Design Research Methodology // Critical Review
29.09.22 - 16.10.22 (Week 5- Week 7)
Emelyne How Sok Hing (0352938) 
Bachelor of Design (Hons) Creative Media
Design Research Methodology // Critical Review
LECTURES
Week 5:
What is a critical review ?
A critical review is much more than a simple summary; it is an analysis and
evaluation of a book, article, or other medium. Writing a good critical review requires
that we understand the material, and that we know how to analyse and
evaluate that material using appropriate criteria.
A critical review of a journal article:
1. Evaluates the strengths and weaknesses f an article's ideas and content.
2. provides description, analysis and interpretation that allow readers to assess the article's value.
Summary/ Description:
1. The topic or the main question it proposes to answer.
2. Why does the author think the question(s) is important?
3. The arguments (answers with reasons) that it makes.
4. The structure of the text or the method used to answer the question.
5. The evidence used to support answers.
6. The conclusions reached in the text.
7. Any further questions raised, but not answered in the text.
These points should be summative and text-based, not judgmental unless combined with the critique. Don't give too much detail especially in a review.
Evaluation/Judgment/Critique
Our judgement about the quality or value of the text (for other researchers, or to practitioners in the field or to students.)
- Is the question or the text tries to answer relevant, interesting, new or useful?
- Who will find the text useful? Why?
- Does the text give new answers or interpretations to an old question?
- Is the text detailed, or brief? Simple or complex?
- Is the evidence presented to support the answer extensive? Strong? Weak? Relevant? Persuasive? Contradictory?
- Are the conclusions reached final, limited, qualified or preliminary?
Reading the Article: Points to Consider
Read the article carefully. Record your impressions and note sections suitable for quoting.
• Who is the intended audience?
• What is the author's purpose? To survey and summarize research on a topic? To present an
argument that builds on past research? To refute another writer's argument?
• Does the author define important terms?
• Is the information in the article fact or opinion? (Facts can be verified, while opinions
arise from interpretations of facts.) Does the information seem well-researched or is it
unsupported?
• What are the author's central arguments or conclusions?
Are they clearly stated? Are they supported by evidence and analysis?
If the article reports on an experiment or study, does the author clearly outline
methodology and the expected result?
• Is the article lacking information or argumentation that you expected to find?
• Is the article organized logically and easy to follow?
• Does the writer's style suit the intended audience? Is the style stilted or unnecessarily
complicated?
• Is the author's language objective or charged with emotion and bias?
• If illustrations or charts are used, are they effective in presenting information?
INSTRUCTIONS
Week 6:
Our critical review should have an introduction, summary, main body (Critique), conclusion and references.
Article 1
Thesen, T. P. (2020). Reviewing and Updating the 12 Principles of Animation.
Animation, 15(3), 276–296. https://doi.org/10.1177/1746847720969919
Article 2
Sun, B (2020). Proceedings of the 2020 4th International Seminar on Education,
Management and Social Sciences (ISEMSS 2020). Atlantis Press.
https://dx.doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.200826.107
Article 3
Kuzmina, E. V. (2018). Representation of Western and Eastern Culture in Hayao
Miyazaki Animation. KnE Engineering, 3(8), 33–35.
https://doi.org/10.18502/keg.v3i8.3603
Article 4
Lim, Y.-S. (2019). Comparative study of motion in limited animation - Focusing on
American Animation & Japanes Animation-. Journal of Digital Convergence,
17 (8), 385–392. https://doi.org/10.14400/JDC.2019.17.8.385
Article 5
Yoshioka, S. (2018). Toshio’s movie castle: A historical overview of Studio Ghibli’s
collaboration and promotional strategies. East Asian Journal of Popular
Culture, 4(1), 15-29.
https://doi.org/10.1386/eapc.4.1.15_1
Above are the articles that I chose to do my critical review.
Figure 1.0 Article 1 Critical Review, 6th October 2022
Figure 1.1 Article 2 Critical Review, 6th October 2022
Week 7:
Figure 1.2 Article 3 Critical Review, 13th October 2022
Figure 1.3 Article 4 Critical Review, 13th October 2022
Figure 1.4 Article 5 Critical Review, 13th October 2022
Final Critical Review
Figure 1.5 Final Critical Review, 16th October 2022
FEEDBACKS
Week 6:
General feedback: The articles should be related to our topics. Additionally, find articles that are quite recent and not too outdated.
Week 7:
Special feedback:
Continue to write the critical reviews. From the 2 articles, both are relevant for my research topic.
General feedback:
We were briefed again on the APA style reference. We got to talk about how we should write the in-text citation and so on.
Also, we were told that it’s preferable to refer to ourselves as ‘the writer’ in the critical review.
REFLECTIONS
Week 6:
Learning how to do a critical review felt quite tough at first. There were a lot of terms that I wasn’t familiar with and had to google in order to understand their significance and be able to apply them into my assignment. A good thing about this exercise is that it forces in some ways to develop our critical thinking and it also enhances our vocabulary.
Week 7:
I felt really exhausted but yet very satisfied after completing this homework. I started to understand the unfamiliar terminology more clearly. My analytical skills were improved, and I feel that I gained a lot from this task. What I enjoyed learning was how to read an article in its various aspects in order to conduct more in-depth analysis. It felt a bit like we were being detectives trying to investigate and determine a theory on different articles that isn’t as obvious on a surface level. The shortcoming of this task was the fact that it could get really taxing most of the time as doing an analysis isn’t as easy as it seems.
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