Research Methods II

A Cherokee elder sitting with his grandchildren told them, "In every life there is a terrible fight - -a fight between two wolves. One is evil: he is fear, anger, envy, greed, arrogance, self-pity, resentment and deceit. The other is good: joy, serenity, humility, confidence, generosity, truth, gentleness, and compassion."

A child asked, "Grandfather, which wolf will win?“ The elder looked him in the eye. "The one you feed."

The Literature Review

Game Plan Exercise: Research Ideas/Research Questions /

Hypothesis

The Literature Review

Break

Literature Review Exercise

Using the Writing Center

Research Ideas/Topics Get in groups of 3 and

discuss: What appeals to you in

projects you have done? What do you dislike about

projects you have completed?

Individually write on 1 piece of flip chart paper your top 2 research topics/ideas

1. Topic 1

2. Topic 2

Your flip chart paper should look like this!!

Research Question Exercise Individually create 1 research question for

your top 2 topics Consider:

Problem-oriented Analytical (versus descriptive) Interesting and significant Amenable to analysis Feasible

Peer Feedback Each of you will be given 7 sticky notes.

Go around the room and look at the topics and questions, and write on your sticky note feedback for 7 of the questions.

Be specific in your feedback….make sure they can use the feedback

What is an hypothesis? A proposition that is empirically testable Example: Increasing flex time options

increases quality of life Need to concretely define concepts (e.g.,

quality of life (QOLI) ) Hypothesis testing can lead to support or

refutation of a theory

Attributes of a good hypothesis Stated in declarative form Posits a relationship between variables Reflects a theory or body of literature Is brief and to the point Is testable

Examples of Hypothesis Publicly traded firms will have higher

growth rates than privately held firms State-owned firms will have a greater

share of the domestic market than publicly traded or privately held firms

Job satisfaction will be positively related to organizational citizenship behaviors

The literature review in the thesis process

Formulate and clarify your research question

Chapter 1

Review the Literature/TheoryChapter 2

Formulate your research design

Chapter 3

Analyze your dataChapter 4

Write your Results and DiscussionChapter 5

Sampling

Qualitative Methods Quantitative Methods

Answering research question Measurement

The Literature Review Literature review – gather existing wisdom

to shed light on something that has captured your interest

Literature review – why do one anyway? Provides a framework for establishing the importance of

your study, as well as a benchmark for comparing the results of your study with other findings

Traces the underlying assumptions behind the research question & “grounds” the study

Relates your study to a larger ongoing dialogue about the topic

Share existing knowledge, identify and fill in gaps, extend prior knowledge

Tells you what we currently know and helps you make predictions about what might happen next

Source for methodology, instruments, etc…

How to capture, evaluate and summarize the literature in four “easy” stepsAdapted from Creswell (2003)

Step 1: Begin your inquiry with a question and a working title What is the relationship between perceptions

of organizational fairness and individual performance? Title: Multiple dimensions of organizational justice and individual performance

Step 2: Create a literature map of the topics and sub-topics for your review Outlines, circles, boxes, a tree … Create a “need to study” branch

Literature Maps Leadership Lit review

Outputs: New products& processes

Inputs (Scientificand technologicalinformation)

Project TeamsProject leader roles

And behaviors

Research Topics

Mapping techniques

The search – a.k.a. “how to avoid drowning in the literature” Step 3: Use the keywords and begin your search

Research studies, books, conceptual articles, thought pieces – all provide frameworks for thinking about your topics

Start with most recent broad summaries, annual reviews, journal articles, then books

The magic number is…? Step 4: Summarize and “grow” your map

Read abstracts, skim content, “will this help my understanding?”

If relevant add to your literature map Draft summaries – include precise references in a list

for your thesis mention problem, state purpose of study, key information

about sample, review key results, point out flaws in study

Ways to organize literature as you are researching

Author/date Theory/standpoint Evidence Argument

Or

Author/date Sample DVs IVs Findings

Evaluating the relevance and value of literature to your researchRelevance Recency? Has it been

superseded? Are the research questions

sufficiently close to yours? Have you seen references

to this item in other items that were useful?

Does this support or refute your arguments? (For either—it will probably be worth reading!)

Value Does the item appear

to be biased? What are the

methodological omissions? (Still may be valuable)

Does the item provide guidance for future research?

Trawling and Mining for information

Broad based search for books and articles

Focused SearchBroad based search for more specific literature

Focusing

Selecting possiblyrelevant items

Reading, analyzing and discriminating between items

Analyzing and categorizing contents

Integrating and synthesizing contents

History of the topicKey works and authorsDebates and argumentsMethodologyTheories and conceptsFindingsCritiques

Trawling TrawlingMining Mining Specifying and Integrating

The role of theory in grounding your research What is theory?

Interrelated set of constructs formed into propositions, or hypothesis that specify the relationship among variables (Testable implications)

Examples: Theory of consumer behavior, Transformational leadership theory, Job characteristics theory

Theory develops as explanation to advance knowledge in particular fields.

What makes a good theory? Theories that can explain more aspects of

a phenomenon with fewer assumptions are better than other theories E.g., demand and supply explain price and

quantity movements for a change in a variety of factors---income, advertising, population, etc

Theories with realistic assumptions E.g., assuming that college tuition will never

rise is not a realistic assumption

For example: Job characteristics theory

Core jobDimensions

Critical Psychological

States

Personal and work Outcomes

Skill variety

Task Identity

TaskSignificance

Autonomy

Feedback

Experienced Meaningfulness of the work

Experiencedresponsibility for outcomes of the work

Knowledge of the actual results of the work activities

High internal work motivation

High-quality work performance

High satisfaction with the work

Low absenteeism and turnover

Employee growth-need strength

In most quantitative studies… Theory is tested – or verified. Theory is the framework for the entire

study…an organizing model.

NFL Attendance

Performance

CompetitiveBalance

Income ofMetropolitan area

Age of stadium

# of sports Teams in city

# of Pro-bowl players

Price of ParkingTicket Price

Climate Survey Model

Climate Survey Modeling

Theory is NOT References Data List of variables Diagrams Hypothesis or predictions

General euphoria and excitement Puzzlement Buried Muddling through Time goes by Patterns emerge Discrimination

The Process of Reviewing

Words of Experience: A good lit review reviews the relevant

literature in an interesting narrative. It starts with broad brush strokes and

narrows the focus down to the research topic at hand. For example – a study on NFL attendance may begin by reviewing the studies on attendance at entertainment events and other sports before reviewing the work on NFL attendance.

Words of Experience (cont) A good lit review will emphasize the points

that other studies contribute to the state of knowledge while omitting the irrelevant details.

Finally the lit review concludes by pointing out the niche in the literature that the existing study will fulfill.

Common Problems in Writing Using too many quotes Reporting everything s/he knows in a particular

area Thinks of chapter as an annotated bibliography

rather than an analytical piece of work Remember to:

Describe briefly the history of your topic Identify key landmark studies (methodologies used and

arguments made) Show the major issues or practical problems to identify

the gap you intend to look at with your research Aim to show what contribution your research will make

to the literature….TELL THE STORY!!!

Helpful Hints Get every detail about the article/book when you

FIRST read it. (publisher, author, page numbers, year of publication….)

Use Turabian format from the beginning (e.g., use Refworks)

Develop a system for organizing Read the original articles Scan textbooks for an overview STOP reading when you notice redundancy in the

material

Literature Review Exercise Get into your groups (next slide) Discuss the framework the authors used for the

published review and the student review you read. What was the purpose of the review? What was useful about this? What did you like? What could be improved?

Write down 3 “lessons learned”/”key points” your group came up with about doing literature reviews.

Group Name Student Lit review Published Lit review Sarah 1 4 Zeke 2 3 Luke 3 2

1

Ramsey 4 1 David 1 3 Russ 2 2 Nicholas 3 1

2

Jackson 4 4 Treye 1 2 Sam 2 4 Tim 3 3

3

Borge 4 1 Ben 1 4 Parker 2 3 Alice 3 2

4

Tristan 4 1 Chase 1 1 Kelly 2 2 Brian 3 3

5

Jeff M 4 4 Annie 1 3 Alex 2 4 John 3 1 Nate 4 2

6

Ian 4 2 Eddie 3 4 Jarrell 2 3 Allison 1 1 Jeff Z 4 2

7

Kristen 3 1

Homework Reading Assignments

Administration Please pick up lit review assignment Sign up for presentation times next

Monday. (You will need to present at 1 time and listen to 1 other. You can decide which group you want to listen to.)

Remember to bring your research question presentation on a memory stick!!!