Description
Research Critique:How influential is Britain’s foreign policy on the rest of Europe?
This assessment comprises a Case Study Report.
Word count: 2,500 max (excluding any title pages, references and appendices)
The purpose of this Assessment is to develop and evidence your skills in critiquing research articles – an essential skill in general and particularly for your literature review. We have been critiquing articles every week and for every topic (in this and other modules) – identifying the theories and concepts authors use (and maybe which version if there are several possible definitions), and which they do not, and the implications of that choice for their conclusions.
We have been considering the evidence authors provide to support their argument or claims, and any possible issues with the evidence, or how it is used, or way the research was conducted. These are the ideas you will be applying in this assessment.
Do not think of this as an exercise in deciding whether a piece of research is ‘good’ or ‘bad’, or ‘right’ or ‘wrong’.
In your analysis, critically explore the content of item(s) you have chosen.
Issues to consider (as appropriate to the type) could include:
Theoretical approach
What theory or theories are used by the authors: are they explicit and justified?
How is your chosen piece(s) located in the wider academic literature on this issue? What is the consensus or debate around your chosen issue? Are alternative theories discussed, or used in the wider literature?
What are the methodological limitations of the literature? This is an opportunity to critically assess the empirical evidence base of academic literature.
Methodology
Methodology – describe the methodology(ies) used to address the research in question. What are the implications of this choice? Use appropriate references.
Methods – is what was done, why and how completely clear? If primary data are collected, are the limitations discussed by authors? What do you see as the limitations?
Describe any assumptions: are they justified?
Analysis of data – is this clear and appropriate? Consider the validity and reliability of results.
Data/information sources
Comment on the quality of information used as evidence by the author(s).
Timeline – where in the information cycle (immediate – considered). Have debates moved on, or is there new evidence or interpretation in the literature?
Are any secondary data appropriately used and critiqued? Reference, describe and compare original source as appropriate.
Reporting
Does other literature on the same subject have similar or different conclusions (or done in a different way). Is this referred to?
Is the argument valid and appropriate, and supported by the evidence? Are alternative or counter-arguments considered or possible?
Are any ethical issues discussed, or are there any issues you think are important?
Who produced the item? Are there any funding, transparency issues or other conflicts of interest?
This is a broad and indicative list – do not exactly duplicate it as a ‘checklist’.
It will depend on the article(s) you choose and nature of the research and focus of your critique. You may not want to (or be able to) consider all the issues in a paper, but wish to focus on particular aspects of it.
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