Morehead state university iet 698 Research Methods Technology

Session 1

It really is a shame that education seamlessly outweighs experience these days. Although I do believe in the education system, and also in furthering ones self as far as he/she can go, I also believe that there are situations in a work place where the hands on experience could never be simulated completely in a class room environment. Furthermore I believe that employees with this priceless experience should not fear the loss of their jobs after the company hires a new college grad or a "top out" in salary. In house training should be set in place for these types of employees to gain the credentials and prove their worth. College is not ideal for everyones situation and I think there are gray areas where that type of learning is not necessary for an experienced employee.

The primary purpose of the Graduate School is to prepare scholars and researchers to master the content and methods of their special subjects, especially those who give promise of continuing development because they want to create knowledge and communicate it widely. After completing an intensive program of study, graduates should be able to claim professional standing in their chosen fields.

This article discusses the pros and cons of online learning. I agree with some of the points that are made about the benefits of online classes. For example an online student does all of his/her communicating through the written word so this skill must really be fine tuned. Online classes are typically far more tedious than a face to face so the student must be very self motivated and disciplined and much more time is spent learning the subject matter per week since it is up to the student to learn the material. I actually do like the fact that through online classes a student has all the necessary time to comfortably reply to a question in class. Although it is good that the student is given the time to reflect on the information before responding I personally think that it is more important to develop the skills needed to be able to verbally represent one’s own thoughts on the spot, especially in our field of study (engineering management). I agree that online learning has a lot of benefits but I do not prefer it to the traditional class room setting.

The article “Transforming Leadership: An Assessment Tool” by Dr. Jule D. Scarborough discusses how several modern leadership theories seem to fit the leadership needs of business today. Anderson Consulting performed studies on CEO’s of major companies that brought forth a serious concern those today’s’leadership standards and styles are not keeping pace with the needs of today or the future. As corporations grow so does their complexity and similarly so does the competition between corporations. The idea for advancement in this article is that as companies become more focused on the development of human resources and participation as opposed to power and control the more effective the organization will be. Some of the listed characteristics of effective organizations in this article are as follows:

•&νβσπ;Create/communicate a compelling vision which will provide direction and guidance.

•&νβσπ;Treat employees as business partners to secure informed cooperation and to tap knowledge and experience.

•&νβσπ;Use information technology positively, making the leader the center of a human intelligence network, not a bureaucratic controller.

The focus of the research in this article was mainly directed to the industry but was also directed towards the IT departmental leadership and program content. The author encourages IT departmental administrators to consider some sort of similar assessments to their selves and their department to harness the potential within the faculty and the IT programs. He says that each faculty member should be also challenged and engage in leadership activities so that they set a good example of how to be a leader for the students. Leadership skills are not something that should be learned after one graduates, its something that should be developed throughout ones life.

Session 2

In regards to the review of related literature, the author starts the research with an impeccable introduction. Unlike other researchers, Ms Sartorius uses simple vocabulary which makes it easier for her audience to understand the key points, for instance she writes “ This paper describes the changes faced by the field of graphic communications in light of new digital graphic communication media”. It is very clear what the problem statement is. The author also includes good sources that also explain the issue she is addressing on Multimedia Electronic Publishing and the Future of Graphic Communications, Graphic communications and the “digital revolution”, Technology literacy in the workplace, etc. When she writes about the digital revolution, she writes, “In 1998, the London College of Printing conducted a study analyzing the training needs of the pre-press industry (Pira International, 1999).The study identified a skills gap generated by the convergence of once highly differentiated text, image origination and manipulation areas into one that allows for still and moving images to be treated within a single digital environment. In regards to the methodology, even though the operational definitions are not clearly specified in her research, she does mention the use of surveys and what companies and people were studied as part of her participants and instrument of research. Also, in the design and procedure, she does not include details on how the study was done. This makes the findings questionable. Finally, her summary does have a thorough explanation on the causes and consequences of the digitization of the workflow. In my opinion this was a good research but it lacks more information about how the studies that were done.

Research is the systematic process of collecting and analyzing information (data) in order to increase our understanding of the phenomenon about which we are concerned or interested. People often use a systematic approach when they collect and interpret information to solve the small problems of daily living. Here, however, we focus on formal research: research in which we intentionally set out to enhance our understanding of a phenomenon and expect to communicate what we discover to the larger scientific community.

Although research projects vary in complexity and duration, research typically has eight distinct characteristics:

1. Research originates with a question or problem.

2. Research requires a clear articulation of a goal.

3. Research follows a specific plan of procedure.

4. Research usually divides the principal problem into more manageable sub problems.

5. Research is guided by the specific research problem, question, or hypothesis.

6. Research accepts certain critical assumptions.

7. Research requires the collection and interpretation of data in an attempt to resolve the problem that initiated the research.

8. Research is, by its nature, cyclical or, more exactly, helical.

Research is a valuable tool we acquire through the course of our studies. It's purpose should be questioned so that it can also be answered, such is the way of research. Research is not a universal tool, though it may seem like one at first, but rather, different topics might require different types of research. For insctance some projects may require surveys, and some may require Finite Element Analysis. These are both forms of research development but they are totally different tools. By defining the term research for any given problem you are actually defining the first few steps of that should be conducted on that project.

Yes I believe there is a major conflict of interest here. As a manager of the plant I believe the research that would be conducted could potentially be biased seeing as you would be an employee of the same plant you’re debating on whether or not to shut down or expand. More than likely the manager would vote to expand the plant if anything. As a researcher the best decision might be to close the plant, but as a manager you would want to keep the plant open.

The first step should be an extensive research on the market and also set a competitive benchmark. Pareto charts could be used to isolate the vital few problems with the existing company; from there the major financial problems can be eliminated first. For instance if the company is still manufacturing products that can be bought elsewhere much cheaper than that particular task might need to be eliminated for the sake of time and money. Also by eliminating the major problems, the companies strongpoints will likely be revealed in which case the president should set in motion a procedure to embellish on those good qualities. For example, the company is very old, and likely the larger chain companies will steal a lot of the customers, but since it is so old it will likely have a small but loyal branch of customers that can now be catered to more thoroughly. Maybe instead of trying to compete on a larger scale the company can step it down a notch and focus on utilizing all of its profitable traits.

There are a number of alternative methods available for assessing employee satisfaction so the first decision is which approach and which workplace satisfaction survey methods are appropriate for this situation. Before anything I would ask some of the following questions:

•&νβσπ;Are you looking for some general feedback on just how satisfied employees are?

•&νβσπ;Do you want to establish benchmarks against which you can measure improvement?

•&νβσπ;Or are your needs more tactical? Maybe there is a specific morale or performance problem on which you need additional insight?

•&νβσπ;Or key people are leaving and you need to understand why?

Some possible approaches are quantitative research, quantitative surveys, or even a cross-functional team meeting.

Quantitative research simply means the results are measurable and projectable. They generally rely on a larger sample size, standardized questions and scoring systems, and then all the results are consolidated to provide baseline measures of employee satisfaction. This kind of survey is good for providing benchmarking that allows you to measure progress and improvement over time and implement a process of continuous improvement.

Qualitative surveys are easier and faster. They may involve interviewing a few people from across the company as ‘barometers’ for the organization morale, or conducting a small ‘group’ research session.

Also you could arrange a team event to get feedback from a cross-functional team. If your people trust you and feel they’ve been given permission to speak up they will likely be very honest about their workplace satisfaction and discussing whatever is on their minds. In addition to possibly solving problems based on the information given by employees, their will also be a boost of morale in the workplace because the workers will feel like their opinions and suggestions are important.

The textbook defines the scientific method as a means whereby insight into the unknown is sought by:

a) Identifying a problem that defines the goal of ones quest.

b) Positing a hypothesis that, if confirmed, resolves the problem.

c) Gathering data relevant to the hypothesis.

d) Analyzing and interpreting the data to see whether they support the hypothesis and resolve the question that initiated the research.

Explain and differentiate between Omnibus studies and Syndicated research?

An omnibus survey is a method of quantitative marketing research where data on a wide variety of subjects is collected during the same interview. Usually, multiple research clients will provide proprietary content for the survey, while sharing the common demographic data collected from each respondent.

Syndicated data can be structured or unstructured data that is primarily provided by external sources (data providers) as a result of their analysis and studies conducted. For example: Marketing results, Survey results, Common Usage patterns and forecasting information. This kind of research is usuallya large-scale marketing research project undertaken by market-research companies and subsequently offered for sale to interested parties.

As area sales manager of a company manufacturing and marketing outboard engines, you have been assigned the responsibility of conducting a research study to estimate the sales potential of your products in the domestic (U.S. or Canadian) market. Discuss key issues and concerns arising from the fact that you, the manager, are also the researcher.

My concern here is that the manager might be taking on too much work and in turn he may reap unsuccessful results. “He who serves two masters disappoints one or both”, or in this case, he who has two jobs will fail at one or both of them. Labor in a workplace should divided equally from the top down according to employees pay scale and qualifications.