Chapter 2 – Developing an interest or topic. In this chapter students will be able to: Describe several ways of identifying topics of interest, create a purpose statement for your topic of interest, prepare several research questions for your research project or design, identify the criteria for a good purpose statement, assess your purpose statement in terms of the criteria for a good purpose statement.
Planning an Applied Research Project Chapter 2 – Developing an Interest or Topic © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Learning Objectives » Describe several ways of identifying topics of interest » Create a purpose statement for your topic of interest » Prepare several research questions for your research project or design » Identify the criteria for a good purpose statement » Assess your purpose statement in terms of the criteria for a good purpose statement © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Key Terms » » » » » » » Action research Applied research Basic research Brainstorming Coding Cognitive mapping Focus » » » » » » » » © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Feasibility Problem statement Purpose statement Research objectives Research questions Significance Usefulness Validity Ways of Finding Topics » » » » » » » » Your manager or your professor Review of past reading New reading Interviewing Brainstorming Conversing Faculty suggestions Cognitive mapping © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Purpose Statements » Drive the research process and help you to focus on which research methods to pursue » They are not: ˃ Restatements of the obvious ˃ Simple calculations ˃ Simple comparison of two sets of data ˃ Something some one gave you without any rationale ˃ Yes/ no situations ˃ Topics that interest only you ˃ Questions already investigated ˃ Something simple to determine © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Purpose Statements (cont’d) » Try the following sentence structure: ˃ “My purpose is to … (what you want to learn – the questions) ˃ “The reasons it is important include (why it is significant? what is the context for it? why should people care? what gap does it fill?) ˃ Therefore, I will … (what you will do to answer your questions and accomplish your goal? what will be your research design?) © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Types of Research » Basic research » Applied research » Action research © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Developing Research Questions » Research questions are not: ˃ Yes/no questions ˃ Easy to answer ˃ Of restricted interest ˃ Limited in their time frame © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Developing Research Questions (cont’d) » Consider the following: ˃ What do I know about this topic? ˃ Why is it important to me, to the industry? ˃ What made the policy or practice develop the way it did? ˃ What factors influence customers, consumers, and fans who make these decisions? ˃ What leads managers to make these decisions? ˃ What factors explain this behavior? © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Purpose Statements and Problem Statements Purpose Statements Problem Statements » Refers to a specific business or industry problem that a manager or team of managers wants to solve » Refers to a concern or area of interest appropriate to the industry and not something that an individual company is necessarily trying to address immediately © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Criteria for Effective Purpose Statements » » » » » Usefulness Validity Focus Feasibility Significance © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Classroom Activity » Form into groups of three » Working independently, think of a significant problem or development in your field. Place it in the center of a piece of paper » Now draw lines and diagrams that are aspects of the issue or problem ˃ Play with the ideas ˃ Let your mind roam ˃ Flow with the process » Share with your team members and help each other add other aspects and select important ones © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Classroom Activity (cont’d) » » » » » Find the part or parts that really interest you Write a few sentences about that area of interest Develop that interest in your own mind Now use each other to help develop those ideas Take five minutes a person to ask questions about their interest and help them develop it more fully © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Classroom Activity (cont’d) » Convert your interest to a purpose statement » What do you want to solve, discover, explain, understand, predict, contribute, investigate, examine, analyze, … » Use each other to help develop those ideas more fully » Now use each other to help develop those ideas » Take five minutes a person to ask questions about their interest and help them develop it more fully © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Classroom Activity (cont’d) » Work on refining your interest » Write a draft purpose statement and bring four copies to class next week » Find some scholarly articles on the topic and on related topics © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Review of the Class Session » Anything unclear? » One thing that I learned from this class is … © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved ... Research questions Significance Usefulness Validity Ways of Finding Topics » » » » » » » » Your manager or your professor Review of past reading New reading Interviewing Brainstorming Conversing Faculty suggestions... Refers to a concern or area of interest appropriate to the industry and not something that an individual company is necessarily trying to address immediately © 20 14 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved... will be your research design?) © 20 14 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved Types of Research » Basic research » Applied research » Action research © 20 14 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved