Tui Smith's article

I have been interested in the various posting to the NZ Libs listserv about Tui Smith's article. I read the original article and was quite surprised at her findings and wondered about her sample. I come from a science background where everything has to be peer-reviewed and there is a lot of concern about achieving unbiased results but hadn't really considered whether the articles in the LIANZA journal were peer-reviewed or not. As a general rule, I think letters debating issues raised in articles should be published and that, where possible, articles should be peer-reviewed. However, this article was written by a student and should be judged on that basis. When it comes to assignments, one is restricted by the parameters set by the tutors. If a research study is required this is usually fairly limited in scope. Students usually don't have the knowledge, resources and time to set up large, comprehensive studies. As a student myself, I can imagine how I would feel if one of my assignments, that I wrote using the best of my knowledge and ability, was published and then was the subject of letters of criticism.
Obviously this article was published because it won a prize so I am concerned about the awarding of a prize to an article that seems to rely on a flawed methodology for the study. Maybe it was the best article that met the criteria of the prize but the terms of the prize state "The winning paper may be published in an appropriate LIANZA publication" (emphasis added). Perhaps this article shouldn't have been published.