Knowledge Check: Article Synthesis

1. Which option below is an incorrect use of a comma? (Select all that apply)
Select all answers that apply
a) 
Lock and Jones (2021) gave participants three tasks: read the scenario, summarize it, and then explain it.
b) 
Participants reported higher levels of satisfaction, except in the second group, when they received a debriefing after the exercise.
c) 
Employees rated female leaders as more demanding, they reported male leaders as more decisive (Wilson, 2020).
d) 
Leading into the exam, students were nervous. 

QUESTION

2. Using commas and semicolons, how would you punctuate the sentences below? You can assume the period at the end is correctly placed.
Johnson (2022) studied the relationship between conflict management strategies and employee satisfaction there was no significant relationship between the strategies and satisfaction but there was a significant relationship between employees’ trust in their managers regardless of the conflict management strategy and their satisfaction.

In the previous assessment, you summarized an individual article. This is an important first step in using research because you need to ensure you understand them. However, as an expert, you’ll be expected to read a lot of research, apply it to the topic, and then convey that information to others. When writing scholarly articles, you are writing for other scholars. When writing professionally, you are writing for a non-academic audience.
Here’s a strategy to make sense of multiple articles:
1. Start by ensuring you understand each article.
a. What is the purpose of the study?
b. What was found?
2. Find a visual way to present the information for yourself. Here are some options:
a. List the findings
b. Put the findings in a table
3. Compare the findings.
a. Do they agree?
b. Are there contradictions? 
Understanding Articles
You can follow the same steps from the first formative assessment for this. 
1. Identify the research question.
2. Identify the findings.
3. Use information from the introduction and discussion to further inform your understanding of the question and findings.

There are many ways to visually present information. For this formative assessment, we’ll focus on two strategies: a list and a table.
Here are some article findings (articles created for illustrative purposes only):
• McKinnon and Williams (2021) found that, while male authoritarian leaders were viewed as “strong, decisive, and capable,” female authoritarian leaders were viewed as “demanding, demeaning, and difficult.” Transformational leaders, however, were viewed as inspirational regardless of gender identity, but Latinx transformational leaders were viewed as less competent leaders than Asian-American transformational leaders.
• Jones’s (2022) findings indicated that African-American women leaders were generally viewed as “intimidating” but “competent” while Caucasian women leaders were viewed as “indecisive” but “approachable”; Asian-American male leaders were viewed as “meek” and “smart” and Caucasian male leaders were viewed as “decisive” and “competent.” 
• Clarkson (2019) stated that staff generally questioned the competency of leaders who were perceived as being under forty, but if a leader was perceived as being under forty and intelligent, then they were viewed as “geniuses” or “phenoms,” especially if the leader identified as male.
List
Taking the above articles, here’s a list of the findings:
• Male authoritarian leaders “strong, decisive, and capable”
• Female authoritarian leaders “demanding, demeaning, and difficult”
• Transformational leaders viewed as inspirational
• Latinx transformational leaders inspirational but not competent 
• Asian-American transformational leaders inspirational and competent
• African-American women leaders viewed as intimidating but competent
• Caucasian women leaders viewed as indecisive but approachable
• Asian-American male leaders viewed as “meek” and “smart”
• Caucasian male leaders viewed as “decisive” and “competent”
• Young leaders perceived as less competent
• Young male leaders perceived as smart viewed as phenoms
Here’s a way to put these findings into a table: See Table 1 graphic in the Formative #2 Companion Document.
Please note what this visual presentation of information does for you: it shows you the key information in an easy to read format rather than leafing through the full articles. This allows you to start thinking about the articles as a group.
Other visual strategies for this include:
• Putting this information on notecards
• Inputting this information into a mindmap or another graphic for ideas

This is where the analysis happens that allows you to synthesize the findings (i.e., discuss them as a group rather than summarize them individually). One way to do this is to compare and contrast the findings. 
What are some similarities?
– All of the articles found that the demographics of the leader impacted how employees viewed them, whether it was race/ethnicity, gender, or age.
– Female leaders tended to be viewed negatively (demanding, demeaning, difficult, intimidating, indecisive) compared to male leaders (strong, decisive, capable, competent)
– African-American and Latinx leaders tended to be viewed more negatively (not competent, intimidating) compared to Asian-American and Caucasian leaders (approachable, decisive, smart, competent)
– A leader’s perceived age influence people’s perceptions of their capabilities
What are some contradictions?
– Among women leaders, there were differences by race 
– Among male leaders, there were also differences by race 
– Youth could be perceived positively or negatively depending on other characteristics
How do you identify these similarities and contradictions?
In this example, you can pretty much “eyeball” it. As you read more articles, however, you need to develop a strategy. There is not a “right” or “wrong” strategy: find what works for you!
One strategy is color-coding. See below, where findings are color-coded looking for gender differences: See Table 2 graphic in Formative #2 Companion Document.
You could also color-code for race/ethnicity (African-American, Asian-American) or specific gender and race combinations (African-American women, Caucasian women). 
How do you choose what to look for? It depends on your question/topic!
Please note: if you find that you can’t find similar/contradictory findings in your articles, then it means they are not related closely enough. You want to refine your lit search in that case.
QUESTION

3. Create a list or table based on the articles you’re going to use for the assessment.
4. Now identify some similarities and contradictions.