Research Methods II

1. Research Methods II The Literature Review 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."

2. Game Plan • Exercise: Research Ideas/Research Questions / Hypothesis • The Literature Review • Break • Literature Review Exercise • Using the Writing Center

3. 1. Topic 1 2. Topic 2 Your flip chart paper should look like this!! 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. The literature review in the thesis process Formulate and clarify your research question Chapter 1 Review the Literature/Theory Chapter 2 Formulate your research design Chapter 3 Answering research question Sampling Measurement Analyze your data Chapter 4 Qualitative Methods Quantitative Methods Write your Results and Discussion Chapter 5

10. The Literature Review • Literature review – gather existing wisdom to shed light on something that has captured your interest

11. 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 andfill 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…

12. 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

13. Literature Maps • Leadership Lit review Project leader roles And behaviors Outputs: New products& processes Project Teams Inputs (Scientific and technological information) Research Topics

14. Mapping techniques

15. 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

16. Ways to organize literature as you are researching Author/date Theory/standpoint Evidence Argument Or Author/date Sample DVs IVs Findings

17. Relevance 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? Evaluating the relevance and value of literature to your research

18. Trawling and Mining for information Trawling Mining Trawling Mining Specifying and Integrating History of the topic Key works and authors Debates and arguments Methodology Theories and concepts Findings Critiques Broad based search for books and articles Broad based search for more specific literature Focused Search Focusing Selecting possibly relevant items Reading, analyzing and discriminating between items Analyzing and categorizing contents Integrating and synthesizing contents

19. 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.

20. 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

21. For example: Job characteristics theory Critical Psychological States Personal and work Outcomes Core job Dimensions Skill variety Task Identity Task Significance Autonomy Feedback Experienced Meaningfulness of the work Experienced responsibility 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

22. In most quantitative studies… • Theory is tested – or verified. • Theory is the framework for the entire study…an organizing model. Ticket Price Price of Parking Performance # of Pro-bowl players NFL Attendance Competitive Balance # of sports Teams in city Age of stadium Income of Metropolitan area

23. Climate Survey Model

24. Climate Survey Modeling

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

26. The Process of Reviewing • General euphoria and excitement • Puzzlement • Buried • Muddling through • Time goes by • Patterns emerge • Discrimination

27. 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.

28. 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.

29. 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!!!

30. 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

31. 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.

32. Homework Reading Assignments

33. 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!!!