Purpose: Students will select a published, peer-reviewed research study related to their research topic in order to write a critique of the overall study and discuss the implications for art therapy research and practice.

Tasks: The critique must include the following elements:
Objective, research question, and/or hypotheses: What is the main purpose of this study? What is the justification for studying this topic? What is the identified research gap?

Literature review: Is a relationship to previous research made clear? Is the literature review comprehensive?

Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods? Single-subject design, randomized, exploratory? What is the justification for this type of design for studying the objective? Has a foundation for the theories been provided? How does this design inform art therapy theory and/or practice? (short description how they conducted study)

Sampling: Who were the subjects or participants for this study? How were they recruited? What are the advantages and disadvantages to consider in interpreting the findings?

Instrumentation (if applicable): Were the instruments (measures, scales, assessments…) well explained? Was the rationale for their use justified?

Procedures: What did the researchers do to find their answers? How were these procedures related to the study’s objective?

Validation: What steps did the researcher(s) take to offer assurance that the procedures addressed credibility and/or internal validity? (do they recognized the? why in this way? Why they think this is successful)

Data Analysis: What did the researchers do to analyze and making sense of data?
(HOw they study the data, procedures)

Implications: What are the major findings? How is this study relevant to student’s research interest?