STEP ONE:
Refer/use the template below for the format to use/follow for your project (last two pages below).
STEP TWO:
Students will locate a published study/research article related to a particular area of interest they feel presents important considerations for the practice of emergency management.
Tips for considering and locating a potential article/study are provided below.
STEP THREE:
Using the chosen study/published research article, students will then answer the following questions provided in the checklist, Questions to Consider when Evaluating Research, from Leedy and Ormrod (also provided in the template following this overview/instruction). For questions posed in #9 of the checklist, make sure to consider and discuss the relevance of the study points to emergency management practice considerations, particularly as you discuss what points may or may not have a certain level of importance in your opinion. Your discussion should have clear citations to the research material and bibliographic sources you are using to support your position; otherwise, this would be plagiarism and, therefore, unacceptable.
The project should be typed, double-spaced, have 1 margins on all sides, use 12 point font
Locating Published Research
Getting started: You want to identify your area of interest, ensuring your choice is applicable to the goal of emergency management (research related to warning, evacuation, behavior myths, emergence others?). Once you identify your area of interest, you may need/wish to narrow your focus even more (e.g., if you are interested in evacuation, perhaps consider this in a particular situation such as evacuation of nursing homes for hurricanes).
One possible resource for your search is the Library, Jacksonville State University
www.jsu.edu (click Library link to search for peer reviewed publications of research/studies
applicable to your area of interest) JSU has subscriptions to many journals that may be helpful to the goals of this project. As a JSU student, you would benefit from these subscriptions if you search via the Library website. There are many electronic databases that could be helpful, too, if you are not trying to stay with one particular journal.
For example, in the latter case, once you have entered the section to search for databases (you can choose to search all databases if you wish), you can narrow your search based on your subject (e.g., if you wanted to review publications on evacuation of nursing homes, you could enter evacuation in Subject Area AND nursing homes in Subject Area, and options based on this will then be listed).
Again, there are many ways you can approach locating your study for the project, as well as other substantiating research you may need as applicable. You can search via a key word if you know your area of interest, or, if you really seem to appreciate the work of a particular researcher, yet are open to the possibility of the subject, you could try your initial search by an author search instead. Either way, you need to ensure your choice is appropriate to the purpose of the assignment and is related to the goals of emergency management.
While not an exhaustive list, some other potential links you may find helpful as well include:
Disaster Research Center, University of Delaware
http://www.udel.edu/DRC/
International Journal of Mass Emergencies & Disasters
http://www.ijmed.org/
Natural Hazards Center, University of Colorado at Boulder
http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/research/
http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/resources/
Hint: If you locate a potential study or publication outside of searching via the JSU library, you may also possibly be able to locate the same publication through the JSU library. This is just something to keep in mind in the event you encounter an article you especially wish to review as a result of your own search but is not seemingly available without purchase. I cannot guarantee JSU will have available all subscriptions or publications you may wish to view, but, again, it is worth a try to check the library, too, if you are prompted for a fee for a particular article elsewhere that you feel you must review for your own project.
Note, it is certainly possible to complete the assignment without purchasing any articles, though, if one is open to the subject and publication(s) to be chosen for the project.
Again, make sure to cite as may be applicable any/all resources.
Wikipedia is NOT an academic resource.
**Please refer to the next page for a general sample template to follow for the
organization of your assignment.**
Name
EM 481
Spring 2016
Evaluation of Published Research Article: (Provide the Title/name of the article, author/s, and publication date of the article)
Questions to Consider when Evaluating Research
In what journal or other source did you find the research article? Was it reviewed by experts in the field before it was published? That is, was the article in a juried (refereed) publication?
Provide your answer as applicable to your chosen research article. (Double
space answer)
Does the article have a stated research question or problem? That is, can you determine the focus of the authors work?
Provide your answer as applicable to your chosen research article. (Double
space answer)
Does the article describe the collection of new data, or does it describe and synthesize previous studies in which data were collected?
Provide your answer as applicable to your chosen research article. (Double
space answer)
Is the article logically organized and easy to follow? What could have been done to improve its organization and readability?
Provide your answer as applicable to your chosen research article. (Double
space answer)
Does the article contain a section that describes and integrates previous studies on this topic? In what ways is this previous work relevant to the research problem?
Provide your answer as applicable to your chosen research article. (Double
space answer)
If the author explained procedures that were followed in the study, are these procedures clear enough that you could repeat the work and get similar results? What additional information might be helpful or essential for you to
replicate the study?
Provide your answer as applicable to your chosen research article. (Double
space answer)
If data were collected, can you describe how they were collected and how they were analyzed? Do you agree with what was done? If you had been the researcher, what additional things might you have done (if applicable)?
Provide your answer as applicable to your chosen research article. (Double
space answer)
Do you agree with the interpretation of the results? Why or why not?
Provide your answer as applicable to your chosen research article. (Double
space answer)
Finally, think about the entire article. What is, for you, most important? What do you find most interesting? What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of this article? Will you remember this article in the future? Why or why not?
Provide your answer as applicable to your chosen research article. (Double
space answer) Remember to consider and discuss the relevance of the study points to emergency management practice considerations, particularly as you discuss what points may or may not have a certain level of importance in your opinion.
*Your discussion should have clear citations to the research material and other bibliographic sources, if/as applicable, you might also use in your discussion if/as may be needed. If you use multiple bibliographic sources, you will need to include your reference page at the end of the assignment as well.
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