Evaluating Research in Communication Disorders

This carefully organized, engaging, comprehensive, and contemporary guide to analyzing research articles has become a classic in the field. With its primary focus on reading, understanding, and evaluating professional literature, and its emphasis on the different research designs and types of publications that can inform all components of evidence-based practice, this text gives readers:

• Focused study questions that help develop critical evaluation skills and guide student projects involving the evaluation of research literature.
• Up-to-date references, current research, and new topics are used to keep readers aware of the most contemporary findings in the field.

The new edition features:

• Reorganization of material to aid development of evaluation skills, critical thinking ability, and reinforcement of key concepts.
• Expansion of the text to 10 chapters as a means to improve flow, reinforce concepts, and minimize variation in chapter length.
• New exercises in critical reading for each chapter to facilitate instruction, learning, and application.
• New material on:
• The use of person-first language.
• Reflective practice and cultural competence.
• Framing and ‘background’ questions, as well as the role of qualitative research studies, literature overviews, and tutorials in supporting evidence-based practice.
• Retrieving electronic resources, including a discussion of URLs and the digital object identifier system.
• Expanded discussions of:
• Research-practice relationships, implementing evidence-based practice, assessing levels of evidence, and using systematic reviews to inform clinical decision-making.
• The critical evaluation of arguments used in a rationale for a study or in the discussion of results.
• Qualitative and mixed-methods research designs, including a discussion of the types of data coding used in such designs.
• Treatment outcome and efficacy studies, including more detailed discussion of the 5-phase model of treatment outcome research.
• MMMeta-analysis techniques, including a discussion of forest and funnel plots.

This carefully organized, engaging, comprehensive, and contemporary guide to analyzing research articles has become a classic in the field. With its primary focus on reading, understanding, and evaluating professional literature, and its emphasis on the different research designs and types of publications that can inform all components of evidence-based practice, Evaluating Research in Communication Disorders, 7/e gives readers a logical, highly useful organization that reduces redundancy and improves efficiency; focused study questions that help develop critical evaluation skills and guide student projects that involve the evaluation of research literature; and up-to-date references, current research, and new topics keep readers aware of the most contemporary findings in the field.

Robert F. Orlikoff, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology at West Virginia University. He has extensive experience as a researcher, clinician, and educator and has served as an associate editor and reviewer for several journals in communicative sciences and disorders.

Chapter 1: Evidence-based Practice in Communication Disorders

Chapter 2: The Introduction Section of the Research Article

Chapter 3: Research Strategies in Communication Disorders

Chapter 4: Research Design in Communication Disorders

Chapter 5: Experimental Designs for Studying Treatment Efficacy

Chapter 6: The Method Section of the Research Article

Chapter 7: The Results Section of the Research Article: Findings

Chapter 8: The Results Section of the Research Article: Statistical

Chapter 9: The Discussion and Conclusions Section of the Research Article

Chapter 10: Best Evidence and Clinical Decision Making

Appendix A: Complete Evaluation Checklist

Appendix B: A Compendium of Journals in Communication Sciences and Disorders