Introduction%20to%20Research%20Methods%20Course

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Introduction to Research Methods Course

• Phani Radhakrishnan PhD

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What is Research?

• A way of knowing
• E.g. How to know whether employees are
  satisfied?

Intuition You have a gut feeling
Authority Employees managers claim they are
Logic Because you pay them well, and pay is related to satisfaction, they should be satisfied
Observation You asked employees how satisfied they are
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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?

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Research in Arts/Humanities

• E.g., the impact of Hamlet on contemporary
  Cinema
• Observationcinema clips by author
• LogicEstablish how characters in cinema clips
  resemble Hamlet
• How it may differ from HR/OB research
• Reliability of observations (author vs. many
  observers)

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Why do research?

• Describe
• Predict
• Explain/Understand

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Why do research?
Describe Phenomena How satisfied are the employees
Establish standards How 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 decisions Should 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
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Skills Comprising Research
Statistics
Research
Logic Observation
Communication
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Ways we learn research skills in this course
Statistics
Readings
Exercises
Communication
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How course activities teach you research skills
Readings Exercises
Communication Written All readings Methodology Write-up Rationale Write-up Final Paper Non graded exercises
Oral Rowan article Class participation Short Presentation Final Presentation
Statistics All readings with statistical info In Class demonstrations SPSS workshops Statistics Assignment Project Data analyses
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Overview of Research Process
Ethics
Develop Hypothesis
Research Design
Review Research
Communicate Results
Data Analyses
Select Question
Measurement
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How do course activities fit into research
process
Develop Hypothesis
Choosing a Research Question Activity
Review Research
PsycInfo Assignment
Select Question
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How course activities fit into the process
Survey
Research Design
Meta-analysis
Qualitative
Experimental
Communicate Results
Data Analyses
Written Assignments Oral Presentations
Scaling
Measurement
Reliability Validity
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What this course is about

• Learning to do research via
• Logic Observation
• Communicating
• Observations using Statistics
• Logic using writing oral presentation