How to Develop Critical Research Skills: A Guide for Birth Workers
by: Cheyenne Scarlett
As birthworkers, we are often tasked with finding, vetting, and then relaying information to our clients. Off to Google we go with our question in hand and BAM! 8 million results pop up. Now what?
How can we possibly sift through all of this information for one small question without acquiring a whole PhD worth of information on the way? As a parent I know how overwhelming it can be to look for answers to important questions (often at 2 am while half asleep and nursing one of my kids). The common phrase “just do your own research” is really quite loaded and unhelpful. Thankfully my time in academia has afforded me a few tips and tricks to help with this!
In this blog post I will share where you can find credible information, how to understand academic papers, and how to use a critical eye as you absorb this information.
Finding Credible Information
First, we have to take a look at the idea of credibility and who our society places value on. It is important to acknowledge that there are a ton of incredible community knowledge holders that don’t have academic titles or published papers that hold a wealth of knowledge that are absolutely valid. Similarly, there are also a ton of academics with a ton of publications that have harmful, outdated or dangerous beliefs.
Thus, you need to evaluate what is and isn’t reliable information based on context. Personal stories of Black folks online sharing their negative experiences with the medical industrial complex? 100% Valid. Parents in Facebook groups talking about how they never used a carseat when they were kids and turned out fine? Uhhh not so much. Understanding where information is coming from and who it is intended for is really important when deciding what is reliable information. This may require you to do a little digging to find out how helpful this information would be to your client. For example, you wouldn’t offer a relationship advice book written by a religious group to someone who is an atheist with religious trauma. It helps to know your client and what their goals are for themselves so you can support them with information that is applicable to their lives.
You also need to decide what kind of information you are looking for. If you’re looking for information about cesarean rates, you will need to find “official” information, simply because parents aren’t the ones collecting that information. If you’re looking for information about what a cesarean feels like or what recovery is like, personal accounts from community groups are a great place to go for that information.
Understanding Academic Journal Articles
If you are looking for academic articles to find information regarding a particular topic, a good place to look is Google Scholar. Once you find one article on the topic, look at the references, and you will be able to find more related articles that you can search for by name. That said, reading academic journal articles can feel overwhelming. There is a lot of information often written using jargon that is difficult to interpret.
As you read through each section, keep these steps in mind:
Start by reading the abstract. This is a brief summary of the main findings, important themes, and conclusions of the article. This overview will help you determine if the article is relevant to the information you are seeking.
Skim the introduction. Next, read the introduction, which provides background information on the topic, the research question, and the purpose of the study. This section sets the context for the rest of the article. This is also a good place to find references to other related existing research.
Review the methodology. In this section, the authors describe the methods they used to conduct the study. Pay close attention to the research design (how they planned the project), sample size (how many people and what kinds of people participated), data collection methods (when, how and where the information was collected), and any limitations of the study such as people who were left out or poorly represented in the study.
Analyze the results. The results section presents the findings of the study. Look for patterns, trends, and significant results. Try to understand how the authors arrived at their conclusions and whether the results support their hypotheses.
Evaluate the conclusion. Here, the authors summarize the main findings and draw conclusions about the implications of their research. Read this section carefully and consider whether the conclusions are well-supported by the data and if they are consistent with your own understanding of the topic.
Critically assess the limitations. No study is perfect, and it's important to understand the limitations of the research. Read the discussion section carefully to identify any limitations or biases in the study and how they may have affected the results. Consider whether there are any biases or limitations you identify that the author did not.
Check the references. Finally, look at the list of references to see what other studies the authors have cited. This will give you an idea of the current state of knowledge on the topic and help you locate additional resources for further reading.
By following these steps, you can get a better understanding of the article, its findings, and its limitations. This process will help you determine how relevant the information is to your research.
A Quick Note About Data Sets
Qualitative research involves the quality of a person's experience and quantitative research describes the quantity of a person's experience. Quality is described in words while quantity is measured with numbers. Interpreting quantitative research is similar to qualitative research, however the results section will look a little different. In this section, the authors present the results of the study. This will usually include descriptive statistics such as means (average), standard deviations (how spread out the data is), and frequencies (how often something occurs).
In the results section of a quantitative study, you will also find Inferential statistics which take two or more data sets and run statistical analysis such as t-tests, ANOVA, and regression. This is used to describe how similar or different the data sets are from each other. When a result is labeled “significant” it is not just a descriptor but a statistical analysis that was calculated to see if the numbers are substantially different from each other based on all of the other information known about the data. The results section should also include information about the effect size, which is a measure of the magnitude of the results.
Developing Your Research Skills
When reading academic articles, always ask yourself “who, what, where, when, why and how?”.
WHO: Consider who wrote the information. How do their identities influence their perspective on the topic?
WHAT: What is the study/book about and how well were the concepts researched? Are there a wide range of sources and diverse arguments?
WHERE: Where was this written? Is it applicable to where you are geographically in the world?
WHEN: Consider when it was written. How does this impact its validity or relevance to the present day?
WHY: Why was this written? What is the main purpose of gathering and sharing this information?
HOW: How was this research collected? Was it done so ethically, responsibly and respectfully?
Here is a real life example of a study I read. I was looking for information about cannabis use in pregnancy and found an article that was a meta analysis, meaning it is an article that synthesizes the information from many other studies.
This meta analysis included 24 studies and found some of the risks of cannabis use during pregnancy to be an increased risk of anemia in the mother, an increased risk of low birth weight, an increased risk of needing to spend time in the NICU and a negative impact on brain development. After looking closer at the criteria, I discovered that the researchers included studies where the pregnant person also consumed alcohol while pregnant. We already have well established research on the negative effects of alcohol during pregnancy and know that a lot of the outcomes named in the study are associated with alcohol consumption during pregnancy. This made it difficult for me to feel confident in the results of this study about cannabis use when there is alcohol use potentially skewing the results.
Keep Practicing
I hope that this blog post makes you feel more confident in approaching research. Research is tricky because your own bias can interfere with your search and conclusions. Keeping an open mind, considering context, and developing your skills will help you provide adequate and whole information to your clients.
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Bio:
Cheyenne Scarlett (she/her) - The Info Doula - is a Black, Queer, Neurodivergent mom of 4 and a certified Doula & Childbirth Educator living on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee Peoples now know as Markham, Ontario.
Cheyenne’s research on the childbirth experiences of Black women in the GTA confirmed what so many already know - there are significant gaps in services available to prospective parents, an insufficient amount of accessible reproductive health information available publicly, and persistent harm perpetuated in health care spaces. That research motivated Cheyenne to pursue direct service work, and after completing her program, she started her own business, Baby Planner, through which she assists people as they seek out information to support their reproductive experiences. She provides both one-on-one informational support, and group workshops for parents, as well as training on racism, provider bias and trauma informed care for health care professionals. Cheyenne is the author of My Deep Dive, a self reflection journal which was created with the goal of encouraging professionals to become aware of their own biases and beliefs, in order to mitigate the harm we cause as we serve our clients and communities. Additionally, her membership space offers monthly content for birth workers and health care providers who want to dig deeper into cultural humility, and other topics related to our work, with more nuance and support.