Research design, and generalizability of the results

Unit VII Article Critique
Find a scholarly article related to the concepts or applications of the principles from this
course. An article that is an actual research study is much easier to review and critique
than a summary article or commentary. Summarize this article in your own words, and
discuss why you chose it and how it is related to this course, including any relevant
concepts, principles, and theories from this course. Critique this article from a scientific
point of view, including any issues in research methodology, as well as, but not limited to,
the selection and inclusion of participants, use of measures, research design, and
generalizability of the results. In addition, comment on potential suggestions for
improvements or future research in this area using your critical thinking skills.
This Assignment should be at least one to three pages formatted using APA style. Use your
own words, and include citations for sources (if needed) as needed to avoid plagiarism.
The book that is used for this class is Learning and Behavior. Choose an article that you
think is good for this course and you and you may use it to write about.

Article critique

This paper summarizes and criticizes the article, “Costs and benefits of autonomy when
learning a task” an experimental approach”. The article shows the relationship between
autonomy and learning outcomes. The article postulates that when individuals learn a new task,
there is a need to have autonomy rather than lack of it. However, increasing autonomy beyond a
certain level may not yield any additional advantages in regards to motivation to learn and
learning outcome (Wielenga-Meijer, Taris, Wigboldus, Kompier, 2011). This may also be
disadvantageous when it comes to learning efficiency. The reason for choosing this article is
because, it is a peer-reviewed article and it relates to learning. Furthermore, the article is relevant
to the study topics because, it talks about the motivations of learning something that takes place
in an individual’s minds or cognitive.
The article has a hypothesis, which the researchers endeavor to test. The hypothesis
helped the researchers to narrow their scope of the research. There is a methodology adopted by

ARTICLE CRITIQUE 2
the researchers. The research was carried out among 95 participants selected randomly. This
therefore, allowed the study to be representative. However, the only limitation is that, the
researchers did not assure their respondents’ privacy or confidentiality of their participation.
ANOVA was conducted on the three levels of autonomy, moderate and full autonomy. Self-
report variables were measured directly after standards test 2 to ensure that performance of the
tests could not affect the data. The researchers generalized their results by stating that
autonomy was imperative to help enhance learning and performance. In general, the study was
credible and reliable. The researchers did an extensive research by sourcing information from
other researchers to substantiate their claims and develop their arguments. Even though, the
study was reliable, there is need to ensure that in future studies, other variables are investigated
to find out how they relate to learning. These variables may include, age, experience and the
tangible rewards that an individual is entitled to.

ARTICLE CRITIQUE 3

Reference

Wielenga-Meijer, E., Taris, T., Wigboldus, D., Kompier, A. (2011). Costs and Benefits of
Autonomy When Learning a Task: An Experimental Approach, Journal of Social
Psychology, 151(3): 292-313.