Journal Article Analysis Form for Empirical Studies
1. Your name and the date
2. Cite the reference (put in the formal APA format used in a reference list):
LITERATURE REVIEW/INTRODUCTION:
3. Purpose and/or primary intent (explain the main goal or intent of the author(s) based upon the title of the article, and by browsing through the article):
4. Most important hypothesis addressed in the article (hypotheses are stated in future tense and indicate how the variables are related-what did they predict they would find):
5. Look at their literature review. What are three main points from the review of past literature (usually at beginning of articles cite author/date for each (in other words what were the key articles they cited in their review?)
a. Author (date) - point contributed
b. Author (date) - point contributed
c. Author (date) - point contributed
METHOD SECTION:
6. Description of the research design (e.g., pre-post, correlational, quasi-experimental, experimental, time-series, single-subject behavioral, observational, survey):
7. Identify the "control" conditions or groups used in the study. In other words, what did they do to insure validity:
8. Describe the participants:
9. Describe the independent variable(s), if applicable (correlational studies, for example, involve two dependent variables but no independent variable):
10. List the dependent variables and how they measured each (operational definitions)
RESULTS SECTION:
11. Main empirical result for each of the dependent variables (did the IV actually influence the DV)?
12. Main statistical technique(s) used (e.g., correlation, factor analysis, multiple regression, analysis of variance):
DISCUSSION SECTION:
13. Interpretation provided for the results (what did the authors think the findings meant?):
14. Main conclusion(s) or recommendations given by the authors (paraphrase the big-picture interpretation or meaning of the results, future directions):
15. Your conclusions. Reflect on how the information from this article enhances your knowledge on the topic.