DBA

DBA 1.Seminar preparation and presentation (1000 words): The Pre-seminar task section , you need to submit a 1000 word summary which supports your seminar presentation of your reflections about issues drawn from your experience of the Manger?s role The Importance of Business Management 1.1 The Business World Today Constant change! Technology Society Environment Competition Diversity What is Management? The process of deciding how best to use a business?s resources to produce good or provide services Employees Equipment Money Are responsible for work conducted within units Develop relationships within and outside unit to conduct work Perform some image based activities (i.e., not directly work related) Uses relationships and information to make decisions Features of decisions Affected by several factors (e.g., functioning of other units, costs/benefits, timing etc.) Made on ad-hoc basis Based on person making the proposal rather than proposal Management Skills Conceptual skills Skills that help managers understand how different parts of a business relate to one another and to the business as a whole Decision making, planning, and organizing Management Skills Human relations skills Skills managers need to understand and work well with people Interviewing job applicants, forming partnerships with other businesses, resolving conflicts Management Skills Technical skills The specific abilities that people use to perform their jobs Operating a word processing program, designing a brochure, training people to use a new budgeting system Management Skills All levels of management require a combination of conceptual, human relations, and technical skills Conceptual skills most important at senior management level Technical skills most important at lower levels Human relations skills important at all levels Emerging Management challenges Globalization Quality And Productivity Research Methods Interviews Focusgroups Participant observation (field notes) Video Text and Image analysis (documents, media data) Data Analysis (C., p.191) Organize and prepare the data for analysis Read all data, get a sense of the whole Begin detailed analysis with coding process Generate a description of the setting/people as well as categories or themes for analysis Represent themes (writing, visual, etc.) Interpret and make meaning out of data *iterative, non-linear process Credibility Use of Triangulation Use of Member Checking Use of rich, thick Description Clarification of Bias Use of Negative or discrepant information Prolonged field time Peer Debriefing (C., 2003, p.196) Research Methodologies & GILD Ethnography An ethnography is a description and interpretation of a cultural or social group or system. The research examines the group?s observable and learned patterns of behaviour, customs, and ways of life. (C., 1998,p.58) Rapid Ethnography Research Methodologies & GILD Case Study ? a case study is an exploration of a ?bounded system? ? over time through detailed, in-depth data collection involving multiple sources of information rich in context. This bounded system is bounded by time and place, and it is the case being studied ? a program, an event, an activity, or individuals. (C., 1999, p.61) Useful Methods Participant observation Gains insight into understanding cultural patterns to determine what?s necessary and needed in tool development (complementary to interviews) Interviews/Focusgroups with stakeholders Explores how tools are used and could be used in a novice programming course Gains insight into the meaning of tools for students for learning to program Useful Methods Data analysis Themes arising from data would provide insight into current ?learning to program? issues and see what is important to students / teachers / administrators Survey Useful for verifying results on a larger scale User Testing Useful for triangulating results Choice of Methodology & Methods Depends on Research Questions Research Goals Researcher Beliefs and Values Researcher Skills Time and Funds Discussion (How) Can tool improvement, collaboration, ed-tech questions and learning outcomes be addressed in the same study? What GILD research questions match which research methodologies? Qualitative vs. Quantitative research methods: Qualitative research takes place in the real world, as opposed to the laboratory, and deals with how people give meaning to their own experience. Then it is followed by an attempt to interpret the behaviour and the meanings that people have given to their experience. The objective of qualitative research is to describe and possibly explain events and experiences. Variety of qualitative methods Case study (of 1 or more individuals) Ethnography (study of cultural groups) Phenomenology (individual point of view) Grounded theory (link data to theory) Action research Historical analysis Distinguishing Characteristics of Quantitative and Qualitative Research Qualitative research strategies: Purpose QUANTITATIVE to explain and predict to test, confirm, and validate theory QUALITATIVE to describe and explain to explore and interpret to build theory Research Process QUANTITATIVE focused deals with known variables uses established guidelines static designs; context-free; objective QUALITATIVE holistic approach unknown variables flexible guidelines ?emergent? design; context-bound; subjective Form of Reasoning QUANTITATIVE deductive analysis from general case (?theory?) to specific situations. QUALITATIVE inductive analysis from specific situation to general case. Description of findings QUANTITATIVE Numerical data Statistics Formal and scientific QUALITATIVE Narrative description Words, quotes Personal voice; literary style Which approach to educational research should you use? Do you believe that... There is an objective reality that can be measured? If so, use Quantitative research. There are multiple, constructed realities that defy easy measurement or categorization? If so, use Qualitative research? Overview of Presentation Overview of Quantitative/Qualitative Methodologies Focus on Qualitative Research Questions, Characteristics, Methods, Data Analysis, Credibility Research Methodologies / Methods & GILD Discussion Is your research question... Confirmatory or predictive in nature? If so, use Quantitative research. Exploratory or interpretive in nature? If so, use Qualitative research. Is the available research literature... Relatively large? If so, use Quantitative research. Limited or non-existent? If so, use Qualitative research. Do you have skills in... Statistics and deductive reasoning, and able to write in a technical and scientific style? If so, use Quantitative research. Inductive reasoning, attentiveness to detail, and able to write in a more literary, narrative style? If so, use Qualitative research. Choosing the ?right? method Different research methods are appropriate for different research questions. No single approach is best for all the questions that can be asked regarding any particular behavioral phenomenon. ?What leads some students to be more successful readers than other students?? ?Can I predict who is likely to have reading difficulties?? (Correlation/regression) ?What is the best method of teaching reading?? (Experiment) ?What are the norms for a population for the development of reading skill?? (Descriptive) ?What are the conditions of reading instruction and learning in today?s classrooms?? (Qualitative) UNDERSTANDING ANALYSIS Interpretation Techniques for Looking Below the Surface Analysis is? ?More than just a set of skills, analysis is a frame of mind, an attitude toward experience. It is a form of detective work that typically pursues something puzzling, something you are seeking to understand rather than something you are already sure you have the answers to. Analysis finds questions where there seemed not to be any, and it makes connections that might not have been evident at first.? (Rosenwasser and Stephen, 4) Preview Rationale Defining analysis Analysis Thought Processes Achieving Analysis Practicing Analysis Conclusion RATIONALE: COMPOSITION & COMMUNICATION WRD 110 Learning Outcomes highlight the need for students to ?learn to analyze and use visuals effectively to augment their oral presentations; to employ invention techniques for analyzing and developing arguments? WRD 111 Learning Outcomes call for students to ?employ advanced strategies for developing ideas and analyzing arguments? Rationale: Academic Situations Participatory Action Research Involving Constituents in Social Change Oriented Research Participatory Action Research: Method used to involve community residents, clients, and other constituents in social change oriented research. Participants work with a facilitator to identify a community problem, develop research methodology, collect data, and analyze findings. The data is then used to make recommendations about how the problem should be resolved. Participants advocate for funding, legislation, or government action to adopt the findings. The end result is to alleviate oppression or improve community or service quality. Assumptions made about the process People who experience the problem are in the best position to conduct research on the issue. All people can learn basic research skills. Participants can establish equal partnerships with researchers that can be used to address community problems. PAR related activities help empower members of powerless groups. Participation in the PAR process is a critical component of community interventions. Par can include both qualitative and quantitative methods. It?s generally considered a subtype of qualitative research because: It incorporates the perceptions of participants into how the research is conducted and data is analyzed Participants/constitutents are equal partners with the researcher (as in feminist research). It?s focus is social change rather than simply on the production of new knowledge. It helps us understand the experiences and culture of population groups outside the dominant culture. Purpose of Participatory action research: The purpose of Participatory Action Research (PAR) is to minimize power differences between researchers and constituents, increase the knowledge of participants, and promote social change (Sohng, 1998). PAR is associated with two aspects of learning theory: Kurt Lewin?s Action Research (1951) principles (knowledge flows from taking action) as well as the work of Paulo Freire (Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 1970) in which he described a process of education for marginalized groups that involved mutual learning among teachers and students. The basic assumption of these approaches is that academic research should be used to reduce the harmful effects of oppression by involving members of powerless groups in the construction of knowledge, a critical examination of the world around them, and action to address social problems (Stringer, 1999). PAR also draws upon social constructionism and the work of post-modern theorists such as Michel Foucault who maintain that scientific knowledge often has little relevance in people?s every day lives, but instead serves to maintain existing institutional arrangements that limit power to members of economic, social and political elites (Rodwell, 1998).