Assignment task: Choose one of the ethnographic studies:
CHOICE 1:
Marlene Gram. 2015. "Buying Food for the Family: Negotiations in Parent/Child Supermarket Shopping: An Observational Study from Denmark and the United States." Journal of Contemporary Ethnography. Vol. 44(2):169-195
CHOICE 2:
Joya Misra and Kyla Walters. 2016. "All Fun and Cool Clothes? Youth Workers' Consumer Identity in Clothing Retail."Work and Occupations, 43(3): 294-325.
What is an article critique?
An article critique requires you to critically read a piece of research and identify and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses (or limitations) of the article.
How is a critique different from a summary?
A summary of a research article requires you to share the key points of the article so that your reader can get a clear picture of what the article is about. Include a brief summary, but the main focus should be on your evaluation and analysis of the research itself.
How to begin writing a critique?
Need to take some steps to get ready for critique:
Choose an article that meets the assignment critique as outlined above
Read the article to get an understanding of the main idea
Read the article again with a critical eye
As you read, take note of the following:
What are the credentials of the author/s? Is the researcher qualified for the topic?
Are the research methods employed by the researcher align/connect with the research question?
Is there evidence of bias or conflict of interest?
Is the article timely and relevant or is it outdated?
Did the author/s ground their research in theory and previous literature?
What you should include in your article review/critique?
A summary of the article's main ideas and all methodologies that the researcher used
This includes the findings, arguments presented in the article
An analysis and evaluation of the article. This is the hard part. A good critique is not simply your opinion. Appropriate things for a critique, for example:
Possible alternative explanations of the findings
Alternative ways to study the topic
Methodological concerns (validity, reliability, bias)
Research ethics
Remember throughout this discussion, you must draw on specific examples from the article to support your statements.
"How this research helps the world"/Applicability
Evaluated on your review/critique's readability - whether it is clear and has a logical flow/outline, mechanics - sentence structure, word choice, typos, missing words, spelling, etc. Be sure to include a citation of the article that you are reference on a specific works cited page.