Article “Breakdown” Worksheets (ABWs)
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You will need to choose a scholarly journal article that is published in a peer reviewed communication journal. You can find the list of acceptable peer reviewed journals under the “Unit 2” tab. The article you choose should be one that will help you later in the semester for your Literature Review paper. As such, you should choose an article that uses the communication theory that you plan on making the focus of your Literature Review paper. Once you have read the article, complete the ABW just as you did the Practice ABW.
The articles that you use for your ABWs must be primary studies; in other words, each article must have a method and results section. Do NOT use purely theoretical essays in which the authors did not collect and analyze data— if you do, you will receive a zero (0). Do NOT use conference papers, dissertations, or book chapters for the ABWs— if you do, you will receive a zero (0).
Each ABW has 8 sections:
(1) The APA citation for the article
(2) The rationale/justification of the study: The rationale and/or justification of a study is typically found in the introductory paragraph(s) and in the literature review of a scholarly journal article. The rationale and/or justification includes a variety of claims and/or arguments that help explain why the topic of the article is important and/or why the study is needed. Read through the introduction and literature review portions of the article, looking for a?_uUrs to the following questions (this should help you identify the authors’ rationale):
• Do the authors claim the topic impacts a lot of people? How so?
• Do the authors say the study advances the field of communication? How so?
• Do the authors claim the study can help people in some way in their professional lives or personal lives? How so?
• Does the study attempt to advance theory in some way? How so?
• Is this an important topic that we do not know much about and should? When making this argument as part of their rationale, authors often say “few studies have examined….” or “Topic X is understudied” or “there is a gap in the research regarding….”
Remember that rationales often include multiple arguments. Once you have identified the author’s arguments, list them in the second box of the ABW worksheet. Please use bullet points. Also, make sure you PARAPHRASE this entire section.
(3) The theory or theories used: When scholars use a theory, they usually dedicate a portion of the literature review to the theory. They will explain what the theory describes or predicts, and summarize some of the research on their topic that has used the theory. For this portion of the ABW (the third box), you just need to list the theory being used. There is no need to paraphrase the name of the theory or to put it in quotation marks. If a study does not use a theory, put N/A for “not applicable.” However, if the study does not use a theory, it likely will NOT help you for your Literature Review paper; as such, you should probably choose a different article.
(4) Research participants: This information can be found in the “Method” section of the article. The most important information here is the number of participants, followed by any requirements one must meet in order to participate in the study. For example, if participants must be married, of a certain age, or of a certain sex, you would indicate this. If the study does not involve human subjects, put N/A for this section.
(5) Texts/artifacts being analyzed: Examples of texts or artifacts would be newspaper articles or television ads. If a study involves an analysis of texts or artifacts (look to the “Method” section of the article), indicate the number and type. If the study does not involve texts or artifacts, put N/A for this section (the fifth box).
(6) Hypotheses and research questions: This is the only portion of the ABW in which you can quote the article. In fact, you are required to quote the article here. Hypotheses and research questions are typically woven through the literature review or placed at the end of the literature review (and before the method section). Sometimes, they will be clearly listed and demarcated (for example, H1 or RQ2), and sometimes they will not. Locate the hypotheses and research questions in the article. Then, make sure you write out each hypothesis and/or research question word for word AND put quotation marks around those words AND indicate the page number in the parenthetical citation at the end of the quotation. Do NOT try to paraphrase this section.
(7) The research methods employed: For the seventh box, you should have two bullet points.
• The first bullet point should identify the general type of methodology employed: quantitative or qualitative.
i. If you do not know what those words mean, please read Chapter 3 of your textbook.
ii. It will help you to remember that scholars who adhere to the objective paradigm tend to use quantitative methods—they analyze data through statistical methods (so if you see a lot of numbers and/or Greek letters in the results section of the article, it’s likely quantitative).
iii. Scholars who adhere to the interpretive and critical paradigms tend to employ qualitative methods—rather than run statistical analyses with numerical data, qualitative researchers focus on words and meanings (so data is often presented in the results section in the form of quotes from participants or from a text, like a speech).
• The second bullet point should indicate the specific methods that were used: surveys, interviews, observation, experiments, etc.
i. Remember that not all studies are experiments.
ii. Again, Chapter 3 of your textbook indicates specific methods commonly used by quantitative researchers (who tend to adhere to the objective paradigm) and by qualitative researchers (who tend to adhere to the interpretive and/or critical paradigms).
(8) Results/findings: In a scholarly journal article, the results are presented after the method section. For each hypothesis, you should provide one of three terms/phrases: supported, unsupported, or partially supported. If there are research questions, make sure you provide the answers to the research questions. If need be, you can quote (rather than paraphrase) the answers to the research questions. If you do quote the article, make sure you include quotation marks and the page number. Make sure you list out the hypotheses and research questions with their corresponding results as shown in the ABW examples posted on Blackboard. If you lump everything together so that I have to “dig” for your answers for each hypothesis and/or RQ, you will receive a 0 for this section.