Review of Course Activities

• What is research? Why conduct it?

• What phenomenon will you study?

• How to describe the phenomenon you will study?

• What designs can you use to study your chosen phenomenon?

What phenomenon will you study?• Develop a topic, research question &

hypothesis with activity “Select a research question” – Topic Choice

• If you wrote some topic words, you got an A • Why? Some exercises (e.g., in class exercises)

enable focus on skill mastery rather than performance display

Narrowing down a topic

• E.g., Narrowing down from Stress using the ‘ways to limit a topic’ framework

• Occupational stress• Does occupational stress vary from urban & rural

settings• Changes in occupational stress levels over the eras of

agriculture, industry, and computerization

• Issues with narrowing down your topic– If you used a framework other than the one your

provided, logic must be provided/obvious to me• Option of re-submitting with logic

• E.g., Goal setting appraisal systems at PWC– Goal-setting appraisal systems within financial

services institutions– HRM practices within international organizations– Not employee compensation (off topic)

• E.g., Leadership style of PM Harper– Leadership styles of Conservative vs. Liberal

leaders (or N. American vs. European leaders)– Not social behavior (too vague/broad)

Broadening a topic

Students work with research partners

• What is the topic of your research project?

• Based on the feedback you have so far, is it too narrow/too broad? How can you make it at the appropriate level?– If you used a framework other than the one

provided for narrowing down your topic, identify the logic

After choosing a topic, develop research questions

– Research question vs. Focused research question vary at level of detail

• RQ=is there a relationship between networking & career outcomes?

• FRQ=Are students who participate in networking activities before graduation more likely to be happier in their chosen careers?

– Some did not write FRQs, option to resubmit with FRQs

Students work with research partners

• What is the research question being answered by your research project?

• Based on the feedback you have so far, is it focused enough?

After choosing a research question, develop a Hypothesis

– Research question vs. hypothesis• RQ= In what ways can absenteeism be reduced? • Hypo= Employee where-about charts reduce the

amount of absenteeism

– Feedback=most did well on this question

Mid-lecture Review

• What phenomenon will you study?– Developing a hypothesis

• How to describe the phenomenon you will study?

• What designs can you use to study your chosen phenomenon?

How to describe the phenomenon you will study?

1. Find empirical research using skills learned in electronic database workshop & assignment

2. Describe empirical research on phenomenon

Finding empirical research

• Descriptiveness of keywords used– e.g., Employee Attitudes=Job satisfaction,

work (attitudes toward) commitment, job involvement, employee motivation

• ok descriptors= employee characteristics• NOT productivity/performance

– Performance on above task correlated with performance on “generating keywords” in “Selecting a Research Question” activity

• E.g., When are certain motivational tactics more effective than others?

After choosing topic, generate keywords to search for research

• E.g., Developing keywords from the research question: “In what ways can students manage their time better”– Time management (perception/estimation)– Academic stress (students)– Study habits/skills– Organizational skills

Set goals with feedback on quality of keywords generated

• Students (privately) write goals on what to do next– Did you generate good quality keywords?– If no, what should you do for generating good

keywords for your research project?

Be systematic, after generating accurate keywords

• Logic of search– Use “or” to combine keywords generated

under ‘job security’ – SEARCH 1– Use “or’ to combine keywords generated

under ‘employee attitudes’ SEARCH 2– Use “and” to combine results from searches

1 & 2– Explain effectiveness of search strategies in

terms of operators, relevance of terms used and number of hits generated

After conducting a systematic & logical search of existing research using accurate keywords identify

relevant articles

• Relevancy of articles judged on – Whether it covered both job security &

employee attitudes– Abstract was descriptive enough– Number of citations by other articles will

be used in ‘rationale’ assignment

After choosing relevant articles describe your phenomenon

• Briefly, in class

• Using worksheet (handout & online posting) on how to describe phenomenon you will study

Describe the phenomenon you will study orally

• Students work with research partners & write down answers to questions (5 min) and answer orally (5min)– Describe the phenomenon in words/in a

diagram (see example on next page)– Why you are interested in it?– How may you/others benefit from researching

it?

Adapted from Poe, 1999

Frequency of Help

Productivity

Social Status

Example of Describing with a diagram

Frequency of help influences social status

Describing with a figure

Describing results with a chart

Frequency of help

Productivity Positive

Social Standing

Positive

How to describe the phenomenon with worksheet

• Give specific, relevant & sufficient detail about sources depending on assignment

• Methodology=Measures used? N? • Rationale=Size/direction of correlation?

Differences in means? Significance level? Relevance should be obvious to reader! Beware of jargon!

Students describe articles found for own research project or

describe meta-analytic study by Kluger & DiNisi with worksheet,

copy of article & figure

After describing the phenomenon, identify research

designs you can use• Based on lectures, in-class exercises &

readings– Do you have the resources to study your

chosen phenomenon • People (at least 50 units)• Time (by Feb 2007)• Materials

Mid-lecture Review

• What phenomenon will you study?– Developing a hypothesis

• How to describe the phenomenon you will study?

• What designs can you use to study your chosen phenomenon?

• How to explain why your phenomenon may/may not occur

After describing the phenomenon, understand why

• Why does the phenomenon occur/not occur in current research– A.K.A. Will the study work? In what way

can it not work? Why would it not work? Can you think of explanations for why the counter hypothesis may be supported?

• Counter hypothesis vs. alternative hypothesis vs. null hypothesis

Hillocks, 1985; Sternberg, 1999

Frequency of Help

Productivity

Social Status

Efficiency in resource exchange

Information about others’ interests

Liking for helper

Recall example of explaining with a diagram from economist reading

There are different types of explanations

• How vs. Why

• Using different types of variables

Explaining at different levelsHow vs. Why

• E.g., Meta-analysis article by Kluger & DiNisi– Why does feedback not work in one-third

of the studies examined? (FRQ)• Narrowing down from the theoretical

framework to specific variables that operate in specific situations

– How does feedback work? (RQ)• Using multiple variables (i.e., a theoretical

framework) to understand the phenomenon

Explaining at different levelsHow vs. Why

• E.g., Frequency of helping article – Why does helping affect productivity &

social status in some situations but not in others?

– How does helping work?

One-sidedness of help determines whether helping affects social status

One-sidedness of help determines whether helping affects productivity

Explaining at different levelsHow vs. Why

• Frequency of helping article – Why does helping affect productivity in

some situations but not in others?• Generate small diagrams

– How does helping work? (RQ)• Generate Framework

Summary of both figures to understandwhen helping does or does not work

Frequency of help

One-sidedness of help

Productivity Positive Curvilinear

Social Standing

Positive Positive

Frequency of Help

Productivity

Social Status

Information about others’ interests leads to Efficiency in resource exchange

Liking for helper

Example of framework on how frequency of helping works

One-sidedness of help

There are different types of explanations

• How vs. Why

• Using different types of variables– Inner variables vs. outer variables

Explaining with different types of variables

• Inner variable that is evoked to explain why the two outer variables are linked = Mediating Variable

• Outer variable evoked to explain why the relationship between two outer variables can change = Moderating Variable

Frequency of Help

Productivity

Social Status

Efficiency in resource exchange

Information about others’ interests

Liking for helper

Explaining with mediating variables

Explaining with a Moderating Variable

Frequency of Help

Productivity

One-sidedness of help

Social Status

Frequency of Help

Productivity

Social Status

Information about others’ interests leads to Efficiency in resource exchange

Liking for helper

A framework has mediating & moderating variables

One-sidedness of help

Students apply what you learned

• Look at more examples of diagrams with mediating & moderating variables on following slides

• Generate a framework for how does feedback work?

• Develop a focused research question on why the feedback method used by instructor works in class

FIGURE 5.8Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sekaran/RESEARCH 4E

FIGURE 5.9Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sekaran/RESEARCH 4E

FIGURE 5.10Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sekaran/RESEARCH 4E

What you learned today• Identifying the phenomenon you will study

– Identifying a topic & developing a hypothesis

• Describing the phenomenon you will study– Identifying descriptive keywords to search for articles– Being logical in combining keywords when searching– Using worksheet to describe relevant & sufficient details

based on assignment requirements

• Explaining why the phenomenon may/may not occur– Framework vs. Mediating vs. Moderating variable

• A research question vs. a focused research question