Exam Source Analysis stuff Flashcards
Evaluating reliability
Reliability questions require a person to make a judgement on the degree to which a source is accurate. Can you ‘rely’ on the source to be accurate? This judgement should be based on the information in the source and in the acknowledgements section. The topic sentence in a reliability question should make a clear statement of how you evaluate the reliability. For example, the source is reliable, the source has limited reliability, etc. The following aspects can be used as a checklist to make judgements on a source’s reliability.
Evaluating reliability
1. Authorship:
: the most important element of reliability is authorship. So how do you know if an author is reliable? A source with an unnamed author is always unreliable, for example Wikipedia. Blogs regardless of domain are unreliable. Anyone can write a blog, they often are opinion pieces that are not fact checked. This includes blogs related to university or educational websites. An author with a level of expertise increases reliability. So, research organisations such as Pew and Mccrindle, government agencies or in the instances of the Catholic Church a member of the Magisterium, the Catechism or a theologian. An author who is an expert attached to a university or research institute increases reliability. A source that is adapted in an unspecified way has limited reliability because you cannot know what adaption has taken place.
Evaluating reliability
2. Publisher/Domain
The domain .edu is reserved for colleges and universities, while .gov denotes a government website. These two are usually reliable sources for information. Be careful with the domain .org, because as .org is usually used by non-profit organizations which may have an agenda of persuasion rather than education. A .com website does not tell you much about the reliability. Some commercial providers are reliable, such as online encyclopedias.
Evaluating reliability
3. Writing Style
Poor spelling and grammar are an indication that the source may not be reliable. Reliable sources are typically proof read and watch writing style closely. Writing that appears to have obvious bias or unsubstantiated opinion is not reliable. The use of first person in a source also suggests the source has limited reliability. Reliable sources often provides references and statistics from other reliable sources, such as the Australia Bureau of Statistics or a research organisation. Statistics are in turn reliable when information on sample size of any study is provided.
Evaluating reliability
4. Currency/Date
– By including a publishing date a source allows readers to make decisions about whether that information is recent enough for their purposes. However, if the authorship, use of references, publisher and writing style point to a source not being reliable, a recent publishing date will not change this.
Revision of Essay Structure
1. Introduction
Begin with your thesis statement. This should be a statement of what you will address in the following essay. In general, this best way to write a thesis statement is to take your question and rewrite is as a statement. Next, briefly summarise your main ideas. These ideas will form the basis of the topic sentences of each body paragraph. While you may have a global statement, this is not necessary in a HASS essay.
Revision of Essay Structure
2. Body Paragraphs
Begin with a clear topic sentence which should introduce one of the ideas previously stated in your introduction. Develop this one idea. Use evidence and clearly define any terms.
Revision of Essay Structure
Conclusion
Your conclusion should be similar to your introduction. Begin by restating your thesis statement in slightly different language to that used in your introduction. Summarise the main points you have made. No new information in a conclusion
Missing Data
A missing data question asks you to identify information that is missing, that in some way limits the reliability of a source. Look here in the acknowledgement section to see if any obvious information is missing such as author or date of publishing. In graphical information look to see the axes are labelled and that there is a consistent scale. Pictorial information is often provided in these questions. Look here to see if information is provided about sample size or the location of the research.
Research plan
Producing a Research Plan
If you asked to write a research plan you must use the structure of research/focus questions, gather information, analyse information and communicate information.
Research plan
Write a research question to direct the investigation and focus questions to further refine your investigation.
Your research question must be on the topic you are asked to research, be written in third person, be open ended and have a question mark. Do not use second person, ‘Do you think’…this is a survey question. Your focus questions should relate to be the topic but can be more specific that your Borland research question.
Research question
E.g. How has the religious practice of consecrated life developed since the third century?
Focus Question
What are the main developments of consecrated life?
Producing a Research Plan
Gather information
In social research you need to gather information from individuals or sources that will provide new knowledge. Some ways that information can be gathered include: surveys, interviews, a literature review a focus group.
Know the information gathering method of interviewing. This method will allow a detailed exploration of views concerning the major developments in consecrated life.
Producing a Research Plan
Analyse information
This is how you will make meaning of the data you gather in your interview. You can analyse data by comparing different forms of data, categorizing the data you have gathered of by looking for themes of in interview transcripts for common ideas that you can draw conclusions from. Looking for themes is a good example of analysis to use.
E.g. The interviews will be transcribed, read and analysed for common ideas.
Producing a Research Plan
Communicate information
E.g. The findings of my investigation will be communicated in an article written for an academic journal as this will allow a detailed discussion and will also be highly reliable due to being peer-reviewed.
Producing a Research Plan
Justify
You may be asked to justify your choice of gathering, analysis or communication. This means you should support an argument or conclusion; give reasons for your statements or comments. (This is a verb that is often used in research plan questions, for example justify why you chose a particular form of data analysis or communication).
Ethical Research
Ethical data collection includes respecting one’s confidentiality and right to anonymity, asking comfortable and inappropriate and respecting cultural/ religious investigation. As this research investigation involves religion and spirituality it will involve beliefs and values that one holds very deeply and personally. Hence to maintain the integrity of each person ethical data collection must be maintained. Citing the sources and giving acknowledgement is also important.
Ethical Research
Point 1:
- A researcher must attribute sources in communication of findings. Sources of information should be attributed by using in text references and a bibliography. Attributing sources ensure that work of other researchers is not plagiarized.
Ethical research point 2:
- Ethical research requires that the anonymity and confidentiality of any people who participate in the research should be respected. No names or identifying information should be used in any communication of findings. Instead, research participants will be given pseudonyms.
Ethical research point 3
- Informed consent needs to be provided by any research participant. People who participate in a research project must know the purpose of the research and what findings will be used for prior to being interviewed or surveyed. An explanation of the research process should be provided to all participants in writing prior to the commencement of research.
Ethical Research
Point 4
- It is important to respect the cultural sensitivities of research participants. This means a researcher should respect the religious values of people they interview or survey. For example, an interviewer should using not make negative comment on religious practices with which they personally disagree.
Contestable:
A contestable source is a text, graph or image that the reader perceives as containing inaccurate information. To contest a source requires a person to provide an argument on why the source contains elements of inaccuracy.
Usefulness
This is the degree to which a source can be used to address a question. The best synonym for usefulness is ‘relevance’. How relevant is the source for answering a question? Your topic sentence should make a clear statement on how you perceive the usefulness of the source. For example, ‘Source 1A is useful for understanding the issue of human trafficking’. ‘Source 1A has limited usefulness for understanding the issue of human trafficking’.
Beneath is a guide for answering usefulness questions.
Step 1:
- Is the information in the source relevant to the syllabus point or the topic you are being asked to address? Use information from the source to show this relevance by explaining how it relates to question you are being asked. This should be the main focus of your answer.
Beneath is a guide for answering usefulness questions.
Step 2:
- Are there any obvious statistics or numerical data that can be used to understand the syllabus point or topic. Provide examples to explain how these can be used to answer the question.
Beneath is a guide for answering usefulness questions.
Step 3
- Does the information seem to be accurate or reliable? Inaccurate information is not useful. This should be no more than one sentence and should not be the main focus of your answer. However, unreliable sources are not useful, so one sentence on accuracy is good.
