Further, as stated in the assignment guidelines the paper will be pay particular attention to the following: substantive qualities (research problem and purpose, research question and accompanying hypothesis/hypotheses, variable identification, supportive literature, conceptual framework); and design qualities such as research methodology, sampling, statistical data analysis, research ethics, data interpretation, writing and presentation style, and quality of presentation and writing

             The article was authored by Van de Berghe et al (2001) and entitled "Intensive insulin therapy in critically ill patients", New England Journal of Medicine, 345:1359-1367.

             Substantive Qualities All empirical research reports, whether medical, sociological, psychological, or educational, must first be well-defined, remindful of ambiguity, and reader friendly - even for those who are not pundits in the subject matter being reported upon (Kerlinger, 1967). The first step in informing the reader of a research investigation is to present a clearly defined research problem. To this end the research investigator is obligated to present an issue and or problem that has not been sufficiently resolved in previous research investigative endeavors (Ohlson, 1998). The authors of the current project were, in opening statements, remiss in presenting a well-defined research question. Although the authors advised the reader that insulin therapy (standard and intensive) and adult mortality and morbidity was the focus of the investigation a meaningful presentation with respect to need was omitted. In other words, the authors did not build a medical or healthcare based paradigm for the study. This might have been taken care of by presenting previous reported research data highlighting concerns other investigators had with respect to medical problems associated with glucose levels - mortality rates and critically ill medical consumers.