Becoming a Published Author

The purpose of this short article is to help authors get their research published. First, I would like to call attention to two excellent articles in the September 2011 issue of the Family & Consumer Sciences Research Journal (FCSRJ). First, Robert Nielsen (2011) describes cues for quality in quantitative research. Second, Nancy Hodges (2011) explains five frequently articulated qualms (FAQs) about qualitative research. Nielsen (2011) identifies the cues for quality in quantitative research as scientific contribution, structural clarity, and citizenship. Nielsen (2011, p. 86) states, “Indeed, whether a manuscript makes a new or significant contribution to a particular literature is the most important criterion to consider when assessing the quality of a manuscript.” Structural clarity refers to the structure of the manuscript (e.g., abstract, introduction, methodology, results, and discussion) and the clarity of the written and tabular content. Citizenship refers to replication and ethical obligation. Replication means that the author reports the research process in full so that others may repeat the study and test alternative or competing hypotheses. Ethical obligation involves securing institutional permission for the study, the treatment of participants, and the responsibility to report results accurately and fully. The five qualms relating to qualitative research as described by Hodges (2011) include the aim, the sample size, reliability and validity, generalizing from the findings, and assessing quality. The aim of qualitative research should be to understand rather than to generalize or predict. Samples will be small relative to quantitative research because size of the sample is about saturation instead of representation. Reliability is often confirmed by participant confirmation (e.g.,