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How to Critique an Article (Psychology)

Method

Participants

  • Is the sample size adequate to find the effect? Are power analyses mentioned?
  • Are the participants representative of the population?
    • Are there equal numbers of males and females?
    • Are there a range of socioeconomic strata and ethnicities?
    • For this class, is the diagnosis confirmed?
  • Where were the participants obtained from, and are they a biased sample?
  • If it is an experimental design, was true random assignment done (random number generator)?

Measures

  • Are the measures widely used in the field?
  • Are the measures reliable and valid?
  • Are they appropriate for the group or age being studied (i.e. not too difficult or too easy)?
  • Are all the measures explained adequately?
  • Do the measures seem to have face validity -- that is, do they measure what the authors say the variable of interest is in an adequate fashion?