Research Study Article
Critique
Introduction
Reading an article
or publication laden with generalizations or determinations about social groups
always requires a healthy dose of skepticism. Despite the writer's spin, the
reader employs her own objectivity as a filter to try and score balance. After
reading and reviewing “School–age children of alcoholics and non-alcoholics:
Their anxiety, self-esteem and locus of control” an article published in Professional School Counseling in 1998,
I realized just how important a critical eye can be (Post, 1998). The following
is my analysis of the article mentioned above. I discuss the accuracy and
validity of the article, relevance and applicability of the resources,
instruments used, and the proposed results. In sum, I share my opinion of the
overall value of the publication and it’s contribution to the field of
research.
Accuracy
and Validity
The research topic addressed in
the article regarding school-aged children of alcoholics was stated at the beginning
of page one. It is important to describe the topic at the start of a
publication for the reader’s benefit. This serves the reader by informing him
of the issues to be addressed in the coming pages. However, the entire article, including the
first paragraph lacked consistency and uniformity in how the subjects were
addressed and who the actual subjects were.
On
page one, in the introductory paragraphs, the subjects of the study were
introduced to the reader as “young children of alcoholics (YCOA)” (Post, 1998).
However, in the title the subjects are referred to as “School-age children of
alcoholics” (post, 1998). On page two, the subjects are referred to as
“school-aged COA” (Post, 1998). Finally, on page three the subjects are
referred to as “COA” and another group “ACOA” is mentioned with no introduction
at all (Post, 1998). The clear inconsistency in how the subjects are referred
to may raise questions for the reader about who the actual subjects really
are. Furthermore, because of the
inconsistencies, the reader may begin to question the true validity of the
entire article.
Relevance
and Applicability
A
primary source for any research publication must include references to
previously published sources. Information from past research is always
applicable and does impact the shape, plan, execution, and outcome of any new
projects. With this in mind, a thorough review of previous research in the
field is a fundamental prerequisite to prevent redundancy. Reviewing past
research also helps to design projects most relevant and applicable to present
needs.
The
article on “School-aged children of alcoholics” did mention many sources, however,
those sources were quite outdated with some dating back more than 10 years from
the date that the article was published (Post, 1998). At best, this is poor
practice. Without reviewing more recent data, research could be unnecessarily repeated
as well as time and resources wasted pursuing results that may not be relevant
based on other, more recently published, data.
The
article also included a variety of tests as instruments for determining which
children did have alcoholic parents and the impact of that parenting. Theoretically,
there must be some way to distinguish between children with and without
alcoholic parents and determine the impact to the child. There were four test
instruments used to gather the results presented in the study.
Results
Each of the tests
instruments used in the study of “school-aged children of alcoholics” had
proven test-retest validity except for one, the Nowiki (Post, 1998). The Nowiki test was used to determine where
the subject’s locus of control rests. As the results of this test were directly
related to the primary prediction of the article, which is, “that school-aged
YCOAs would score higher on anxiety, lower on self-concept, and higher on
external locus of control than a control group of school aged non-YCOAs”, the
results should have been amongst the strongest. However, the internal
consistency of this test was only .12 compared to .96, .87, and .63 of the
other tests used (Post, 1998). This causes reason to question the validity of
any assertion made based on the results of the Nowiki test.
Also, the primary
test used to determine which children had alcoholic parents, “CAST
Questionnaire”, was so leading that it was not at all a reliable measure for
the purposes intended. It was also a very long and laborious test for a school-aged
child to take all at once. This likely impacted the responses, further compromising
the results of the study.
Conducting
research that involves the study of large groups should always be done on the
broadest scale possible. Sample group size is particularly important when the
results will be used to make generalizations about all people within that
group. In the case of the article regarding “school-aged children of
alcoholics” this rule appears to have been neglected (Post, 1998). The size of the
group was 108 children, all of whom were from the same area, attending the same
school (Post, 1998). This narrow test group is not nearly reflective enough of
the entire population of school-aged children of alcoholics to make any
reasonable generalizations or predictions. Results gathered from such a narrow research
study hold very little validity or general pertinence.
Conclusion
There
are limits to the applicability of any study. In addition to those mentioned
above, this article itself also mentions “generalizing the findings too
broadly” on page four, and that all the measures are “self-reports from the
student” also on page four (Post,1998). These findings undeniably reiterate the
necessity to think critically about the information we read. We must take care
not to place too much confidence in the validity of information we hear, read,
or see presented, in the relevance or accuracy of sources, or in the
reliability of results.
Reference
Post, P., Robinson,
B.(1998). School-age children of alcoholics and non-alcoholics: their anxiety,
self-esteem and locus of control. Professional school counseling. Vol.
1 Issue 5, p36. Retrieved from MasterFILE Premier database.
