Part I: Article summary
Write a brief review of the article’s aim and purpose by addressing the following questions.
What is the research topic, and why it is (scientifically and/or socially) important?
What is the research gap or knowledge gap as identified by the article’s literature review?
How does the paper aim to fill in that research gap?
What are the major findings?
Part II: Assessment of data quality
What is the source of data for the article? Describe the unit of analysis, time period covered by the data, the number of observations, the key variables, procedure of data collection etc.
How appropriate is the data for the research topic?
What are the potential limitations of the data (including issues in data collection and sample design, measurement of variables, missing values etc.)?
Part III: Assessment of research design and method
How suitable is the research design for the research goal of the article?
Is the research method suited for the data?
What are the statistical (or data) assumptions of the research method (or the specific model)?
Are you satisfied with the goodness-of-fit of the estimated models? Explain using specific results.
What kinds of model diagnostics were implemented, and what kinds of (additional or substitute) diagnostics would you recommend?
How many of the hypothesized relationships (if any) are supported by the analysis? Are there sufficient explanations for negative results (i.e. for hypothesis that were not supported by the analysis?)
Part IV: Critical evaluation of the article
In terms of overall quality, and especially with respect to research design and method, what are the major strengths of the article?
In terms of overall quality, and especially with respect to research design and method, what are the major limitations of the article?
If you were to write a follow up paper on this topic, what potential improvements or extensions would you do in your article (in terms of data, research design, research method, or presentation)?