Locke’s Textbook, Book Review Example

Scholars and students make decisions to conduct research for diverse reasons. For this reason every alumna student is in need to interpret and assess previously conducted research works with the purpose of complying with the demands of his or her university or college programs. Thus, in order to make the appropriate conclusions and to construct the right arguments, students have to be capable of interpreting and assessing the works of other researchers correctly and fully. Beginning researchers need to evaluate other research works to develop their awareness and knowledge, remain familiar with innovations and discoveries in their field, and augment their usefulness. Reading and Understanding Research by Locke, Silverman, and Spirduso (2004) is a noteworthy source of assistance for every person who chooses to undertake the assignment of evaluating research works, which can be unapproachable to a certain degree.

Reading and Understanding Research by Locke et al. (2004) represents a comprehensive piece of reading, since it is grounded on the wide-ranging skills of three extremely dynamic users, creators, and tutors of research in the sphere of schooling deeply and profoundly acquainted with the difficulties of reading and comprehending scholarly works. One of the work’s strongest arguments lies in the point that it pursues to accommodate the requirements of the all-encompassing variety of probable readers in numerous means. First, as the writers declare in the preamble of the work, it was intended to be utilized either as an objective lecture or as an addition to the practices delivered within scholarly research (Locke et al., 2004, p. 6). Second, all the way through the book, the writers reassure and simplify a flexible course-plotting through various sections. Third, the writers offer the lists of additional sources and references about associated questions that spread further than the objective of the book to the readers. In fact, Appendix A in the research book offers an interpreted list of additional references that can be useful to the students.

Overall, the book is divided into four key sections: (1) The Nature and Uses of Research Reports, (2) Quantitative Research, (3) Qualitative Research, and (4) Reading Research Reviews (Locke et al., 2004, p. 4). This work also contains two Appendices: (A) Annotated Bibliography of Supplementary References, and (B) Statistics: A Beginner’s Guide (Locke et al., 2004, p. 4). Throughout the book, the writers offer the diverse research examples, and additionally certify to deliver the message that the “nature of carrying out the research readings” is extremely multifaceted and that orderly classifications do not occur in the factual world (Locke et al., 2004, p. 17).

Therefore, this book is perfect for scholars, novice academics, or experts, since this crucial resource functions as path guidance for students who require studying and applying research outcomes. It assists them in pondering judgmentally about the trustworthiness of what they understand by presenting the ways to recognize difficulties and pose practical inquiries. Thus, the subsequent key features of this book are as follows; it:

• Undertakes no previous information about the research techniques
• Offers students a step-by-step arrangement for interpreting the compound semantics and designs utilized in reports and analyses
• Comprises the most popular setups for both qualitative and quantitative examination
• Presents both descriptive illustrations and authoritative teaching trainings
• Provides particular consideration to approaches for analytically assessing conveyed research
• Offers absolutely restructured references in addition to the explained booklist.

Moreover, this book is suitable for both high-level scholars and alumna students studying the social disciplines registered in preliminary research courses in addition to students in specialized research programs.

The book of Locke et al. (2004) is grounded on the idea that assisting in clarifying the procedure of “consuming research will not only make for better students, but will help make for better research” (Locke et al., p. 23). The writers postulate no extraordinary experience in research, and start by presenting and outlining the concept of assessing research works in a broader social background. According to Locke et al. (2004), “a research report gives the history of the study, including what the researcher wanted to find out and why it seemed worth discovering, how he or she gathered the information, and what he or she thought it all meant” (p. 16). Subsequently, they present the understanding of necessity of research, of how to discover and choose the appropriate reports, and how to assess research for reliability. A step-by-step interpretation of scholarly works utilizing quantitative and qualitative methods follows, and the concluding sections study the diverse kinds of research to be faced and the ways of examining the research more analytically in more detail. This work is crucial for beginning scholars (and for those who tutor them).

The analyzed book delivers a diversity of implementations (recording procedures, trainings, specifications, tables, etc.) that direct the students through choosing research works to read, understanding (or even analyzing) reports analytically, classifying possible difficulties or faults, clarifying research works (as a method to study in what way to interpret and comprehend research), classifying dissimilar research examples, and recording works of dissimilar types. Grounded on individual knowledge, the 12-step procedures for qualitative, quantitative, and evaluation research works are very convenient in assisting students to traverse through the scholarly works, and to remain structured while reading them. This book can help students in whichever discipline with no scholarly experience to understand academic research. Thus, they would be able not only to elicit the desired information, but also to present their understandings in order to create their own works when needed.

In the second section of Reading and Understanding Research, Locke et al. (2004) listed numerous restrictions of a research procedure that frequently direct to lack of reliability amongst the readers of a scholarly work. In conjunction with “technical problems”, problems of “poor scholarship” and “carelessness”, the work also depicts the problem of selection (Locke et al., 2004, pp. 46-51). Assembling appropriate examples for research assessment that “truly represent the population” is actually difficult in real lifetime circumstances (Locke et al., p. 49). “Lack of replication” is an additional difficulty (Locke et al., 2004, p. 49). A research work turns out to be less consistent if it is not recurrent. Scholars should generate a detailed plan to methodically examine the literature that successfully covers both printed and online sources of data. One portion of the blueprint should cover a plain record possession arrangement that will aid to organize the skilled work, to improve information for upcoming research and to avoid valuable information losses. For example, scholars can protect their works in the Internet with the help of their network browser. Therefore, this procedure will make it considerably easier to trace the desired article next time.

Moreover, it is prudent to generate a simple set of inquiries to rapidly examine the significance of a research work. Locke et al. (2004) advised to start with questioning five simple queries:

• “What is the report about?
• How does the study fit into what is already is known?
• How was the study done?
• What was found?
• What do the results mean?” (pp. 148-149).

As Locke et al. (2004) mentioned,

“we know of no magic trick or intellectual gimmick that will make reading research reports an easy task. What we can offer, however, is a means for organizing the process that will reduce the tendency to become overwhelmed by the flood of details that appear in most reports” (p. 74).

Demonstratively named “doing the 12 step”, the procedure is reasonably convenient (Locke et al., 2004, p. 67). Utilizing this method, the reader of a scholarly work uses a questionnaire for tracing responses to 12 important inquiries concerning the work. Samples comprise the simple research inquiry, who or what was researched, the key phases, the specified restrictions, and a transitory declaration of what the student found crucial.

Locke et al. (2004) are precise in their explanations and sustain an education method by presenting reassurance throughout the book. Numerous students discover that the numerical investigations offered in expert articles may be the most estranging features of studying. These persons will discover additional crucial information – a summary table defining some of the numerical examinations utilized by scholars. Moreover, the Appendix presents a short but inclusive summary of figures. Nevertheless, there are insufficient restrictions to this work. At the beginning, the way of writing and arrangement can appear to look more official than one can imagine after studying that the writers’ indicated objective is to make the issue simpler. Nonetheless, as one carries on to read the book, it turns out evident that the way of writing presents a supportive connection between conservative writing and scholarly writing.

Reading and Understanding Research by Locke et al. (2004) is a valuable addition to the reading catalogue of any consultant expecting to improve his or her talents. Students are expected to discover that the book gives them a more detailed comprehension of what to presume from experimental studies in addition to the essential self-reliance improvement in pending what may be an unapproachable sphere. Overall, this work is very systematic; it offers a good development of content in addition to the tractability in traversing through the sections, and can report the requirements of the wide variety of possible readers.

References

Locke, L.F., Silverman, S.J., & Spirduso, W.W. (2004). Reading and Understanding Research. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.