AUTHOR
•Google the first author's name. Check beyond the first three pages of results. What did you find?
•Where are they from?
•Where did they go to school?
•Are they affiliated with any groups?
•Who is their employer? What do you know about their employer?
•Copy and past a link to another article or book chapter this author has written.
•Do they have their own website? Visit it.
•Complete these steps for any co-authors. (You don't need to report your findings for all authors, but note anything interesting that you find.)
CONTENT AND STRUCTURE
•Google the article's name with the word criticism/critique, controversy, retraction, problem, bias, etc. What did you find?
•Is the methodology sound? What population was used? What techniques? Is the sampling biased? Is there a control group? Does it matter if there is a control group (and why or why not)?
•What are some biases I bring to my reading and interpretation of this resource?
•Has this article been retracted or changed since publication?
•Has anyone every tried to reproduce or replicated this study? Could they do so successfully? Why or why not?
•Are the data (including surveys and questionnaires if applicable) from this article open (i.e. available for anyone to examine)? Does it matter if these data are open or not?
•How does this research and its findings relate to other research or discussion in the same field? (Cite one or two examples of articles/blog posts/reviews that do or not support your article's findings. Also, using Google Scholar report approximately how many other works have cited your article.)
JOURNAL/PUBLICATION
•Who are the members of the editorial board of the journal? What do I know about them?
•What are the criteria for submission or publication? Would it be easier for some people to publish here than others?
•Google the name of the journal in which the article was published. Go beyond the first 3 pages of results. What did you learn/find? What kind of reputation does it have? What company publishes the journal? Is there a Wikipedia entry? What does it say?
•Visit the publisher’s website and journal’s website (if applicable). What did you learn?
•Who reads this journal? Who is the audience? How do most people access it? Does the readers have to pay money to access full-text? Why does it matter if readers have to pay?
OTHER QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER: You don't have to complete these, but if you were truly doing a comprehensive research evaluation once you had more professional or scholarly research experience, it would be good to answer them.
•Which articles and publications are cited? in this article? What do you know about them?
•Google any theories or old publications cited both in-text and in the references. Are they still relevant?
•What was the hypothesis the researchers tested? When did the authors determine the hypothesis?
•How could the language and terminology of this article be more more inclusive?
•Who else wrote chapters or articles in this publication? What do I know about them?
•Who sits on the board of directors of or leads this publishing company?
•Does this publishing company or journal take any steps to ensure diverse representation in what they publish?