Requirements: You are required to search for and retrieve three separate pieces of empirical research relating to your intended research concept that have been published in peer-reviewed academic journals. You are then required to write a critical review about each piece of research explaining the appropriateness of each study's research design to your proposed research concept. Specific instructions are located below.
Be clear that you must review empirical research published as articles in peer-reviewed academic journals. Empirical research/studies are where the author(s) have collected and analysed data. Typically, such articles will exhibit a distinct methodology/methods section (though the actual heading will vary between articles), and a section presenting analysis of data. Empirical research articles contrast with the other main form of articles published in peer-reviewed journals – conceptual articles. Conceptual articles typically review the literature on a certain subject, or may develop theoretical ideas without analysing data. Conceptual articles are not suitable for this assignment. There is no date limit on the articles you review. Ask your lecturer if unsure.
Peer-reviewed academic journals are those held by university libraries. Students can search for relevant research articles by searching scholarly databases such as Google Scholar or Proquest (see the "Databases" section of the SCU Library website). Full-text articles may then be retrieved by searching in the SCU Library catalogue, or in some cases scholarly databases may provide a direct link through to the full-text. Contact the Library if you are unsure how to search for, or retrieve articles – it is not within your lecturer's duties to teach you how to search for such information. Note that trade/industry practitioner publications are not a suitable source of research for this assignment.
Structure:Your methodological review should be structured as follows:
Introduction: Include your research aim and objectives (or questions/hypotheses if applicable). You may use the aim and objectives from Assessment 1, or if you have refined your aim and objectives since then, you may insert the newer version. This is to assist the marker in understanding the context in which the empirical studies have been reviewed.
Methodological review - present each review as follows:
1.Provide a bibliogrpahic heading for each academic journal article you have selected to review.
2.Provide a very brief overview of each research study so that the reader understands the aim of research and ithe context in which it was undertaken (do not go into great detail here, remember that the emphasis is on critically reviewing each study's research design).
3.Critically review the methodological approach, research strategy and data collection methods used for the research
4.Provide a conclusion that discusses the implications of the research for your proposed research project. Aspects you might consider discussing here include what are the current methodological approaches used for  your intended area of research? What lessons have you learned? What research design do you believe might be appropriate for your own study, and why? (Note: this should be one or two paragraphs).
5.Provide a reference list: Each empirical study/journal article that you have reviewed must appear in the reference list. Any other references cited within your methodological review must appear in the list of references. Reference list entries should adhere to the prescribed style guide. There should be a single reference list (i.e., not separate ones for journal articles and websites etc.), with citations listed in alphabetical order.

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