How to Critically Read a Journal Article
Autor: jakealansimpson • November 16, 2015 • Study Guide • 923 Words (4 Pages) • 1,094 Views
The aim of this tutorial is help students gain awareness in how to critically analyse journal articles, to sensitize students to differences in journals and to encourage students to be discerning.
For week 2’s tutorial, please do the following:
Please read the article “Talent and time together: The impact of human capital and overlapping tenure on unit performance” and complete the Table 1 below.
Please read the article “Talent tensions ahead: A CEO briefing” and complete Table 2 below.
Table 1. Crtitical Reading of a Journal Article
Article reference | Harris, C. M., McMahan, G. C., and Wright, P. M. (2012). Talent and time together: The impact of human capital and overlapping tenure on unit performance. Personnel Review, 41 (4): 408-427. |
Journal/outlet website address | |
Aim | |
What is its main aim, the problem it addresses, &/or the contribution it seeks to make? | To find out if there is a relationship between human capital and job performance |
Does it specify its research questions and/or objectives? | Yes, in the abstract and objectives section. |
Perspective | |
What is the author’s perspective? | To prove there is a clear direct correlation between HC and performance. A deductive approach. |
Does the article review literature in the field? | Yes it reviews and cites several notable literature. |
Method | |
What methods are used? How are they justified? | They look at winning % , end of year rankings and tenure of players, coaches and team overall. |
Who are the participants? | 230 NCAA Basketball team |
How was the sample size arrived at? | Basketball was a good example as the human capital directly impacts performance. They used 230 teams that were available to them. |
How were the data collected? | Various, stats and tenure were collected from ESPN and other sources. |
Does the article discuss (eg) validity and reliability? | Yes it critiques its own evaluation of tenure due to red shirt years and transfer of players and walk on recruits |
Data analysis and results | |
What statistical or qualitative techniques are used for analysis? | Mode, mean, standard deviation, |
Is it clear how the results are arrived at? | There should be a more clear definition of the models used but the tables show this clearly. |
Findings | |
What are the main findings? | That there is a clear influence in the amount of human capital invested and a positive return |
Does the article identify and discuss its own limitations? | Yes, in the conclusion it identifies clear limitations of the study. |
Evaluation | |
Does it achieve its aims? | Yes there is a clear correlation between ‘good’ human capital and performance on the field including coaching tenure. “a positive influence” |
Strong points? | Is done over a season and considers tenure of players as well as quality of recruitment. Coaching tenure is also considered as the main way |
Weak points? | Rivals is a subjective viewpoint, an analyst can be wrong about a player easily despite seeing him or her play. |
What did you agree with? | I agree that a team does better when youj play the players who are performing and a team does better when they work together longer (tenure) |
What did you disagree with? | Using only one set of rankings, the AP sets out a ranking system with the #1 team in the nation being that which won the finals. They could have used several rankings. Basketball skills have no clear relationship with business acumen. |
What makes for a good quality journal?
- There’s no simple or single set of criteria regarding what makes for a good quality journal.
- While we ask you to make use of quality academic journals on this module, you don’t need to limit yourself solely to this type. For the purpose of your assignments, practitioner publications (such as articles on the CIPD website) are also likely to be relevant.
- It’s important to show that you’re aware that widely differing types of source are available. For example, differentiate between a peer-reviewed academic journal article and an internet article on a consultancy company’s website - you might give more weight to claims published in the former than in the latter.
Note that not all e-journals available via the Library are of the same quality.
The following is the kind of information that could help you assess quality. As an exercise, compare what you can find out about the two journals listed below.
Table 2. What makes for a good quality journal?
Journal/outlet name | Personnel Review | McKinsey Quarterly |
Article | Harris, C. M., McMahan, G. C., and Wright, P. M. (2012). Talent and time together: The impact of human capital and overlapping tenure on unit performance. Personnel Review, 41 (4): 408-427. | Dobbs, R., Lund, S., and Madgavkar, A. (2012). Talent tensions ahead: A CEO brief. McKinsey Quarterly. November 2012. |
Journal/outlet website address | http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Organization/Talent/Talent_tensions_ahead_A_CEO_briefing_3033 | |
Who publishes it? | McKinsey | |
Who is/are the chief editor(s)? (if stated) and what is their standing? | Dobbs, Lund and Madgavkar. They want to ensure that the market moves with the trend in regards to HR benefits and opportunities. | |
What is the journal’s/outlet’s selection process? (Double blind peer review; other peer review; commissioned by the editor; self-published by the author; not stated) | Self published? The main author works at McKinsey however. | |
Who are the authors, typically? Eg: academics; practitioners; other; not stated | Richard Dobbs is a director of the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) and a director in McKinsey’s Seoul office; Susan Lund is MGI’s director of research and a principal in the Washington, DC, office; Anu Madgavkar is an MGI senior fellow based in the Mumbai office. | |
Who is it written for, primarily? Eg: academics; practitioners; general public; other; not stated/not evident | Practisioners/ those in work in that market | |
Format and contents Do articles in the journal usually include the following: an abstract? in-text citations? a full reference list? author contact details? | There is none of these in this article. | |
Journal standing Is there any information about the journal’s status or ranking? | No. |
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