Thinking Critically About Research

1 Thinking Critically About Research Fundamental Problems with the Statistics The statistics by Wright (2007) suggest that the youth ministry has failed to convince young people to be committed to Christianity for a lifetime and should be overhauled. According to the statistic, many youths leave Christianity when they enter adulthood. The statistics have several fundamental problems. Firstly, the statistics are based on small samples that are not representative of all the youth nationally. Furthermore, the statistics do not address the current trends as people change over time. Instead, the statistics represent the results measured at one time, and there is no proof that the individuals would remain the same throughout their lives.

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THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT RESEARCH

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Why Evangelicals Create or Tolerate the Use of Flawed Data Evangelicals create flawed data or tolerate its use because of their desperate attempts to attract people’s attention and raise concerns to mobilize action or resources for particular causes (Smith, 2007). They justify their abuse of statistics by deeming it necessary to attract people’s attention to good causes. However, such behavior is inexcusable as it shows evangelicalism in a bad light.

How to Tell Good Research from Bad Research People can differentiate between good and bad research in various ways. Firstly, the research should be generalizable to a large population (Smith, 2007). Research that is based on small sample size is not valid. Moreover, the methodology should not be flawed (Shields, 2008).

Good research should also be based on logical and plausible claims. For example, the claim that Christianity will be nonexistent within a decade due to the young population’s low commitment to the religion is implausible (Smith, 2007). According to Shields (2008), good research should not have statistical, analytical, and logical limitations. The statistics should be accurate and comprehensive. Moreover, the research should not be logically flawed. Lastly, the conclusions drawn from the research should be free from analytical flaws. Overall, good research should not be based on faulty logic and limited data.

The Focus of Shields’ Study and Why He Did It The focus of the study by Shields (2008) is on refuting the claim that most of the youth actively involved in the ministry stop going to church after high school. He conducted the falsification study to examine this claim by investigating the connection between the extent of the commitment of youth in the ministry during high school and their later involvement in church.

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Research Problem and Research Questions The overarching research problem in the study by Shields (2008) is the growing statistics suggesting that the youth ministry is failing in its role of ensuring that young people do not leave the church. Shields (2008) uses six research questions to analyze the problem: 1. To what degree, if any, are young adults who exhibited Level 1 commitment levels to youth ministry during high school currently committed to a local church?

2. To what degree, if any, are young adults who exhibited Level 2 commitment levels to youth ministry during high school currently involved with a local church?

3. To what degree, if any, are young adults who exhibited Level 3 commitment levels to youth ministry during high school currently involved with a local church?

4. To what degree, if any, are young adults who exhibited Level 4 commitment levels to youth ministry during high school currently involved with a local church?

5. To what degree, if any, are demographic variables significantly related to levels of youth ministry commitment and current local church involvement?

6. What is the relationship between different levels of youth ministry commitment during high school and the level of current local church involvement?

THINKING CRITICALLY ABOUT RESEARCH References Shields, J. B. (2008). An assessment of dropout rates of former youth ministry participants in conservative Southern Baptist megachurches [Doctoral dissertation, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary].

Smith, C. (2007). Evangelicals behaving badly with statistics. Books & Culture.

Wright, S. (2007). ReThink: Decide for yourself, is student ministry working? InQuest Ministries.

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