Illustration: Critical Analysis of a Quantitative Research

 Author: Ushna Nawaz

Study Title

In this study, the title is short and brief because it contains only ten words the variables are clearly defined and the population is mentioned in the title. Although, the study setting is not mentioned the choice of the population indicates the study setting.  The study title provides an appropriate perception for the overview of the study by reflecting an accurate and clear description. The title is mentioned as “Relationship between social support, self-esteem and post-traumatic Growth in heart attack patients”.

Author Credential

In this study, the author mentioned the name and the qualification.

Abstract

The abstract of the study briefly explains the study making it easy for the reader to comprehend the whole concept of the study. In this abstract, the author included the study purpose, method, main findings, and conclusion. However, recommendations are not explicitly mentioned in the abstract section. The word count is 174 which are a little more than the standard word count. Overall, the abstract is good and understandable.

Introduction

In this study, the introduction is mentioned under the heading of introduction where the author explains the variables. The introduction includes enormous background information about the variables (social support, self-esteem, and post-traumatic growth) that could be filtered or concise to put the focus mainly on relating the variables with the research context. However, the rationale is ambiguously mentioned in the introduction and the objective is mentioned briefly. The author clearly and thoroughly explained and discussed the variables. The variables used in the study are social support, self-esteem, and post-traumatic growth. The key element that is missing in the introduction is the explicit representation of the hypothesis. At the end of the introduction, the author did not include a research hypothesis or prediction on the possible outcome of the study.

Moreover, the language used in the introduction section is not simple and includes complex or technical words/terminologies. Throughout the introduction, the author relied on a mix of past and present tense. However, the author fails to mention the gaps in the knowledge and why the variables are being studied.

Literature Review

The literature review is not treated as a separate chapter and comprises the information and results of previous research (explaining the relationship among variables), conceptual framework, objectives, and hypotheses. All these components (mentioned above in this paragraph) are explained under the introduction heading.

The literature review includes studies from year 2004 to 2018. Although it does not adhere to the standard of adding studies from the previous five years, it provides a comprehensive review of the previous work/studies. The literature review section includes multiple sources from journals, research papers, and articles. However, the study does not highlight the presence of primary and secondary sources or studies.

The literature review is well organized, starting with an introduction, identifying the keywords, and adding related information. It included the studies that are relevant to the research context. The major parts of the studies (like results), their limitations, and strengths are also included. Only those studies have been added in this section that are relevant to the current study and support the research question; studies that have discussed the variables, social support, self-esteem, and post-traumatic growth. The review includes previous studies related to the research question that aligns with the objective of the study.

Theoretical and Conceptual Framework

The study included multiple theories under the variables but did not include a proper theoretical framework of the current study. However, it includes an explicit conceptual framework representing the main idea of the study. The conceptual framework states that social support, self-esteem, and post-traumatic growth are related to each other. It also visualizes that social support is the predictor of self-esteem and post-traumatic growth. Overall, the conceptual framework provides a clear picture of the current study.

Variable and Hypothesis

In this research, the author used three variables (social support, self-esteem, and post-traumatic growth) where, social support is the independent variable, and self-esteem and post-traumatic growth are the dependent variables. Regarding the hypotheses, the researcher formulated eight hypotheses based on the relationship among variables and how they link with the demographics. All the hypotheses are simple and non-directional.

Ethical Consideration

The author did not mention the approval from the committee before conducting the study. However, it explains that the permissions were taken from the hospitals and also from the participants before collecting information. The objective of the study was explained to the hospital and participants before obtaining their consent. Overall, some ethical standards were followed and some were neglected.

Methodology

Research Design

In this study, the author mentioned that the cross-sectional research design was used and the data was collected from 120 heart attack patients. However, the researcher did not describe the research design in design. All the questionnaires (self-report measures) are described and the data was collected from different hospitals. However, the time period for collecting data is not mentioned.

Sample and Sampling Method

The study mentioned that the sample of 120 heart attack patients was included in the present study through a purposive sampling technique. Both inclusion and exclusion are mentioned in the study as patients of heart attack were included in the present study whereas, healthy people and patients with other diseases were excluded in the present study. The sample size calculation method is not mentioned in the study.

Data Collection Method

The researcher described the procedure of data collection. For data collection, three scales were used. Permission was granted by the hospital administration for data collection. Under the supervision of doctors and nurses data was collected from patients of heart attack. The questionnaire was given to participants by a personal approach. The consent form was the first portion and the demographic information form was the second portion of the questionnaire. Demographic information of the respondents in terms of gender, age, duration of illness, residential status, financial problem, family system, marital status, and education was obtained from patients, and after the completion of the questionnaire researcher rechecked for any left item. In the end, the participants and authorities of the center were heartily thanked for their cooperation. The researcher also mentioned that among 120 participants, 62 were male and 58 were female.

Instruments

In this research article, the researcher has used three previously developed questionnaires (a) Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, (b) Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale, and (c) Post Traumatic Growth Inventory. The researcher mentioned that the Urdu versions of these scales were used. Two measures were translated and the researcher explained the procedure that is followed to translate the measures. All three measures comprise of Likert-type scale. The measures are thoroughly explained in the study and further researchers conducted a pilot study also.

Validity and Reliability

The researcher also discussed the validity and reliability of each instrument. The values of validity and reliability given in previous studies are also included in the current study (with reference) ensuring the validity and reliability of the instruments. Under the pilot study, Cronbach’s coefficient was used to assess the internal consistency reliability of scales.

Data Analysis

In this research, the Statistical Package for Social Science 22 version was used to analyze the gathered data. Further, the researcher explains that the scores were tabulated for each instrument. Scores were reported descriptively using means, frequencies, and percentages. The correlational statistical method was used to evaluate the relationship between variables and the t-test was used to calculate the mean differences in demographics. Cohen’s d was calculated to determine the effect size. Therefore overall the statistical analysis is described clearly in this research paper.

Study Findings

The researcher used tables and descriptions to report the results. In accordance with this research article, the finding result can be summarized as follows; (a) there is a positive correlation between perceived social support, significant others, family support, friends support, self-esteem, post-traumatic growth, relationships with others, new life possibilities, personal strength growth, spiritual change and appreciation of life, and (b) there is no significant mean difference among gender, age, education, residential status, financial problem, psychological problem, family system, and duration of illness in social support, significant other, family support, friends support, self-esteem, post-traumatic growth, relationship to others, new life possibilities, personal strength growth, spiritual change and appreciation of life. However, urban people are significantly higher in family support and self-esteem. At the end of the results chapter, the author provided a summary of the results.

Therefore, the researcher described the findings, and eight hypotheses were tested using statistical analysis. Overall the description of the finding is very simple and clear to be understood by the readers.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The study concluded that the included measures, the Multidimensional scale of perceived social support, Rosenberg self-esteem scale, and Post-traumatic growth inventory are reliable. Further, it concluded that social support has a significant positive correlation with self-esteem and post-traumatic growth. Demographics have no significant mean differences, except urban are significantly high in family support and self-esteem.

Finally, the author discussed the limitations and recommendations. The following limitations and recommendations are included in the study (a) demographic distribution was not so equal thus no mean differences were found. If the data were collected equally then we could find a relationship with demographics, (b) we cannot generalize this study in Pakistan as the researcher has not collected data from entire cities of Pakistan, and (c) in government sector data collection was difficult, government sector should facilitate the researcher to collect data. However, the researcher did not add recommendations for future research. Overall, it provides enough details for readers about the study and the relationship among variables.

Article References

In this study, the references are from the years 2004 to 2018, following the APA format. The references are arranged in alphabetical order. All the references are related to the relevant topic and could be found in the reference list and the length of the reference is also good enough.

Conclusion

Overall, the current study is satisfactory and fulfills the criteria of good study. However, it fails to mention some important elements such as approval from the research committee and not mentioning the sample size calculation method. Also, the writing style and language used in the study could be improved.