MGT600 WK2, Chat A

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MGT600WK2, Chat A

• Note Next chat will be about Library Resources

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General Announcements

• Well, after the first assignments everyone has a
  better feeling for the expectations, right?
• Remember that on our Chat 2B we have a chat
  exclusively dedicated to Library resources.
• More information will be posted on the
  announcements board.

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So maybe we can start this week's chat with some
general observations from last week's assignments?

• Here are some numbered observations I prepared
  based on overall observations, so please dont
  feel offended its just a list of common issues
  that need be addressed so everyone can improve
  their assignments.

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Using Supporting Sources

• Even after repeated announcements and even
  examples, there were still assignments without
  any academic citations or references whatsoever.
• The expectations state a minimal of 3 scholarly
  sources (not popular sources).
• Remember that this is an expectation of this
  course, and its related to academic credibility
  and to APA skills. All assignments are expected
  to contain extensive use of scholarly citations
  and references, not popular literature.

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APA formatting is still not widely understood

• APA is very detailed. Its very important that
  you look at every single detail (periods,
  italics, etc.) in every single format. Most of
  the errors observed are in the details.
• The best way to describe issues pertaining APA
  formatting is to use Figure 5.1 (pg 306) to in
  the APA Manual (5th ed).
• This sample paper contains circled numbers that
  refer to the numbered sections in the publication
  manual.

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Anatomy of a textbook APA citation a wrong way
No use of first names
Excessive use of caps
Double spacing
Book titles in italics
Incorrect font
Bazerman, Max (2006). Judgment in Managerial
Decision Making (6th ed.).
Hoboken, NJ John Wiley Sons, Inc.
Colon, not semi-colon
Indentation 5 spaces
No use of superscript
No use of Inc.
Excessive caps
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Anatomy of a journal article extracted from a
database
Incorrect format
Rojas, R. (2006). The trials and tribulations of
learning APA formatting A graduate
students perspective. Journal of Online
Business Education, 26(3), 43-49.
Retrieved March 25, 2006, from
http//proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index1did100850
2751SrchMode 1sid1Fmt3VInstPRODVTypePQD
RQT309VNamePQD TS1143471295clientId65562

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Anatomy of a journal article extracted from a
database
No first names
Cap to begin subtitle
Rojas, R. (2006). The trials and tribulations of
learning APA formatting A graduate
students perspective. Journal of Online
Business Education, 26(3), 43-49.
Retrieved March 25, 2007, from ABI Global Inform
database.
Retrieval information
Name of database, not the name of the Company
Comma!
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APA

• Keep an eye on the details indentations, double
  spacing, italics, avoid excessive use of caps in
  titles, alphabetical ordering or sources, no
  first names of authors look at the details
  (formatting protocol)
• Another idea is to use the APA tutorial in the
  Research Lab.
• Citation Machine (beware of disclaimer)

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DB1

• Loss of perspective more emphasis on the case
  that on the analysis of the model
• are there any discrepancies? suggests an
  analysis, not a YES or NO answer
• Minimal of 3 supporting sources
• Be careful with web sites

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Literature review

• The ability to seek (a) relevant (b) scholarly
  literature (no web sites, no magazines or
  newspapers) that would
• Demonstrate the hypothesis as part of the ongoing
  efforts in the literature
• Illustrate the potential contributions of your
  research design to the literature.
• Skills involved
• Research Library skills
• Recognizing scholarly versus popular literature
• Demonstrate research process skills

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Bullet statements

• There also seems to be a trend in using bullet
  statements rather than full narratives for
  assignments. Bullet statements are excellent
  ways to organize your thoughts, but are
  inadequate for assignments.
• Bullet statements alone lack depth, and leave too
  much interpretation to the reader. Accordingly,
  bullet statements do not demonstrate to me that
  you master the concepts discussed in class.
• Please take the time to fully articulate what you
  mean.

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Incorrect DB posting

• Finally, do not attach or upload your posting to
  the discussion board, nor place it in the
  submitted assignments folder.
• The correct place is the discussion board and the
  intention is for everyone to see and comment on
  your posting.
• The attachment function is only for special
  assignments, not for the regular DB posting.

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• Do all these suggestions and clarifications help?
• Remember that these suggestions are skills that
  will help you throughout all courses in the
  entire program.

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Skills survey Think about the top 3 skills that
affected you the most in the composing of your
Unit 1 assignments?

• Basic computer skills
• Classroom navigation skills
• Online learning skills
• Office 2007 Skills
• Graduate or scholarly writing skills
• Scholarly databases Library resources skills
• APA formatting skills
• Critical Thinking skills
• Biases, judgment and decision making skills
• Experimental research process skills

Please be honest this information will help me
better frame the material and class exercises to
help you be successful in the MBA program
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Take the time to carefully respond to these three
surveys
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Lets talk briefly about this weeks assignments
today, since the next chat will be about the
Library.
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IP2 Assignment

• The IP2 is where you demonstrate your
  understanding of two more research steps of the
  Sekaran process.
• In other words the IP2 also has two parts
• (a) Using the same hypothesis from your IP1,
  compose a theoretical framework.
• Step 4 of the Sekaran process
• (b) Using the same hypothesis from your IP1,
  compose a scientific research design
• Step 6 of the Sekaran process
• Notice that we skipped Step 5.

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Figure 4.1 The research process (Sekaran, 2003)
Step 1
Step 3
Step 4
General Observation
Theoretical Framework
Step 6
Step 7
CH4
Literature Review
Step 5
Scientific Research Design
Collect data Analysis and Interpretation
Generation Of a hypothesis (or hypotheses)
Step 2
Purpose of The study
Definition Of the Problem
CH6
CH 12
Prelim Data Gathering
CH5
Variables Identified
Research Question
Step 8
CH4
The 9th Step Formatting Protocols (APA, 5th ed)
Deduction
CH4
CH5
Is the Research Question Answered?
Research Design Timeline for MGT 600 (by
Assignments)
IP1
IP2
IP3
Ip4
GP5
Class Starts
All steps
Steps 4,6
Step 7
Step 8
All steps
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Part 1Theoretical framework

• How would you characterize the purpose of your
  study in relation to the literature?
• What models from the literature will you be
  using?
• What specifically are the variables and how are
  the defined?
• Continuity coherency between the parts

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Part 2 Scientific research design (Step 6)

• What is the experiment you will be conducting to
  demonstrate your hypothesis?
• What is the process by which you will test your
  hypothesis (variables)?
• Narrate the details of your approach using the
  elements that apply from Sekaran (2003).

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Example hypothesis Ha There is a direct
relationship between employee motivation and the
quality of the working environment

• Theoretical framework
• That is the theor(5-8 theories of motivation, 4-5
  theories on work environmenty or theories that
  apply to my experiment?)
• Which among the current models in the literature
  that I will be using for my experiment? (Which
  ones did you select?)
• How exactly am I defining these variables?

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Example hypothesis Ha There is a direct
relationship between employee motivation and the
quality of the working environment

• Scientific research design (Explain the details
  of the experiment, use Fig. 6.2)
• Purpose (exploratory, descriptive or hypothesis
  testing?)
• Type of investigation ( causal, correlation,
  differentiation, or other?)
• Extent of researcher interference (minimal,
  control, simulation, or other).
• Continue analysis with elements in Fig 6.2

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IP2 Assignment Summary

• The IP2 is a single document with 2 sections (or
  two parts)
• (a) Using the same hypothesis from your IP1,
  compose a theoretical framework.
• Step 4 of the Sekaran process
• (b) Using the same hypothesis from your IP1,
  compose a scientific research design
• Step 6 of the Sekaran process
• Continuity from your IP1 (building up the
  research design)
• APA Formatting of the paper and the supporting
  sources

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DB2

• The second DB is your opportunity to demonstrate
  to me how well you master all the concepts
  related to judgments, biases and perceptions.
• Delineate the anatomy of your previous decision
  (the scenario you already used in your DB1) but
  frame it differently.

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• The DB2 is an re-framing of your DB1 scenario
  Basically, delineate the anatomy of your previous
  decision, but using a different framework.
• Use as many concepts on judgment, perceptions and
  biases as possible to respond to the DB
  questions. Show me that you understand the
  meaning of these concepts and that you know how
  to apply and overcome these issues in judgment.
  (Defining the terms)
• Also use citations and references from various
  sources to support your arguments. Remember to go
  beyond just the textbook when you are supporting
  your arguments.

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DB2

• Just remember, for the discussion board and for
  PowerPoint the only section that I am expecting
  to see full APA formatting is in the references
  section.
• The discussion board does not accept Microsoft
  Word formatting commands and that you will have
  to manually format your references section to
  comply with APA.
• This means that if you cut and paste from your
  Microsoft Word documents, much of the formatting
  will not be absorbed into the discussion board,
  because the discussion board is in HTML.

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APA Skills Developer