Questions to Ask about Results and Analysis

After assessing the authors’ methodology, move on to the results. You may ask yourself:

• Do the results presented in the paper confirm the validity of the authors’ methods (or their research question)?
• Do the data appear appropriate for the type of experiment performed?
• Were the experiments, statistics, and other analysis performed to a high standard?
• Do the numbers in tables and charts add up correctly?
• Are the authors’ mathematical equations plausible?
• Are the data analysis techniques well-established and valid in the field?
• Are the conclusions supported by the data presented, and is the work placed in proper context?
• Are the results surprising or contrary to what you would expect?
• Could the results stand alone, providing enough information to understand the study?

Be sure to detail deficiencies in the results or analysis in your written review and recommend steps the authors can take to address such deficiencies. You may recommend that the authors perform additional experiments, but only if you think such a step is essential for the research to be fit for publication.