Assignment 1a: Topic Selection
DUE: Aug 4, 2016 BEFORE 11:55 PM CST

Assignment Instructions:

Instructions: Your first assignment in this course is simple but very important. You need to select a specific area of interest in the field of management (from among the options below) that you will use each week as you engage the different methods and processes of research. You will use the topic you select each week throughout the duration of the course, so select a topic (from the list) that you are interested in studying. At the end of the course you will have a useful collection of documents (and increased knowledge) pertaining to one area of management research.

 

The following topics are typical of the theoretical areas associated with management research. Select one topic and use it EVERY WEEK as the subject of your inquiry in the location of pertinent scholarly articles in the APUS Online Library:
⦁ Change Management
⦁ Communication
⦁ Conflict Management
⦁ Ethics (in management)
⦁ Job Satisfaction
⦁ Job Stress
⦁ Leading/Managing Organizations
⦁ Motivation
⦁ Organizational Behavior
⦁ Organizational Culture

 

There may be a particular theoretical area of management that interests you, but is not included on the list above. Send a message to the professor to gain approval to use it prior to completing this assignment.

Remember that you will be using the same selected topic with all the assignments during the eight weeks of the course.

 

The Creswell textbook, chapter 2, includes material dealing with selecting and researching a topic. The following lecture by Dr. Rhonda Bell walks you through how to access appropriate sources related to your topic of interest:

 

http://www.screencast.com/t/nIMKTHnWT (text-only version of lecture)

Finally, I repeat . . . the topic you select will be the same topic you will use during all the weeks of the course so that you demonstrate the ability to build resources in a specific topic area.

In order to fulfill this assignment (this is the only instruction for submission), simply write the following message in the text box available in Assignment 1a:

For my 8-week course in Research Methods I am selecting the following topic: (state the topic here)

Assignment 1b: Research Article Analysis
DUE: Wednesday Aug 3, 2016 11:55 PM BEFORE midnight CST

Research Article Analysis

 

INTRODUCTION:
The week one research article analysis from a peer-reviewed scholarly journal gives you the opportunity to learn to use scholarly journals for research and to analyze a scholarly journal article for content. When you have completed the APA format assignment (450-600 words), you should save your work as a Word.doc and upload it along with the scholarly article you located as attachments in the Assignment section.

 

OVERVIEW:
This first assignment—like all the other assignments in this course—utilizes your topic of interest in the selection of material for research. Locate a scholarly research journal article in the APUS online library that is related to the topic you selected, and then prepare a paper that answers some basic questions related to your article. Be sure to consult the rubric associated with weekly assignments to see the grading criteria. NOTE: SELECT AN ARTICLE THAT WAS PUBLISHED WITHIN THE LAST TEN YEARS.

 

DETAILS:

 

1. Make sure to utilize your topic of interest for the course.

 

2. Find a journal article that presents scholarly research associated with the topic. At this early point in the course you are asked to “jump right in” and utilize the online library to locate an appropriate scholarly journal article that presents research concerning your topic. Note that you may access the APUS Online Library and get help with scholarly research from the school. The APUS Online Library has a great orientation video (click here) to help you get started. The APUS Online Library also provides a specific guide for how to research in the library (click here). Still another great source is a 5-minute video produced by Dr. Rhonda Bell that walks you through the process. (If you watch Dr. Bell’s video keep in mind that it is slightly dated in terms of the online site setup. However, the essential content and approach are correct.) Here is the link to Dr. Bell’s video:

http://www.screencast.com/t/nIMKTHnWT (text-only version of lecture)

 

Keep in mind that scholarly research involves solving problems. If your article does not present qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods research then you do not have an appropriate research article. Again, for the purposes of this assignment you want to intentionally find a research article that contains one of the three methods of research: qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods. The Creswell textbook will help you differentiate these three methods of research.
Save the article to your computer to have as a reference and also to attach to the professor when your paper is completed (see step 5 below).

 

3. Write a short paper (450-600 words) that demonstrates a brief analysis of the scholarly research article you selected. You are to write your paper in such a way as to answer the questions/issues below. However, do not include the list on your paper. Instead, let the items guide the content expressed in your paper, which should be in typical paragraph form. Because of the shortness of the assignment, several of the items may be contained in a given paragraph. Be precise and you will be concise.

 

• After a brief introductory sentence. Tell whether the title is appropriate to the focus of the study. (Note: select an actual research study; avoid selecting a lecture on a topic. Research studies involve the collection and analysis of data, whereas lectures on a topic typically discuss a variety of research studies and do not provide the details of data collection and analysis.)

 

• State the problem. Is the problem clearly stated? Does the problem have a theoretical rational? How significant is the problem studied in the research?

 

• Is there a review of the literature? If so, is the literature relevant? Summarize (in a couple of sentences) the review of the literature.

 

• Fully and completely describe the research method that was used to attack and answer the problem. Was the research method used to solve the problem qualitative or quantitative, or both? What instruments were used to answer the problem? Was there a sample used? If so, how was the sample selected?

 

• State the hypothesis/questions or objectives. Were they stated clearly?

 

• Are there any probable sources of error that might influence the results of the study? If so, have they been controlled?

 

• What were the statistical or evaluative (quantitative/qualitative) techniques used to analyze the data? If so, were they appropriate? Note: There are many scholarly articles in appropriate journals that inform your topic. However, not all of them will describe research that evaluates data. Make sure that your selected article includes the evaluation/analysis of data. If you are unsure, this is the time to contact your professor and discuss it.

• Summarize the results. How clearly were the results presented?

 

• What are the limitations of the study? Are they stated?

 

• Summarize the conclusion(s). Are the conclusions presented clearly? Does the data support the conclusions? Does the researcher over generalize the findings?

• How can the results and conclusions presented in this study be applied in your particular field of study or work environment?

 

4. Utilize the APA Helps as necessary in the Resources area to help you present your brief paper in APA format, which means that you need to write a Title Page and References Page separate from the body of the text of the paper (no abstract or author note are needed). On this assignment you should write the publication information about your article on the References Page (only one reference needed . . . the article you are analyzing) and then also cite the source in the body of the paper whenever you are stating facts from the article. Avoid unsupported statements whenever possible. In many cases you will write a paragraph of text and insert a citation only once. When you direct quote, include the page number of the source, too. Some may ask why APA is so important. APA is the mode of communication of the written word in the management field. It is the due diligence of graduate management students to excel at APA.

 

NOTE: Do not use macros or automatic referencing in your papers for this course. The auto features usually cause unforeseen problems in format. Plus, part of this course involves the student’s acquisition of the essentials of the APA style format.

 

5. Upload your paper (.doc) along with the article (.pdf) you reviewed in the assignment section for grading. Follow the Submissions Guidelines as listed in the Syllabus: The various assignments for this course should be submitted as Word.doc attachments in the Assignment section of our virtual classroom.

 

Each file OF YOUR WORK should be named in the following manner: Last name–truncated Week Number-Assignment name (abbreviated if necessary)

 

For example: Morrow-Wk01-Article Analysis

 

The accompanying article upon which your work is based should be saved to your computer as a pdf file and then uploaded along with your assignment, named as suits you, EXCEPT put your last name first in the following manner: Last name–the name of your article (abbreviate as needed)

 

For example: Morrow-YadaYada Research

 

Please note that you should upload two items into the same assignment area: your paper and the article (.pdf) upon which your paper is based.

 

Here are two examples of a sample paper with annotations to demonstrate what a typical paper in this course should look like (except for the annotations, which are included here as a help):

 

APA Sample Paper #1

APA Sample Paper #2 (Do not include the author’s note at the bottom of the title page)

BEFORE YOU WRITE/SUBMIT YOUR PAPER . . . I highly suggest that you view the following YouTube video (if you have not already done so). It will show you how to get off on the right foot in APA formatting of your written assignments: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pbUoNa5tyY&feature=related

Another must-see video has to do with plagiarism (from the lecture). Note that it was developed using MLA format instead of APA. However, the essential message is applicable to the work in this course:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnTPv9PtOoo&feature=youtu.be

Here are some additional videos to help you with your work this week:

• Scholarly vs Popular Periodicals– http://youtu.be/VeyR30Yq1tA
• Peer Review in 5 Minutes– http://youtu.be/twogpmM-SfY
• Evaluation of Sources using the CRAAP test— http://www.csuchico.edu/lins/handouts/eval_websites.pdf

 

Hello Doctor Mitch here is Week Assigment Qt#1 and QT#2 . It’s DUE on Thursday July 4, 2016 BEFORE midnight CST. If you have any questions for me please feel free to email me at [email protected] or give me a call on my cell phone at (850) 791-9369. Thank you so much. PLEASE PLEASE read the instructions very ver very CAREFULLY!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE include a referenc page with Journals, Peer-Reviews and Schoralys.

 

 

~Michelle