Are self-confessed limitations of a research study evaluative claims?

Question

For instance, evaluative claims describe something and then put a value on it - good or bad.

Are limitations an example of evaluative claims because they describe an element of the study and claim it as negative?

Thank you very much for all help.

Answer 1

They're definitely evaluative.

No study is perfect and self evaluation (or self confessed limitations) is necessary not only for your own self improvement as a researcher but also so those who use your research topic can try something different.  

This is In order to, as Weber would say make your research as value free as possible.  As well as to highlight to what propose your research can be legitimately put to.

lets say you were looking at say the opinions of Spanish teenagers with regards to Franco and you carried out in-depth qualitative open interviews with four teenagers.  

One of the limitations of your research would possibly be that they do not give you a reliable account of Spanish teenagers view (as there were only four interviews carried out).  

Therefore I could not come along as say:  'As Lang (2008) found in her research Spanish teenagers regarded Franco as a tyrant as illustrated in her study...'   because you would highlight in your evaluation that although the information you collected had high validity it could not be said to reliably represent Spanish teenagers on the whole.

Answer 2

I would say yes.

Answer 3

OK...perhaps with this one you have out clevered yourself thats why only two answers lol!

If the claims are self confessed, you are describing objective evaluations which are inherently flawed, and therefore, may be a negative.  However, if you have identified an area of your research which may be subject to these levels of objectivity can that not be a plus when assessing your methods and establishing your ethical position? So, the value you have placed on that is high.