1. Introduction to Research Methods Course Phani Radhakrishnan PhD

2. What is Research? A way of knowing E.g. How to “know” whether employees are satisfied? IntuitionYou have a “gut feeling” AuthorityEmployees’ managers claim they are LogicBecause you pay them well, and pay is related to satisfaction, they should be satisfied ObservationYou asked employees how satisfied they are

3. Research in HR/OB A way of knowing using logic and “reliable” empirical observation Examples –Is the e-learning training program more effective than the traditional classroom one? –Has the new selection program resulted in better employees? –How high is the rate of absenteeism? Why is it high? How can we decrease it?

4. Research in Arts/Humanities E.g., the impact of “Hamlet” on contemporary Cinema –Observation=cinema clips by author –Logic=Establish how characters in cinema clips resemble Hamlet How it may differ from HR/OB research –Reliability of observations (author vs. many observers)

5. Why do research? Describe Predict Explain/Understand

6. Why do research? Describe Phenomena How satisfied are the employees Establish standardsHow satisfied are our employees compared to another organization Establish value added by a program The effect of the new benefits program on employee satisfaction Make decisionsShould we continue with the new benefits program Validate/test intuitions Everyone else is using the new benefits program, is it any good? Identify source of problem & potential solutions Why are our employees dissatisfied? How can we improve their satisfaction? Describe Predict Explain

7. Skills Comprising Research Research Statistics Communication Logic & Observation

8. Ways we learn research skills in this course Statistics Communication Readings Exercises

9. ReadingsExercises CommunicationWrittenAll readings ■ Methodology Write-up ■ Rationale Write-up ■ Final Paper ■ Non graded exercises OralRowan article ■ Class participation ■ Short Presentation ■ Final Presentation StatisticsAll readings with statistical info ■ In Class demonstrations ■ SPSS workshops ■ Statistics Assignment ■ Project Data analyses How course activities teach you research skills

10. Select Question Review Research Develop Hypothesis Research Design Measurement Data Analyses Communicate Results Ethics Overview of Research Process

11. Select Question Review Research Develop Hypothesis How do course activities fit into research process PsycInfo Assignment “Choosing a Research Question” Activity

12. Research Design Measurement Data Analyses Survey Meta-analysis Qualitative Scaling Reliability & Validity Experimental Communicate Results Written Assignments Oral Presentations How course activities fit into the process

13. What this course is about Learning to do research via –Logic & Observation Communicating –Observations using Statistics –Logic using writing & oral presentation