The one-sentence summary
The article provides a study of the concordance of self-assessment of college students regarding their height and weight to their actual body weight and height; it is concluded that such self-assessments are usually rather precise.
The one-paragraph summary
The authors research the precision of college students’ self-reports regarding their weight and height by comparing these to their actual measured weight and height. It is shown that students mostly assess their weight and height correctly: 93% of self-reports were accurate, and only 4% of assessments were underestimated, whereas 2.7% of self-reports were overestimated. The authors conclude that students’ self-reported weight and height can be used if no direct measurements are available.
The multiple-paragraph summary
Quick et al. (2015) study the degree of precision to which college students report their own height and weight. Students (N = 1,686) from 8 universities were surveyed, and their body weight and height was measured. The research revealed that the learners’ self-assessments are rather exact: 93% of self-reports were accurate; at the same time, only 2.7% of self-assessments were overestimated, and only 4% of self-reports were underestimated (Quick et al., 2015, p. 94).
It is also pointed out that different subpopulations tend to err differently when it comes to reporting one’s own weight and height. For instance, women “might have a tendency to underreport body weight more than men” (Quick et al., 2015, p. 97). Also, more studies might be required in order to generalize the data to non-White populations, for 77% of the study’s sample were White (Quick et al., 2015, p. 97). However, it is concluded that students’ self-assessments might be utilized in there are no direct measurements of weight and height available.
Your reaction
The conclusions of the study can be deemed credible due to the primary research data collected during the study. The article provides the intended audience with rather detailed information, showing the concordance between students’ self-reports and objective measurements is high. The data is conveniently organized in tables, and is analyzed and discussed in detail, which allows comprehending the article more easily.
Information Literacy Assignment
Peer review is an important process that allows to make sure that the materials contributed to scientific journals are methodologically correct, adequately describe the phenomena encountered in the real world, and provide a contribution to the field of study that they are related to. Arguably, the processes of assessment of the soundness of methodology and conclusions (“Peer Reviewed Journals,” n.d., p. 15) are the most important parts of peer-reviewing. First, if the methodology employed in an article contains mistakes, it may lead to significant errors in the study.
Second, the process of deciding whether the conclusions are supported allows ensuring that the authors do not draw false conclusions from a methodologically correct research, for it may lead to false information being spread in the field of study. It also should be stressed that peer-reviewers differ from editors in that editors review for content, clarity, and creativity, and are the part of the staff of a peer-reviewed journal, whereas peer-reviewers address the issues of methodology and precision, they are not known to the authors of the study (unlike the editors), and may be located anywhere in the world (“Peer Reviewed Journals,” n.d.).
The article by Quick et al. (2015) that was used for our summary assignment is peer-reviewed. This information is easy to determine by checking whether the journal that published the article (Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior in our case) is peer-reviewed. In order to find peer-reviewed materials so as to use them in the class, it is possible to check the university’s library, which contains a number of peer-reviewed publications and also provides online access to certain electronic databases that offer a large quantity of articles from peer-reviewed journals.
References
Peer reviewed journals: The creation of new knowledge. (n.d.). Web.
Quick, V., Byrd-Bredbenner, C., Shoff, S., White, A. A., Lohse, B., Horacek, T.,…Greene, G. (2015). Concordance of self-report and measured height and weight of college students. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 47(1), 94-98. Web.