Undergraduate Research: Critical Thinking in Action

1. Undergraduate Research: Critical Thinking in Action Lynn Grinnell, PhD College of Business

2. Agenda • Background: Why is primary research an awesome way to teach critical thinking? • Case study: Market research in Sustainable Business Strategies • Activity: Develop an undergraduate research projects

3. SPC’s Critical Thinking Definition • CASPER • Communication • Analysis • Synthesis • Problem-solving • Evaluation • Reflection

4. Mapping SPC’s Critical Thinking Definition to Primary Research Projects

5. Team Project: Market Research on Mass Transit Case Study

6. Prior Research: What works in products • Saving money • Convenience • Perceived quality • Personal relationships • Technology and innovation • Solutions that work, not that sound good From: Convincing the Unconvinced

7. Prior Research: What works in policy language • Independence • Personal responsibility • Helping people personally • Integrity and ethics • Stewardship • Local solutions • Limited, not big, government solutions • Concern about • Costs • Next generation • Personal health From: Convincing the Unconvinced

8. Key Questions • If prior research (focus group) shows Participants Agree/Strongly agree: • Alternatives to cars • Reduce gasoline use • Reduce use of natural resources • Reduce waste • Then why do the affluent not ride mass transit? (e.g., buses) • What features/benefits would convince them to ride the bus?

9. Green Marketing Research:Research Methods • Primary research • Questionnaires/surveys • One-to-one interviews • Telephone interviews • Focus groups • Blogs • Bottom line – what sells? • Secondary • Strategies for the Green Economy EarthJustice market research • Convincing the Unconvinced: presentation to Sustainable Florida conference • Information from already published sources: Books, journals, papers, libraries, Internet From: Green Business Practices for Dummies

10. Developing Surveys • Decide the information required. • Define the target respondents. • Choose the method(s) of reaching your target respondents. • Decide on question content. • Develop the question wording. • Put questions into a meaningful order and format. • Check the length of the questionnaire. • Pre-test the questionnaire. • Develop the final survey form.

11. Sampling Practical planning Convenience sampling Targeted demographics At least 10 apiece (minimum 25-30) Discuss proper sampling Sample size Random Stratified (if needed)

12. Survey Research in MAN 3781 Sustainable Business Strategies Survey developed by: Tara Bennett Dan Deaton Louis Neary Caleb Stallard

13. Validating Instruments(not done for this study) • Content • Construct validity • Expert validity • Reliability • Internal consistency • Generalizability • From multiple locations, random sampling • Clarity • One-on-one test • Small sample • Field test Lessons learned

14. Online Survey Development • Zoomerang or Survey Monkey • Survey Monkey • 10 questions/survey • 100 responses/survey • Real-time results • Collect data via weblink, email, Facebook or embed in blog/website • Zoomerang • 12 questions/survey • 100 responses/survey • Real-time, online reports • Example: • http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22D5EM2QKFJ

15. Analysis: Histograms • What does a histogram show? • Number of cases in each group along a continuum • Example: Amount of paper used • Likert scale: Very satisfied to Very dissatisfied • Shows the central tendency and variation • When do you use it? • When you have questions like: • How does the number of low users compare with the number of moderate users and high users? • Are more people satisfied or dissatisfied? (Is the distribution skewed?) • Are most people in a broad range or a narrow range? (How wide is the variation?) • Are there one or two that are really out of line? (Are there outliers?)

16. How do you build a histogram? • Use Likert scale for opinion questions • Very satisfied to very dissatisfied • For continuous variables • (e.g., amount of paper used) • Determine number of bars to have • <50 data points = 5-7 bars • 50-99 points = 6-10 bars • 100-249 points = 7-12 bars • 250 points = 10-20 bars • Bar size = Range/number of bars • Sort data from lowest to highest • Plot frequency on the histogram • Each data point falls in only one bar • (e.g., 0-9 miles, 10-19 miles, 20-29 miles)

17. Analysis: Pareto charts • When do you use them? • Problem-solving: To identify the problems that, if solved, will have the greatest effect on improvement • To prioritize solutions • Categorical variable (not continuous) • What does a Pareto chart show? • Separate the “vital few” from the “trivial many” • Combination chart: raw number and percent of total • Based on the Pareto principal • 80% of the problems result from 20% of the causes

18. How do you build a Pareto chart?Example: Water Audit

19. Publishing/Presenting Results • Local/state conferences • Web publishing • Blogs • Peer-reviewed • IRB requirements • Approval • Consent (include in online survey form)

20. Activity: Research StudyCritical thinking in your discipline • Given prior knowledge of stakeholders in your discipline, develop a questionnaire on a controversial issue* in your discipline: • Individually: Develop 4-5 survey questions • Share survey questions with partner/small group • Brainstorm additional questions • Discuss the demographics you want to collect • Create a 1-page, 10-question survey (including demographics) * Controversial issues will promote critical thinking on different points of view, assumptions, inferences that can be made

21. Questions?