Critical Appraisal of Quantitative Research Assignment

Assignment Task

You are asked to evaluate the reporting quality of the supplied article, a quantitative research report, by comparing the article to criteria from the official quantitative guide to reporting quality (the "reporting-quality guide"). For each section of the journal article as displayed in the assignment template, select from the drop-down list a rating for the reporting quality of that section: Good, Fair or Poor. Then, for each section of the article and the report, add a typed prose justification of your rating-scale answer, evaluating the reporting quality of the article section by addressing as many criteria as you can from the reporting-quality guide for that section within the limited word count. Higher scoring text answers will match a plausible rating-scale answer and include correct evaluation of reporting quality, and will state the evidence-based practice implications of that reporting quality. See the Module 3 tutorial for detailed definitions of "Good", "Fair" and "Poor" reporting quality for the rating-scale answers, complementing the reporting-quality guide for quantitative research.

Assignments will be marked only against the criteria from the quantitative reporting-quality guide and not directly from any other reporting-quality checklists even where those guides or checklists match the official reporting-quality guide designed and supplied specifically for this assessment. No citations or references additional to the supplied article are expected. Evaluations based on criteria from other, non-designated reporting-quality guides and checklists where those criteria do not appear in the designated, official quantitative reporting-quality guide will contribute zero to the score for that section.
For a high score, your rating scale answer must show meaningful consistency with your text evaluation. State what the authors have reported fully and adequately, noting also what the authors have omitted to report or reported inadequately. Therefore, for each section of the article, try to identify:

1. Relevant and important criteria that the authors have satisfied in their report. In this way, you identify where and how the authors have achieved a high standard of reporting. These comments support a "Good" rating.

2. Relevant and important criteria that the authors have missed. The authors could have overlooked important criteria or inadequately addressed them in the article. In this way, you are identifying where and how the authors have not achieved a high standard of reporting. These comments support a "Fair" or "Poor" rating.

3. Evidence-based practice implications of the reporting quality for that section, identified through a brief comment in your answer. Convincing argument about evidence-based practice implications is essential for a Distinction or High Distinction score for that section.
Assignment marks are awarded according to these main assessment criteria:

Competent descriptive summary of relevant and important article content plus further evaluation in the text answer matching the drop-down answer plus evidence-based practice implications. "Relevant and important" mean there are implications for evidence-based practice for that part of the article (i.e., what the article is saying) and its reporting quality (i.e., how the article presents that information). You will score higher if you persuasively say what those implications are, as per Point 3 above. Relevance takes priority over importance. Reporting quality is important only if it's relevant to evidence-based practice. If it's not relevant, it's not important. Among the aspects of reporting quality that are relevant to evidence-based practice or policy, concentrate on the most important aspects. You will have to exercise judgement when selecting what to write about. That judgement of yours is assessable.

There is no need for a literature review or additional research beyond assignment-related documents, mostly comprising the supplied journal article, the reporting-quality guide, tutorial materials and other advice and instructions on vUWS. Use additional sources sparingly, if at all, and only where these extra sources build your argument and justify your conclusions, and not to replace your own thinking. Better is to use no additional sources. Where ideas from another source are used, including use of generative Al, that source must be cited and referenced. The supplied article must be formally cited at least once, along with a properly formatted reference list entry. Both a properly presented citation and reference entry are essential for at least a Pass score on the Presentation marking criterion for this assessment.

The so-called hourglass structure for essays, comprising an introduction, main text and conclusions should not be used. Follow the structure of the supplied template exactly. Do not add to or delete sections of the assignment template. Text outside of the sections on the supplied template will score no marks but will contribute to the word count.

Quality of written expression and presentation are assessable. Quality of expression includes clarity, coherence, conciseness, originality, spelling, punctuation, grammar and conformity with writing style. Your assignment is about reporting quality of the article, not the scientific quality of the research. Your evaluation should concentrate on how well the authors have reported their research rather than how well scientifically the research was done. Avoid direct evaluation of the research question, background information, study design, ethics, measurement systems and methods, sampling, procedure, analysis and interpretation. Instead, you should critique how well these are reported based on criteria from the quantitative reporting quality guide. Where reporting quality has direct implications for scientific quality, that can be mentioned with priority given to reporting quality. Raise scientific quality only where reporting quality enables or makes it harder for readers to evaluate critically the study's rationale, its methods, the internal and external validity of the results, the authors' interpretation of the results and their implications, and the generalisability and applicability of the results for clinical practice or public health policy.

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