Research Articles: A Comparative Analysis

 Furlano, P., Godoy, B. & Goyeneche, X                                                                                

A Comparative Analysis of Education and Medicine Research Articles

Research Articles (RAs) are papers written by investigators to illustrate an outcome of scientific research with supporting data. RAs are generally divided into different sections, namely Title, Abstracts, Acknowledgements, Introduction, Literature Review, Methods, Results, Discussions, Recommendations, References and Appendixes (Swales & Feak, 1994). The purpose of the current study is to analyze and compare the Introduction and Methods sections as well as the Literature Review of two research papers of different disciplines; one in the education field and the other in the medicine one.

            Swales and Feak (1994) has created the Create a Research Space Model (C.A.R.S.) which describes the general organizational patterns as regards how writers should present their introductions. They suggest three Moves in RAs’ Introductions; in Move 1 the writer establishes a research territory by reviewing previous research and outlining the importance of the study; in Move 2 the author establishes a niche by indicating the gap that has been found in the area; and in Move 3 the writer occupies the niche by outlining the purposes of the current study and how the investigation will accomplish for the field. 

            Both analyzed articles attempt to show that the research studies are worth considering. Valk,  Rashid, and Elder,  (2010) remark the increasing exploration of the potential of mobile phones to facilitate learning nowadays; and Besierre, Pressman, Kiesler, and Kraut,  (2010) affirm that as the number of Internet users is growing rapidly, it is important to assess how it affects people’s well-being. As regards the revision of previous research, in the education research article the author makes more generalizations about the subject and reviews more in depth items of previous research. This is not as clear in the medicine article as there is little evidence of previous research in Move 1.

          As regards verb tenses and their mastering when writing different sections of research papers,  both articles make good use of  them as expected for introductions. The present simple is used to establish current state of knowledge and the writers’ research, the present perfect is used to say what has been found and the past simple, though it is not included in the introduction of the education paper, is used in the medicine one to show results of previous research.

The articles’ motivations for the study lack the exploitation of the proposed topic in question. They start Move 2 with a negative opening stating that more evidence is needed. On the one hand the authors of the educational paper state that: “however, there remains a lack of analysis that brings together the findings of the rising number of m-Learning projects in the developing world” ( Valk et al. 2010, p. 2).  On the other hand the medicine research points out that: “although prior research has shown…little reliable information exists about the impact of using the Internet to obtain health resources, especially in non-clinical populations” (Bessiere et al., 2010 ). Move 2 is very short as it is the link that joins Move 1 and 3.

Concerning Move 3, even though both articles outline the purpose of the study, they differ in some features included. The education paper announces principal findings and indicates the structure of the Research Paper. On the contrary, in the medicine article these features are placed in a different section namely Current Study.  The medicine article contains both a descriptive and a purposive statement as it not only states the purpose of the research but also describes the present study.  Besierre et al. (2010) announce that “the purpose of the current research was to determine whether using the internet for health purpose is beneficial or harmful to physical and psychological well-being.” (p.2). Furthermore, the author explains how the study was conducted. On the contrary the educational paper only contains a descriptive statement initiating Move 3. 

With reference to literature review, in the medicine article, as exposed previously, there is little on formation about the topic of the research paper. A more complete review is presented in two extra headings, Health Resources Online and Non-Medical Internet Use. Regarding education research paper the author makes a general revision of the literature, analyzing the topic in a broad way, placing specific information in three subsequent headings, Theories of Mobile Learning, The role of Mobiles in Improving Access to Education, and The Role of Mobiles in Promoting new Learning. 

            Both articles use a wide variety of sources. While the medicine article bases their searches on online medical journals and online libraries, the educational paper utilizes books as well as articles in its digital version, a newspaper article and a paper from a conference.  Regarding the way of acknowledging the sources chosen, the articles differ from the method employed. While the medicine paper acknowledges sources with a number system, the educational article uses in text citations following The American Psychological Association  (2008 ) manual’s requirements. 

When analyzing social scientific research papers it is indispensable to remember what type of research it is.  According to Sampieri, Collado and Lucio (1998), scientific research is a type of research which is systematic, controlled, empiric and critical. Systematic and controlled because as any discipline it is based on a system; empiric because it is based on observable issues and critical because it is under permanent objective observation and reflection. Thus, it is of utmost importance to remember research’s characteristics when delving  into this type of study.

To  be able to analyze research reports it is crucial to know about research types. Dankhe  (1986, cited in Sampieri et al., 1998) states that there are four types of research studies: exploratory, descriptive, correlational, and explanatory. Thus, each type of research study implements a different research method or strategy; components such as the design, data and sample will vary depending on the chosen research type and each of them is use different research tool to carry out the study.

In light of the typology to take into account when examining research reports, it can be identified that the paper in the educational field belongs to the descriptive type.  Sampieri et al. (1998)  state that descriptive studies measure concepts and focus on measuring the characteristics of a particular phenomenon. This type of research answers the questions who, what, where, when and how and deals with everything that can be counted or studied.

Valk   et al.   (2010) delved into case studies for the purpose of examining the existing evidence of m-Learning as a tool to exert a positive impact on educational outcome. The authors identified relevant m-Learning pilot projects by searching academic publications, as well as conducting a general internet search. The selected projects document results and have evidence, both qualitative and quantitative, thus, definitive conclusions can be drawn regarding the impact of mobile phone on education.

             As regards the method of study employed in the medicine field it can be assumed that it is a correlational study. According to Waters (n.d.) correlational research is a type of quantitative study in which two or more variables from the same group are analyzed and correlated (brought into reciprocal relation), to determine if there is a relationship or covariation between the variables.  Bessiere et al. (2010) used a non-experimental method in their research. Thus, they did not manipulate variables deliberately; they just observed the phenomenon and then analyzed it. The researchers conducted a national survey of US households, using random digit dialing,   to determine whether using the Internet for health purposes is beneficial or harmful to physical and psychological well-being.

In relation to the Method section, the medicine article includes the traditional subsections Procedure and Participants, it also adds Measures and Statistical Analysis subsections, omitting the Material one. On the contrary the educational article does not make the division among participants, method and procedure. And the information is placed in a subsection called Methodology.  Both articles contain a great amount of information. While the medical paper utilized technical vocabulary the explanations in the educational article are clearly exposed with simple language and straightforward explanations. The simple past tense is used to describe methods and data of the experiment.

            Although both papers do not follow strictly the requirements for writing research papers, they contain the information specified for each section. On the whole they provide the necessary information concerning introductions, literature reviews and method section and they are written in an academic style. In the hope of gaining understanding of the construction of research articles in different disciplines, an analysis of two research papers, a medicine and an educational one, was carried out. An awareness of the rules and conventions of research papers can help learners to become better writers and professionals and thus showing the path to develop themselves as members of a discourse community.

 References

          American Psychological Associattion (2008). Publication Manual.(5^th ed.). Washington, DC: British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.

Bessiere, K., Pressman, S., Kiesler, S., & Kraut, R. (2010). Effects of Internet Use on Health and Depression: A Longitudinal Study. Journal of Medical Internet Research,  12, (1).  Retrieved April, 2013 from:           http://www.jmir.org/2010/1/e6/

Hernández Sampieri, R., Fernández Collado, C., & Baptista Lucio, P. (1998). Metodología de la investigación. (2nd ed.). McGraw Hill: Mexico

Swales,  J. M., & Feak, C. B. (1994). Academic writing for graduate students: A course for non-native speakers of English. Ann Harbour, MI: The University of Michigan Press.

 Valk, J., Rashid, A., & Elder, L.  (2010). Using Mobile Phones to Improve Educational Outcomes: An analysis of evidence from Asia. International  Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 11(1). Retrieved April 2013 from http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ881581.pdf

            Waters, J. (n.d.). Correlational resarch. Retrieved April , 2013 from http://www.capilanou.ca/programs/psycology/students/research/correlation/html