Amy Gade

IDS 801: Introduction to Graduate Studies (Dr. Cynthia Garrety)

Evaluation of a Journal Article Assignment

Directions:
Choose one of the scholarly articles from your research into your topic.
Provide proper citation for the article and 1-3 paragraphs evaluating the article
using Chapter 9s guidelines of relevance, purpose, validity and timeliness.
Research Question: Are certain personality characteristics, as determined through
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator testing, associated with quality leadership?
Works Cited
Brown, F. W., & Reilly, M. D. (2009). The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and
transformational leadership.
The Journal of Management Development, 28(10),
916-932.
doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02621710911000677
Lanning, S. (2012) Concise Guide to Information Literacy. Santa Barbara, CA: ABCCLIO, LLC.
Relevance: I chose to keep this article in my research pool because, while there
are multiple limitations to this study, like the fact that it was conducted in a US
manufacturing facility only and it considered Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
characteristics through the use of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ),
this journal article definitely states very clearly their results, which equate to one
opinion on the research question. The authors state blatantly that their particular
research does not equate a correlation between the two. While my original, personal
hypothesis probably would have stated that there is an association between certain
MBTI characteristics and quality leadership, this article poses several good
arguments and just bigger picture statements that definitely have me thinking
otherwise.
Purpose: Lanning (2012) states that purpose is the why of the information. Why
was the information created (p. 67)? I believe this information was created as a
way to answer the very research question I am trying myself to discuss. While this
article is a bit more specified, in that it specifically talks about how the MBTI
personality characteristics relate to transformational leadership, I still believe it is of
utmost purpose. As more research is done on leadership types in general,
researchers are lending themselves to say that transformation leadership is the
most successful and appreciated, as it focuses on serving the needs of the followers
more than many other types.
Lanning (2012) puts focus on scope, depth, and style when considering an articles
purpose. Scope has been defined as what is covered, how it is covered, and what is
not covered in an information source (Lanning, 2012, p. 68). I believe the scope of
this article is a bit limited for my research question because it is so specified to

transformation leadership. I do, however, like that this article broadened its scope
by looking at followers reporting on their leaders versus the typical leader selfreporting.
Depth is the amount of detail given in the information provided (Lanning, 2012). I
think this article has an adequate amount of depth. I am judging this on the amount
of information provided on each topic the article discusses, like the MBTI, MLQ, and
transformational leadership. I appreciate that these topics are discussed early in the
article by giving definition and why/how these items can be related to personality
and leadership. Later in the article, I believe detailed information is provided on the
study conducted and its results. The article totals 18 pages, which I believe equates
the depth and detail provided on the topic at hand.
Style is the conveyance of the information (Lanning, 2012). The article uses several
hypotheses and subsequent results to inform the reader of findings they believe
contradict most others on this and similar research questions.
Validity: Validity focuses on the how good the information provided is and bases its
answer on critical evaluations of the timeliness, accuracy, and authority of the
study, information deduced, and the researchers (Lanning, 2012). Timeliness is
addressed below, as a separate category.
I believe the accuracy of this article can best be judged by the hypotheses stated
and research provided to make their deductions and arguments. These authors are
using their study to make comments, generalizations, and arguments. They are not
using any seemingly bogus information. Their sources of information and study
participants seem to be reasonable and logical.
The authority of these authors is stated in the heading of their article. It lists each
authors name, the type of paper presented, and their college of attendance. The
only other thing I might have liked to see stated to make me feel even more
comfortable with their authority to speak on this subject area would be more details
of their reasons for this study; for example, in partial or full requirements for the
degree of X. But, by the most basic evaluation, I have no reason to believe these
individuals are not qualified to conduct such research on this topic.
Timeliness: Timeliness is somewhat self-explanatory; it looks at when the
information was published, as well as the age of the sources used to create the
research and information provided (Lanning, 2012). The article itself was created in
2008 and published in 2009. While it is not most recent, it was produced within the
last 5 years, which for academic research on a somewhat narrowed topic, I feel this
is very acceptable. The sources used within the article are mostly from the 1980s
and 1990s. Because this article includes quite a bit of historical research on the
core concepts of the topic, like the MBTI, MLQ, and transformational leadership, I,
again, find this to be very acceptable.