RESEARCH ARTICLE ANALYSIS

Research Article Analysis

Research Article Analysis

For this paper, I have selected the article titled, “Supportive counselling programme for nursing students experiencing academic failure: randomised controlled trial.”

I have chosen this article because of the wide range of differences between Iran and GB in terms of not only dominant religion and cultural beliefs but also the attitude towards women which affect how women seen themselves in Iranian society and subsequently how much drive they have to succeed. Additionally as I am a student myself I was very interested in the concept of providing counselling for nursing students who were struggling academically.

Sampling plan inadequate

There was small number of participants with different courses.

The sample

The number was small and not equal between male and female. It would be different with a big number of participants (at least 30-40 for each gender).

Article Critique

Academic achievement is axiomatic to career development processes. In people's lives, academic choices, barriers, or opportunities occur early and frequently, and they have a pervasive and lasting influence on career development. For example, a middle school student's choice of or opportunity for educational curricula limits or broadens the student's subsequent opportunity for learning experiences; a high school graduate's postsecondary educational opportunity and choice opens some occupational fields and closes others (Alley, Deshler, 1979).

Academic achievement has been defined in a seemingly infinite number of ways, and some definitions are more valid, useful, and less harmful than others. In defining academic achievement, there are three salient dimensions to consider: equity, development, and meaning.

Equity

Academic achievement is the main means of social mobility for people outside the mainstream of the U.S., Western, and increasingly global socioeconomic system. Yet barriers to academic achievement remain, and these barriers perpetuate the chronic achievement gaps evident in the United States and other countries. These achievement gaps produce continuing social and economic inequity and stratification. Many authors writing in the career development field have made the point that much of career development theory, research, and practice has little use or meaning for those outside the mainstream of the U.S. socioeconomic system (Ausubel, 1968). That is, because many people outside the mainstream have limited opportunity—including limited opportunity-to-learn—they have no choice; and choice is frequently an explicit or implicit assumption in career research, theory, and practice (Baer, Wolf, Risley, 1968).

Thus, defining academic achievement is an educational, career development, professional, ethical, social, economic, and political issue. Any definition of academic achievement that does not take into account many students' lack of opportunity-to-learn serves to perpetuate inequity. For example, in the late 1980s, several U.S. states rewarded and punished schools based on students' average scores on basic skills tests. Students in more wealthy schools had higher scores than students in poorer schools where there was less access to a quality curriculum and quality instruction. In the mid-1990s, this perpetuation of inequity was recognized, and states moved to a system based on students' degrees of improvement on basic skills tests. This current system, however, is not without fault, and no definition of academic achievement ...