Daniel E. Martin, Ph - SSRN

Research_Methods Teaching Research by Doing Research: Win/Win through ‘Giving the On-Line Tools Away’ Daniel E. Martin, Ph.D. College of Business and Economics Department of Management California State University, East Bay 25800 Carlos Bee Boulevard, Hayward, CA 94542 [email protected]

Teaching MBA research methodology classes can be a challenge. Students lack previous exposure to research methodology and statistics, and do not recognize growing labor needs for knowledge workers that the courses offer. Given industry demand for students prepared for high complexity positions and the growing demand for business professors to produce high-quality research, this article presents the results of a project-based pedagogy for graduate MBA research methods course that has been used to meet four goals; 1) provide high-quality instruction of research methods and statistics, 2) production of high-quality academic publications that provide options for students and professors to present the research for professional conferences and publication, 3) offering students the ability to answer intrinsically relevant (and interesting) research questions, and 4) giving students the required software to execute future research projects.

Running Head: Research_Methods

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Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1754602

Research_Methods Introduction Teaching MBA research methodology classes can be a challenge. Students lack previous exposure to research methodology and statistics, and do not recognize growing labor needs for knowledge workers that the courses offer. Given industry demand for students prepared for high complexity positions, and the growing demand for business professors to produce high-quality research, this article presents the results of an project based pedagogy for graduate MBA research methods course that has been used to meet four goals; 1) provide high-quality instruction of research methods and statistics, 2) production of high-quality academic publications that provide options for students and professors to present the research for professional conferences and publication, 3) offering students the ability to answer intrinsically relevant (and interesting) research questions, and 4) giving students the required software to execute future research projects. Project Based Learning and Research Methods First and foremost, we began with the assumption that most students are potentially fearful of the rigors of the course. Several other assumptions drive our choice of pedagogical methods. Students are motivated when they are challenged by expectations set by the instructor Students will attempt to meet goals set by the instructor Students learn by executing a research project, one that they have input on and have become vested in by virtue of their performance in various research oriented tasks built-in to the quarter long course

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Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1754602

Research_Methods These assumptions lend themselves to project-based learning course pedagogy. Project-based pedagogy is well established in the teaching and psychological literature (Aronson, 1978,

Blumenfeld, Soloway, Marx, Krajcik, Guzdial, & Palicsar, 1991) and

emphasizes learning while offering students autonomy and responsibility usually reserved for the professor. Project-based learning immerses students (Feden & Vogel, 2003) in the very methods of research that they are learning. General benefits students can expect from participating in a project-based learning environment are: cooperative group involvement, sharing and practicing, individual exploration, and written and oral opportunities to present ideas and results. Specific research topics are assigned in the beginning of class (see relevant topics below). Professors may have variations on the theme but I have found that random assignment to evenly split groups of five graduate students (in a class of about 30) works quite well. No matter the mix, the goal is to afford student groups the opportunity to be engaged in one research topic, working towards a common goal. Giving the student groups relevant projects affords a connection to the tangible results of the research. The research projects use a wide array of mediums, beginning with their own experience, followed by an exploration of topic in the media, followed by a strict literature review. The collection of data ensures the student assembles required information, but also forces them to integrate information for the research project. Some of the skills required to accomplish project will include critical thinking, creativity, problem solving, and time management and presentation skills. Structure of course

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Research_Methods The structure of the course and topics must synchronize well with the exercises (both group and individual) that are being given to the students. Each professor will have their own approach with implementation of a project in research methods class, but the sample below works well for us and our quarter-based system. Course Objectives The purpose of the Research Methods course is to introduce our students to the basic concepts of Business Research Methodologies. Upon completion, students should have a familiarity with the research process that will 1) allow them to initiate and successfully carry out a formal research project, 2) present their findings of a research project to the class, and or customers and 3) thoughtfully evaluate research completed by others, making them competent “consumers” in the business research community. Critical thinking, appropriate communication of ideas and actions, and working with others in providing constructive feedback and evaluation are the skills we aim to develop in class. While the “consumer’ approach is important, the goal is to perform research sound enough to present at local professional conferences. As such, we present students temporally and geographically relevant conferences in class and in their syllabus. Conference presentations are not required but it is imperative to familiarize students with what associations and conferences offer, specifically mentorship and networking. Research Project Because the material this quarter is technical and may be unfamiliar to most students, preparation (assigned course material and group work) is critical. Class

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Research_Methods attendance is also crucial as group work is mandatory. Throughout the quarter students design and conduct a group research project in which they state a research problem and hypothesis, define a sampling plan, construct a questionnaire, collect data, analyze data, write a formal final report and present the findings in an oral presentation to the class (customer). The project is completed in sections which are evaluated each week during the quarter. Research Group Students are randomly assigned to research groups during the first class meeting. Throughout the course, the group builds the research project, developing a research problem, establish hypotheses, design a study, collect data, analyze the data and write a final report. The group members meet each week during class time for approximately 40 minutes. The group serves as a support network for feedback, help and encouragement and evaluation throughout the quarter. Literature Review Students complete a literature review for their research project. The class has a “field trip” to the library to discuss the latest research databases with our business librarian. The review will be conducted on a topic that has been randomly assigned (usually, each member of the team will focus on one IV/DV or demographics). Students notify the instructor of choice of topic during the third week of class. Final Research Report Students present the results of their research project at the end of the quarter (either the last class, or last 2 classes). The presentation includes slides or other visual presentations of the project, results and recommendations.

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Research_Methods Projects require various levels of thinking organizing and production ability. Bellanca and Fogarty (1993) developed a chart describing skills developed through projects that are categorized by critical thinking, creative thinking, and social skills. The table below illustrates the specific skills identified by Bellanca and Fogarty, and the corresponding skills developed in our research methods course.

Table 1 about here The project-based approach gives students the opportunity to responsibly develop their own skills, in a supportive and professional environment. Based on interviews with previous students however, it became apparent that many of the skills that were learned in our MBA research methods courses were rendered infeasible due to a lack of technical tools required to execute the types of analyses required in class. In other words, students did not have access to software needed to successfully use what they had learned. As such, we looked to the open source software movement to facilitate our technological needs. What are Open Source Research Tools? Since the introduction of the personal computer, software use in business has increased exponentially. Businesses use software to control and manage every aspect of management, and communication. Business schools interested in ensuring the competitive viability of tomorrow’s managers must attempt to give students tools that will ensure their future success. Business schools respond to the need for software by incorporating software in course work. This presents the first of several challenges that students and business schools face in continuing to offer up-to-date software opportunities. Universities operate with limited resources often subsidized by public and

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Research_Methods private sources. A majority of students are already overburdened by tuition and textbook costs. This environment is rich with computer users looking for inexpensive alternatives to traditional commercial software. Open source software is an obvious answer. Typically less expensive (in many cases free), open source solutions are known to be reliable, affordable, and accessible. What is the Open-Source Model? Universities are converting their commercial software applications to open-source software for the obvious cost saving benefits. Linux-based operating systems have become a fixture of IT departments on college campuses and a wide array of universities have cancel their subscriptions to blackboard in favor of Moodle ( Open University, others). Again, the main reason for the change to open-source software is the great financial savings for far too often cash-strapped universities. Many would also argue that the open-source option provides fantastic opportunities for those universities to ethically encourage collaboration and peer review (Feller & Fitzgerald, 2002, p. 24). But how does Open-Source work? Open-Source Projects generally evolve through individuals offering the software code publicly, then use peer review to edit the software until the users’ needs are met. The whole system requires the collaboration of software programmers around the world applying their skills to develop the software. The GNU Public License (GPL) is critical to the Open-Source endeavor, ensuring that anyone may copy, modify, and redistribute the software if they maintain the license and author notes in the code and don’t prevent others from redistributing received code.

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Research_Methods Open-Source Research Tools for Students Students in research courses may pay too much to attain their academic goals. Expensive textbooks, software packages and proprietary instrumentation prevent many students from fully utilizing the extent while they attempt to complete their required coursework, requiring sacrifices. Open-Source software can benefit students enormously for the following reasons: 1. Low Cost 2. Provides required tools for degree completion 3. Provides methodological resources 4. Student interest and exploration 5. Transportability (taking the software home/to work) and remote access to research 6. Facilitating student viability in the workplace (an on-line dossier of work) Open-Source Research Tools for Professors Professors in research sciences (including business) are being asked to do too much with too little. Lack of university resources, lack of community support, and lack of sponsorship reinforce the cycle of expensive textbook and software acquisitions. Opensource software enables goal attainment for the faculty, student and university through: 1. Affordable software for students and faculty 2. Research tools for both student and professor to execute research 3. Methodological resources 4. Meeting student needs at no cost to the university 5. Facilitating student viability in the workplace

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Research_Methods 6. Remote access to all research materials Research Methods Course On-Line Open-Source Software Data Collection Lime Survey (http://www.limesurvey.org) allows you to develop, publish and collect responses to surveys (including branching) using built-in question types, a range of flexible options and can provide basic statistical analysis of survey results. The program is easy to use, and data can be downloaded into SPSS or Excel for further analyses. Bibliographic/Reference/Collaboration Software WIKINDX (http://wikindx.sourceforge.net/) is a free bibliographic and quotations/notes management and article authoring system designed either for single use (on a variety of operating systems) or multi-user collaborative use across the internet. Statistical Package OpenStat4 (http://www.statpages.org/miller/openstat/) offers sufficient analyses for both introductory and advanced statistics courses and offers a wide array of analyses:

1. Descriptive statistics 2. Pearson product-moment correlations and partial correlations 3. Multiple Regression including stepwise forward and backward, simultaneous, block entry, best fit, Cox, Logistic, Weighted, 2-Stage 4. ANOVAs, MANOVA and ANCOVA 5. Multivariate analyses including Hierarchical, Factor Analysis, Canonical Correlation, and a least-squares General Linear Model procedure

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Research_Methods 6. Non-Parametric Analyses

Project Management Software GanttProject (http://ganttproject.biz/) is a free and easy to use Gantt chart-based project scheduling and management tool. Major features include: •

Task hierarchy and dependencies

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Gantt charts, and Generation of PERT charts

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PDF and HTML reports

•

MS Project import/export

Students learn the above software packages through brief introductions in class and support through guidebooks and in-program help. The software is theirs and they can use it for whatever purpose they see fit while and after the completion of assignments in class. This becomes a critical component of the class as it continues to offer the student opportunities to practice and apply the technical research and statistical skills they have learned in their research methods course. They are also encouraged to use the open source repository at sourceforge.net to augment their tools with other applicable packages to meet their specific business course/course needs. Relevant topics A critical element of the project-based approach for a business research methods class is the topic that students are offered at the beginning of the course. We have students representing every discipline across our MBA program as the course is a requirement, and student-based, employee and managerial type issues seem provide the most interesting topics for students to perform research on. This model has produced very successful outcomes for both students and professors (see table 2).

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Research_Methods

Table 2 about here

Tips for successful project-based implementation in MBA research methods courses Consider what can be executed by talented graduate students in a 10 or 15 week period. You may have fantastic ideas that can make a genuine contribution to the literature but if the material cannot be executed in an instructive way within the timeframe offered by the course, do not attempt the research topic. An incomplete research project leads to frustrated students, poor student evaluations, and a lack of application. Give students clear guidelines to the core structure, deadlines for all assignments and time in class to accommodate assignments. As students are responsible for their learning, give them as much freedom as the research environment can afford. This means concisely following the text and ensuring that you were lectures address specific student research needs. To ensure that I am kept up-to-date with all of the research projects, I spend the first 15 minutes of the class checking in on student progress as a consultant. Grades are determined by virtue of the individual contributions students have made to the overall research project as well as student group member evaluations. In this manner, MBA students are exposed the kind of management evaluation practices currently in place in the corporate world and the issue of social loafing is addressed. The project-based pedagogical approach suggests that students be treated as professionals. Given that the majority of students are already employees or managers,

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Research_Methods professional feedback becomes a critical component of the exercise. This is timeconsuming, painstaking work for professors, but the rewards are tangible for both students and professor in that the completed projects will reflect high-quality educational contributions to the student and presentation/publication opportunities for both faculty and student. Conclusion Student evaluations and successful research outcomes seem to substantiate the preference for project-based courses in research methods. While our experience represents a small sample and contains many moving parts, once the project based structure has been used it is difficult to go back. Students rave about the utility of open source and rapidly implement it in the rest of their work and school efforts. A clear next step is to systematically collect data to fully evaluate the effectiveness of the project based approach in research methodology courses in future research efforts.

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Research_Methods References Aronson, E. (1978) The Jigsaw Classroom. CA: Sage Bellanca, J. & Fogarty, R, (1993) Catch them thinking: A handbook of classroom strategies. IRI/skylight training and publishing Inc. Blumenfeld, P.C., Soloway, E., Marx, R.W., Krajcik, J.S., Guzdial, M., & Palicsar, A., (1991) motivating project based learning: sustaining the doing, supporting the learning. Educational psychologist, 26, 369 – 398 Feden, P. D., Vogel, R.M., (2003) Methods of teaching: applying cognitive science to promote student learning. McGraw-Hill Jhalla, K., Martin, D.E., Wiley, D & Kinuthia, S. (2004) Further Construct Validations of Unobtrusive Cognitive Aptitude Measures. Proceedings of the 2004 Hawaii International Business Conference Legree, P. J., Martin, D.E. & Psotka, J. (2000). Measuring cognitive aptitude using unobtrusive knowledge tests: A new survey technology. Intelligence Martin, D.E. (2003). Stereotype Threat, Cognitive Aptitude Measures and Social Identity. Howard University, Doctoral Dissertation D.E. Martin. Internal Compensation Discrimination: Empirical and Theoretical Developments. in

Ozbilgin, M. (2009) Theory and Scholarship in Equality,

Diversity, Inclusion and Work:

a research companion, Cheltenham and New

York: Edward Elgar. Martin, D.E., Moore, C., Hedgspeth, C. (2009) The Unobtrusive Knowledge Test: Validity and Impact of Stereotype Threat Equal Opportunities International Vol 28, No 7

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Research_Methods Martin, D.E., Gupta, S., Rao, A., Lorpaiboon, P., & Wookyung, K. (2004) Validating Unobtrusive Measures of Personality. Proceedings of the 2004 Hawaii International Business Conference Martin, D.E., Lahr, D. Rosas, S. & Yeung, I. (2004) Unobtrusive Measures of Integrity: A Construct Validation Study. Proceedings of the 2004 Hawaii International Business Conference Martin, D.E., Rao, A. (2007) Ethnicity, acculturation and plagiarism: A criterion study of unethical conduct. Proceedings of the 2007 Academy of Management Conference Martin, D.E., Rao, A., Sloan, L. R. (2009) Plagiarism, Integrity, and Workplace Deviance: A Criterion Study Ethics and Behavior Vol 19, No 1, 36-51 Martin, D.E., Rao, A., Sloan, L. R. (2011) Ethnicity, Acculturation, and Plagiarism: A Criterion Study of Unethical Academic Conduct. Human Organization. Vol 70(1) Martin, D.E., Wiley, D., Legree, P. J. (2007). Ethnocentrism and Internal Compensation Structuring: An Experimental Examination of Point Factor Job Evaluation. Western Journal of Human Resource Management Martin, D.E., & Yeung, I. (2004) Unobtrusive Leadership and Personality Measures. Proceedings of the 2004 Hawaii International Business Conference

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Research_Methods Tables Table 1. Skills Development addressed in Project Based Research Methods Courses Critical thinking skills

Creative thinking skills Brainstorming

Social skills

Project Based Skill

Attributing

Research Methods Course Component

Literature Review/Intro to research databases

Research Problem

Project Based Skill Research Methods Course Component Project Based Skill Research Methods Course Component Project Based Skill Research Methods Course Component Project Based Skill

Compare/Contrast

Visualizing

Respecting Others Group Assignments/Active Listening Working Independently

Literature Review

Problem Mapping

Literature Review

Classifying

Personifying

Managing Time

Literature Review

Literature Review

Assignment Completion

Sequencing

Inventing

concepts

Hypothesizing

Prioritizing

Associating In Class Identification of DV/IV

Cooperating Development of Final Paper Sharing


Measurement

Project Based Skill

Drawing Conclusions

Inferring


Sampling, Statistical Analyses

Hypothesis Development

Project Based Skill

Determining Causeand-Effect

Generalizing


Statistical Analyses


Analyzing for Bias

Predicting



Analyzing for Assumptions

Hypothesizing


Hypothesizing

Solving Analogies Research Paper Discussion

Making Analogies Research Paper Discussion Dealing with Ambiguity and Paradox Research Paper Conclusion Problem-Solving

Project Based Skill Research Methods Course Component Project Based Skill Research Methods Course Component Project Based Skill Research Methods Course Component Project Based Skill

Evaluating

Research Methods Statistical Analyses Course Component Project Based Skill Decision-Making Research Methods What to Include in the Course Component Presentation Table adapted from Bellanca & Fogarty, 1993

Development of Final Paper Using Resources Effectively Using Research Databases/Open Source Software Choosing/DecisionMaking What Goes into the Final Paper and Presentation

Presentation

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Research_Methods Table 2. Project-Based Course Outcomes for Students and Professors Research Topic

Student Outcome

Professor Outcome Published paper, JWHRM, Most Outstanding Research paper, WBM 2006 (Martin, Wiley & Legree, 2007), Chapter publication (Martin, 2009) Published papers in Equal Opportunities International (Martin, Moore & Hedgspeth, 2009), Journal of Business and Behavioral Science (Martin, Moore, Legree & Sloan, 2007)

Compensation Discrimination

Intimate knowledge of discrimination, Invitation to present research at EEOC, Creation of EEOC internship program

Unobtrusive (Intelligence, Leadership and Personality) Measures for Personnel Selection

Six student presentations at the Hawaii International Business Conference, 2004

Plagiarism and Individual Differences

Intimate knowledge of Plagiarism, Submission to CSU Research Competition, Selected representative for school, awards for student at ASBBS conference

Published paper in Ethics and Behavior (Martin, Rao & Sloan, 2009)

Plagiarism and Culture/Acculturation/Religiosity

Research prompted development of student research organization, Application to Ph.D. program, and career changes

Accepted paper presentation at Academy of Management (Martin & Rao, 2007), Publications: Human Organization (Martin, Rao & Sloan, 2011), and several under review.

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