Literature Review

For this assignment you will focus on three-five studies relevant to an area of research on human performance and you will present your synthesis and observations about this research to your peers. The goal of this exercise is to examine the research, objectives, experimental methods and to place the research in historical context. The following questions were created by Dr. Lanou, UNCA HW Dept. The questions should be useful in helping you identify and critically evaluate studies as you are culling the field determineing which studies to include in your examination.

I expect you will answer most if not all of these questions. Notice that this review is not just reiterating the research but interpreting it for the class. Please Time yourself so that your presentation is no more than 5-8 minutes.

These will be presented April 21st.

Questions to ask ourselves when evaluating studies…

What is the research question or questions?

What type of design is utilized? Is the design appropriate to the research question?

How many subjects?

What type of sampling was used (i.e. was it randomized?)

What measures were used? Are these measures appropriate to the research question?

What are the main reported outcomes?

What conclusions are drawn from the findings? Do the conclusions match the findings?

What types of bias are likely or possible in this study design? Are there any possible confounding factors you can identify? How did they control for confounders and other bias?

Do you think the study has internal validity? Explain.

If so, do you think the study has external validity (generalizability)? If so, to what groups?

Who funded the study (if noted)?

What questions are missing?