Techniques of Research

Article Critique

Lissia Gerber
Holly Mothes
The University of Akron

The article being used for the Higher Education group is Contextual Influences on
Parental Involvement in College Going: Variations by Socioeconomic Class.
It was written by Heather T. Rowan-Kenyon, Assistant Professor in the Department of
Leadership,
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Foundations, and Policy at the University of Virginia, Angela D. Bell a doctoral candidate
in higher education at the University of Georgia and Laura W. Perna an Associate
Professor in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania The Journal of
Higher Education, Vol. 79, No. 5 (September/October 2008). For the article the Gall criteria will
be used for evaluation. This is a study that draws on multilevel model of college enrollment and
multi level case studies of 15 high schools. It describes how parental involvement is shaped by
the school context and equally how parental involvement shapes the school context for college
opportunity (Rowan-Kenyon, Bell, Perna, 2008, p.565).
Introduction
The introduction section is extremely scholarly because it meets all three of the
evaluation criteria in the rating scale for qualitative research. The authors seem to express
knowledge of the topic by citing several sources, by providing the data from the National
Educational Longitudinal Study, and by speaking of the challenges of quantitative studies on
parental involvement. The citations of additional research studies substantiate the authors
knowledge of the topic. The reader gains the perception that the authors have done their own
literature and research reviews. The authors refer to the 15 case studies that are used and the
multilevel model of college enrollment.
There does not seem to be much bias throughout article. The information provided seems
to directly relate to the prior research done and the barriers to conducting the study. The language
does not seem to be strongly negative or positive.
Although the introductory paragraphs do not convey evidence of the research skills of
the authors, the qualifications of the researchers are demonstrated by their affiliation with higher
education. The authors are a doctoral candidate and two ranked professors affiliated with a
university so it is expected that they will use scholarly references. There is just not sufficient
evidence of the researchers abilities to conduct the research presented in the introductory
paragraph to confirm that the authors are quality researchers - they have an affiliation with
universities, but that alone does not validate their research skills.
The introductory section highlights the studies of Perna and Titus and references several
of their articles. It also speaks of the 15 case studies, and of prior studies regarding parental
involvement and socioeconomic barriers to parental involvement. The article speaks of the
challenges of measuring and researching parental involvement and the level of the quality of the
involvement (Rowan-Kenyon, Bell, Perna, 2008, p. 565).
There are several literature reviews that are mentioned throughout the article and in the
introductory section. The sources cited range in dates from the late 80s to mid- 2000's. The
thirty-eight studies used in the research range from 2008 to the oldest, 1987, an eleven year span,
with 25 articles falling in the years 2000 to 2008. Six of the thirtyeight articles were written by
one or two of the researchers. The information seems to be fairly current. The studies seem to be
scholarly as they refer to the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS). The introductory
paragraph cites other published research on the topic of the influence of parental involvement, it
also states that little is known about the variations in the relationship based on socioeconomic
status (Rowan-Kenyon, Bell, Perna, 2008, p. 565). The literature review in general is well
organized and clearly written.
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Methods Section
The research procedures section shows strong evidence that it is scholarly because it
meets all of the evaluation criteria. There is strong evidence that the researchers are using
information rich cases. The researchers provide very detailed descriptions of the sampling
process they used to select their participants as indicated on page 569. The researchers speak at
length of the states that were chosen, the population summary of each group that they were
targeting and the conditions for inclusion in the study.
There is strong evidence that the researchers provided rational for selecting the
participants, starting with the questions about the phenomenon that is being studied on page 568
and continuing with statics from those states on average levels of educational attainment. The
fact that there is variation within a particular part of the population, age 26 65, is of interest for
several listed reasons. They state on page 569 that they developed profiles that were used to
identify school systems that had at least three high schools that had the various demographics
and academic characteristics that matched the criteria. They also stated on the same page that
focusing on schools within a single district of metropolitan area helps to control for regional
differences in college-related outcomes. The researchers picked one high school from each of
the identified areas, low social-economic/ below average academic achievement (low resource
school), middle social-economic/middle academic achievement (middle resource school), and
high social-economic/high academic achievement (high resource school). They also used as a
characteristic of the groups the percentage of adults in the school districts that had at least a
bachelors degree.
There is strong evidence that data collection methods were appropriate for the
phenomena studied. On page 569 the researchers state that they developed standard data
collection protocols based on the conceptual framework and literature reviews of the predictors
of college enrollment to ensure that the research team collected comparable data for all the
schools in the study. The research teams used multiple sources of data, focus groups made up of
ninth and eleventh grade students, focus groups of parent of the aforementioned student groups
(except for the low resource school in Florida), interviews with teachers and counselors,
demographic and academic school profiles, and a review of federal, state and local policies for
the states. The total participant group for this study was 596. There is no mention of the
qualifications of the data collectors so we are assuming that the researchers are the data
collectors and that if this is so their credentials qualify them to perform and analyze the data.
This would also speak to the researchers ability to understand the dynamics of the participants
with respect to their individual lifes situations.
The researchers state on page 570 that each focus group and the individual interviews
lasted 45 to 90 minutes, were recorded and transcribed. There were varying numbers of
participants at each school, 20 to 58. Translators were also used if needed. The researchers then
created a case study data base that included all transcriptions and data from various profiles.
From the college access literature and the conceptual framework they developed a list of
preliminary codes and as they reviewed the data they added other codes as appropriate.

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Article Critique

There was strong evidence that the researchers sought to provide the emic perspective of
the participants, by using direct quotes throughout the portion of the report labeled Findings.
The data from the interviews was codified and categorized within the three appropriate themes.
As evidenced by the researchers data collection methods, triangulation was in strong
evidence during the capture of the data. Personal interviews, focus groups, profiles, and review
of various policies in effect for federal, state and local school systems all combined to provide
convergence of the data. As stated in Gall, Gall and Borg page 358, triangulation is the process
of using many different methods of data collection, data sources and theories to check the
findings of the study. While there were three authors on this study nowhere is it stated that all
three attended each interview, but all members of the research team coded and analyzed the data.
The methods employed by the researchers provide the ability to verify the evidence. The multiple
schools in the various social economic strata gave the ability to check the findings. The
researchers also state that they used several members of the research team to code the data. The
researchers state on page 570, that to ensure credibility and trustworthiness of the findings they
collected data from participants with diverse view points. They also provided draft copies of the
report to the primary contact at the schools and asked that they perform a review of the document
and correct any misconceptions in the report as well as provide the researchers some feedback.
The researchers provided a detailed description of the procedures used for collection of
the data on pages 569 and 570, Included in the detailed description are the questions asked of
the participants, transcription of the interviews and placement of those documents in a case study
database, providing an audit trail for future research verification.
Results Section
The researchers provide substantial description of the phenomenon which emerged as
three themes from the data collected. A thick description of the phenomenon is one of the core
characteristics of strong scholarly intent. Their writing style which incorporates direct quotes
from the participants, hones in on the researchers basic assumptions at the beginning of the
study. This really brings the phenomenon to life with real statements from the participants to
back up the research assumptions. The depth of description for each revealed theme takes into
account the student, parent and school perspective with regard to the varying psychological
barriers, language barriers, and parent social-economic level.
Summary of findings for this study, provided on page 580 state that the researchers had
an improved understanding of how parental involvement shaped college enrollment for the
various groups studied. The study also provided a lens with which to view barriers that may
limit a parents involvement with a students choice to first attend college, then where to attend
and what type of college to attend. The findings state that it is not so much the shortcomings of
the parents, but more of a policy or structure issue. The researchers suggest several ways to
increase parental involvement beginning with the state policy context and economic context.
They address the higher education context and finally the school context. The context sections
of the report cover most aspects of what Gall, Gall and Borg indicate are contextual
completeness for a case study. Inclusion of the phenomenons history, physical setting, cultural
characteristics and social rules are brought to life in the context sections. The authors include
suggestions for future research to include the creation of programs in each context to aid in
parent awareness for all levels of policy and structure.
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The researchers reference quantitative data contained in a study by Cabrera and La Nasa
(2001) highlighting the use of data from the National Educational Study (NELS). There are no
graphs provided or detailed quantitative data provided throughout the article. The quantitative
data provides the statistic that application rates were 26 percentage points lower for students with
low socioeconomic status than for those with high socioeconomic status. Quantitative data is
also provided detailing the average levels of educational attainment in the five states chosen for
the study. This data is provided by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.
The researchers provide a chain of evidence as we reported in the previous sections of
this review. The researchers detail the studys design and findings by providing clear links
between the data, the questions, the analysis and the findings as evidenced on pages 571 580 as
they describe the three emergent themes. The chain of evidence provides direct quotes from
participants of the study that support the emergent themes and findings.
Member checking was performed as indicated on page 570 by the review of a draft case
study report by the primary contact at the schools. The contact was asked to provide feedback
and correct any confusion. The coding and analysis process also involved all members of the
research team. The use of multiple members of the team helps to ensure the emic perspective was
maintained.
Discussion Section
Evidence of the researchers values and perspectives as an influence to the outcomes and
findings of the study are not provided. The data collection methods and protocols used in the
analysis of the data would contribute to minimizing the researchers personal reactions; however
there are not sufficient definitive measures described to indicate specific criteria followed to
ensure objectivity. The use of standards to confirm consistency in the data being collected and
the utilization of HyperResearch as indicated on page 570 to assist with the coding of the data
would assist with the removal of researcher imposed values and perspectives in the conclusions.
There are several sources of evidence offered to support the conclusions of the
researchers. The researchers concluded that the findings improve the understanding of how
parental involvement influences college enrollment for various socioeconomic families. The
study also concludes that there are several structural barriers that contribute to the lack of
involvement by parents. These conclusions were documented by the three emergent themes
supported by the multiple sources of data. The sources included demographic and academic
school profiles, review of governmental policies in each state and locality, interviews that were
conducted on an individual and focus group basis, the creation of a case study database and the
coding of the data according to the conceptual framework. The researchers also requested a
participant review of the draft case study report.
The researchers provided detailed explanations of the findings. The researchers divided
the findings into the three themes and provided well supported and evidenced basis for the
themes. The findings were substantiated by reference to a significant amount of prior research as
well as the direct quotes of participants supporting the findings of each emergent theme. Many
examples of participant quotes are provided on pages 571-580. Alternative explanations to the
research that could be drawn were defined. As indicated on page 581 in reference to state policy
context and economic context, future research is suggested to examine the differences in
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awareness of state need-based aid programs and merit-aid programs. Future research is also
suggested to consider the policy and economic context of other states. The limitation of the use
of five states as a small sample out of 50 states for the case study is clearly indicated.
The limitations section of the research article indicates the findings of the study are not
generalizable to all schools across the 50 states. The authors further discuss the limitations of the
study, stating that data describes only 15 schools. This limitation does not allow for application
to all schools in the other states (page 570). The small sample size of the states and the
participants are implicated as reasons for not generalizing much of the findings from the report.
The sampling size in each school may not be representative of all students and may not be a good
representation of the associated student body because of the characteristics of the participants.
The third limitation described by the researchers is that by focusing only on the role of the parent
does not take into account the influence of others on the participant student. A generalization
made regarding parental involvement being shaped by and contributing to shaping the school
context for college opportunity is provided on page 575 as the researchers indicate the
experiences of a few schools suggest the benefits of reorganizing the barriers to involvement by
adopting alternative approaches to engaging parents. Any generalizations that were made are
followed up with supporting data and various methods of evidence for the emergent theme.
There are several suggestions for practical applications that emerge from the findings of
the research. The implications from the first theme that parents shape college opportunity for
children by parental involvement which varies according to socioeconomic status are that a shift
in paradigm of when and how to involve parents in their childrens education should be sought
out. An example of a practical application is given on page 584 to promote parental involvement.
It is suggested that the high involvement at sporting events by low-socioeconomic groups
demonstrates that these events could be used to capture the audience for outreach opportunities.
The study concludes that schools, public policies and parents are all vital to ensuring the shape of
the childrens continuing education. The suggestion of the creation of systems that work with
parents of all statuses and geographic regions to promote the attainment of a college degree is the
overarching practical implication drawn from the study.
Summary
Based on the analysis of the article using the Gall criteria and the qualitative rating scale,
the article is a well-written, scholarly, and supportive evidence of the phenomenon that parental
involvement is shaped by the school context, and also contributes to shape the school context for
college opportunity. The findings are evidenced by a multi-level, in-depth case study of 15 high
schools. The case study research is coupled with a multi-level model of college enrollment in
which data was coded and analyzed providing both chain of evidence and member checking.
The findings were detailed and descriptive with various methods of supporting evidence.