How to Write a Quantitative Article Review and Critique

Does the title adequately describe the study? Does the title catch the attention of the reader? 

The title of an article should be clear, accurate and unambiguous. So the question to answer is whether the title of the article is clear, accurate and unambiguous. According to Connel, the title of an article should be of reasonable length because too long titles can confuse the reader. The title should adequately describe the study and catch the attention of the reader. By reading the article title “Twelve-Step Programs and Faith-Based Recovery”, it is not easy to relate and understand what the author writes about until one reads the article. The question that one asks after reading the article is, what about twelve-based programs. The title does not catch the attention of the reader. However, the article is about the application of the faith-based recovery programs to help the alcohol addicts, therefore, the article describes the study, though still not to the sufficient levels expected. 

Abstract 

Does the abstract contain the recommended content ? 

The abstract should always provide a succinct overview of the research and should contain the information about the purpose of the study, the methods used, sample selection and size as well as the main findings and conclusion. From the abstract reading alone, the reader should be able to determine the areas tackled in the article and whether it is of interest. In the article “Twelve-Step programs and Faith-Based Recovery,” the abstract contain most of the recommended content, but some required content is missing. For example, the abstract fails to provide any information on sample selection and size. However, the abstract provides the information about the purpose of the study, methods and the review of the literature. Without all the recommended content in the abstract, the reader might not get to understand the purpose for which the article is written. 

Introduction 

Why did the authors conduct this study and write this article? What was the problem of interest or concern? Be specific. Use quotes and paraphrases with citations. What audience might be interested in this study ? 

The author conducted the study to determine the effectiveness of the faith-based programs in the recovery of the substance abuse and addicts. The concern or the problem of interest is to identify to what extent are the faith-based programs effective in helping through the recovery of the alcohol addicts in the society, and the collaboration between the community social workers and the religious-based institution to enhance recovery. “The work was especially interested towards gaining an understanding of the experiences of others and the potential spiritual interventions to end addictions” ( Tangenberg, 2005 ) The audiences that might be interested in the study are the community social workers and the addicts in the community who can rely upon these faith-based programs to help them recover from addictions. 

Do you feel the problem is significant enough to warrant a journal article? 

Did you have a “so what” reaction? If so, why do you think it was accepted for publication? Please justify your position. 

The problem is significant enough to warrant a journal article because of the high number of rising addicts in the society, yet these individuals lack the motivation, resources or opportunities for professional treatment. The twelve-step program may provide opportunities for such individuals to develop self-awareness, spiritual development and social support that will help them develop a positive behavior change. This was hence a significant issue that warranted publishing in the journal article. The reaction is that such programs have shown to yield positive outcome among the addicts thus worthy using in collaboration with other professional methods to foster positive behavior change in the community. The spiritual-based programs can be used together with other professional methods of treatment and therapy, and this will yield good outcome to the victims who might not respond to the professional treatments alone. 

To what extent does the literature presented in the introduction help you understand the problem? How does the literature reviewed put the problem in context? Be specific. 

The primary purpose of the literature review is to develop the research question while at the same time identifying the data collection method that is appropriate. It should demonstrate in-depth reading on the topic of the study. In the article, the author provides that literature review that seems to identify addiction as the problem of the study rather than the problem in the topic. While the programs in the research question aimed at the recovery of the addicts, much of the literature has focused on statistics of people suffering from alcoholism, with a little relation of the whole matter into the research question. The literature presented, therefore, helps in understanding the problem, but not so elaborately as the literature review should do. However, the literature brings the problem into context by relating alcoholism with the need for the social workers to work together with faith-based organizations to bring into practice the faith-based programs into practice. The author notes that addiction rates are high, yet most people are unable to access professional treatment and therefore identifies faith-based programs as the key alternative for behavior change among this group. 

Does the researcher indicate how this research is different from and/or 

similar to earlier ones reported in the literature? Summarize what this article intends to add to the knowledge base 

The author indicates how his study is different from the ones conducted earlier. He mentions the work of William James and Carl Jung who in their work talked about the religious-based programs in helping combat alcoholism. Even the beliefs about the twelve steps programs drew much of its theory from the work of William. However, the author indicates a similarity between his work and that of Wilson who also studied the faith-based programs and their effectiveness in bringing positive behavior change among the individuals. Even though people viewed the work of Wilson to be more religious than science, it has been applied in many recovery programs dealing with medical and scientific treatment models. 

The article intends to add to knowledge the use of the twelve step spiritual-based programs in helping the addicts recover and get back to their previous life. The study aims at confirming that the twelve step program is effective in helping achieve positive behavior change among the addicts. Although many view this approach to be more of religion than science, the researcher wants to confirm that the method can be used alongside other scientific methods to achieve positive behavior change. 

Do the authors state their research questions and/or hypotheses? What 

are the hypotheses or focused research questions? 

The author states research questions in his research. The first research question that the author attempts to determine if the effectiveness and applicability of the spiritual-related programs in helping the addicts in the society to recover. The author also aims to answer how the faith-based related treatments can be applied in collaboration with other professional treatments methods such as the social workers to achieve the target which is to offer treatment and therapy for the alcohol addicts. While there are controversies surrounding the use of faith-based treatment methods, the author seeks to elaborate on these controversies by providing a proven evidence that the program works. The major focus of the author was however to determine the extent to which the spiritual-based programs can be effective in helping achieve positive behavior change. 

Methods 

What specific quantitative method is used? How does a quantitative research design correspond with the research questions or hypotheses? Can you determine whether the design was appropriate? To what extent can the design answer the research questions or address the stated hypotheses? Elaborate . 

The researcher uses a quasi-experimental research design to do the study. In a quasi-experimental design, the researcher seeks to establish a cause-effect relationship between the two or more variables. In this design, only variable is studied and the result obtained used to make a conclusion for the study. In the article, the author interviewed people, majorly the people involved and working in the spiritual-based programs. The result from this interview was then used to make a conclusion for the whole study. In the research question, two variables ought to have been included in the research. Despite interviewing the religious-based program workers, the individual addicts could have also been interviewed, especially the ones who reformed as a result of the program. The design was therefore not very appropriate as it only manipulated one side of the variable. Despite this, however, the design answered the research question to an extent, but the method limited the provision of an adequate answer. 

What were the variables under study? If relevant, identify the main dependent And independent variables. If not relevant, why are there no dependent and Independent variables? What instruments or observations were used in the Research? Explain why you do, or do not, think that the methods used to Collect the data are described clearly enough to allow for replication. Be specific and please elaborate. 

The author did not have dependent and independent variables. While the author was seeking to identify the effectiveness of the spiritual-based programs in the recovery of the addicts, the only people that the researcher interviewed while collecting data were the spiritual-based program workers. The author never made a comparison between variables, but instead gathered the information from the spiritual-based program workers and used this to make a conclusion about the research question. The researcher used interviews to gather information from the respondents. However, the author did not clearly describe the methods that were used to collect data. The author filed to clearly write about how some information was collected. 

Explain whether or not information was provided concerning the reliability and validity of these instruments or observations. Was this information adequate? How does the presence or absence of information about reliability and validity affect your confidence in the quality of the study? What have the authors done to address or strengthen internal validity? 

The researcher failed to provide the reliability of the instruments that were used to collect data. The author only mentioned the methods that were used to collect the data but there was no any information regarding the reliability of these instruments. Lack of information about the reliability of the instruments used to collect data makes one doubt the validity of such methods thus making one lose confidence in the whole data and even the whole research. This thus makes one lose confidence in how the whole research was conducted. Internal validity is the degree to which the study research establishes the cause-effect relationship between the outcome of the research and the treatment. The author has however tried to strengthen the internal validity by reporting the relevant data in the results section while at the same time assessing the influence of bias in the discussion section. 

Sample 

How were the participants recruited or selected for the study? What sampling strategy was used? Is the sample large enough to address the hypotheses and research questions? Did the author(s) offer any justification for the sample size? Are you satisfied with the information reported about the sample? What questions might you have about the sample that were not addressed? 

The participants were selected on the basis that they interact with the victims of the alcohol addiction. The participants were providers of the faith-based service programs and organizations. The sample size involved twenty-two faith-based service providers. This was quite a small number to be used to represent the whole study. This sample size might not be enough to address the research question. Also, no explanations were provided by the researcher about the reason for the use of the sample size. This beings in the issues of trust with the whole research because the sample size seems too small to address the research question and no explanation provided by the author for the selection of the sample size. The degree to which the sample reflects the population is useful in determining the adequacy of the study. 

There is no any further information that the author gives about the sample. The sample size is stated and the author goes into the interview questions that the participants will be asked without providing any further details. The author ought to have provided the details of how the sample, as well as the sample size, was used, how was this group of participants selected? Was it by random sampling? Neither of these areas has been addressed by the author. 

Are the demographics of the participants (e.g., background characteristics such as age, race, etc.) Described in sufficient detail? If so, how is the presentation of this descriptive data useful in evaluating the research? If not, please explain how that may affect the evaluation of the research. 

The author did not provide any demographic characteristics of the participants. The author only stated that “twenty-two providers of the faith-based social services in the north western and Midwestern regions of the U.S. participated in the semi-structured interviews.” No any further information has been provided by the author regarding the participants. Failing to give a clear description of the characteristics of the participants affects the adequacy and the level of confidence that the reader will have on the research. 

Was the sample reflective of the population from which it was drawn? Is 

representativeness important in this research? Please explain. 

The sample used involved the providers of the faith-based program services. This population understands better the use and application of the faith-based program while at the same time they know how effective it is in changing the lives of people. However, the sample of twenty-two people is a small number and does not form a representative that can be used to reflect the whole population. A sample should be reflective of the whole population. 

Please explain any ethical concerns you may have about the sample and how 

the sample was recruited . 

There are various fundamental moral principles that guide the choice of sample for the study. First, the individual must be free to decide to participate in the study or not without any coercion or influence. The intention must also not be to harm the participants in any way. Also, all the participants must be treated equally during the study. In the article, however, the author provided no information concerning how the participants were selected therefore leaving the reader unaware whether the participants were willing or whether they were influenced to participate in the study. 

Results 

How were the data analyzed? (What statistical techniques were used?) 

The author used a descriptive data analysis method. After the interview, the author resorted to describing the findings. There was no use of any table or a chat to represent the findings. However, the author effectively analyzed the findings using the descriptive data analysis method. 

Explain how easy or difficult it was for you to understand the reporting of 

results. What questions do you have after reading the results section? 

The analysis of the results should be represented clearly and the author must identify what statistical tests were used, why such tests were undertaken and what were the results of the tests. However, in this article, the author fails to provide this information in his analysis of the findings. Despite having used a descriptive statistics, the author fails to show how the test variables are related but instead goes straight away into describing the findings. 

Do you feel the results of this study have meaning for social work practitioners or managers? 

The results of this study have significant importance to the social work practitioners and managers. It shows that the spiritual-based programs can be used in collaboration with the social worker to help the alcohol addicts have a positive behavior change. This is also useful to social work managers as it helps them reorganize how to incorporate such programs into social work. 

Discussion 

Explain whether or not the authors made sense of their data in the discussion section. Explain why you think the conclusions are (or are not) reasonable . 

The discussion section of the findings should flow logically from the data and should relate back to the literature review which then places the study in the context. The author did not logically relate his findings to the literature review section thus making it difficult to understand. However, the author made a reasonable and logical conclusion that made summary of the findings and discussion sections. The author also provided a recommendation so that at the end of the study, we get to understand what next. The conclusion was therefore elaborate and reasonable. 

Did the authors discuss the limitations of their study? Did they stay within the limitations of their findings, or did they make more of their findings than was warranted? 

The author did not discuss the limitations of the study. The author only made and presented what they found in the study but failed to identify the limitations that they faced in their study. 

Did the author(s) suggest issues that future research should consider? If so, were there any surprises? 

The author recognized that there is still no research evidence supporting the effectiveness of the 12-step recovery approaches and recommended further studies in this area. For a detail conclusion to be made in this area, the author recommended for further research. 

Reference 

Tangenberg, K. M. (2005). Twelve-step programs and faith-based recovery: Research controversies, provider perspectives, and practice implications.  Journal of Evidence-Based Social Work ,  2 (1-2), 19-40. 

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