could that co
upt the findings.
Methodological limitations such as participant recruitment, sampling limitations/exclusions, sample size
etc
Some points for you to think.
Sampling Types (Bryman 2016, pp XXXXXXXXXX
Purposive sampling- target population with respect to your research questions
Snowball sampling- Network sampling
What kind of sampling did they use? Did sample size matter?
Make sure it is a primary research- research the organisation who published the
esearch report have undertaken the research themselves
Possible heading suggestions- Research aims, Methods, Evaluation etc.
Be guided by marking ru
ic