Understanding and Evaluating Research: A Critical Guide

Understanding and Evaluating Research: A Critical Guide shows students how to be critical consumers of research and to appreciate the power of methodology as it shapes the research question, the use of theory in the study, the methods used, and how the outcomes are reported. The book starts with what it means to be a critical and uncritical reader of research, followed by a detailed chapter on methodology, and then proceeds to a discussion of each component of a research article as it is informed by the methodology. The book encourages readers to select an article from their discipline, learning along the way how to assess each component of the article and come to a judgment of its rigor or quality as a scholarly report.

 Dr. Sue L. T. McGregor (Professor Emerita) is a Canadian home economist (more than 45 years) recently retired from Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax Nova Scotia. She was one of the lead architects for the interuniversity doctoral program in educational studies, serving as its inaugural Coordinator. She has a keen interest in home economics philosophy, transdisciplinarity, and consumer studies. She is a TheAtlas Fellow (transdisciplinarity), a Docent in Home Economics at the University of Helsinki, the Marjorie M. Brown Distinguished Professor (home economics leadership), the Karpatkin International Consumer Fellow, and she received the TOPACE International Award (Berlin) for distinguished international consumer scholar. Affiliated with 20 professional journals, she has 160 peer-reviewed publications, 60 book chapters, 10 monographs, and four books. She has delivered 27 keynotes and invited talks in 12 countries. Dr. McGregor is Principal Consultant for The McGregor Consulting Group (1991) http://www.consultmcgregor.com, sue.mcgregor@msvu.ca