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 »Feasibility »Problem statement »Purpose statement »Research objectives »Research questions »Significance »Usefulness »Validity © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

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 StatementsProblem 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.