A research methods note for housing students
From research philosophies (A) to research objectives (B) to academic ideas (C) to research methods (D)
Exhibit 1: from A [research philosophies]to B [research objectives]
Assignment 2 report template for housing research class 2020
Essay title: an evaluation of research methods on the housing topic of "XXXXX".
1. Introduction
2. On the research theme, research objectives and research questions for a housing dissertation project under review
3. A discussion on: (i) the appropriateness and (ii) a comparison of "two research methods in response to the research objectives and research questions" in terms of advantages and disadvantage.
4. Conclusions
References
*** students need to come up with their own essay headings and subheadings in their own words.
A note on the chain of evidence in dissertation writing
First of all, label research questions, findings and conclusions with clear
coding, e.g. RQ1, F1, F2, etc:
(re: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMpY4E4yLu8)
Also indicate the academic ideas to use in the analysis explicitly.
Second, make reference to them to justify your recommendations, e..g
based on RQ1(…), and F1 (…) and F2 (….), and C2 (…), come up with R2 (….) with clear
justification (by showing an explicit chain of evidence).
At the methodological level, there are a number of theoretical considerations in epistemology, ontology and axiology, which influence
a. the research design
b. the research objectives (and their associated research questions)
Research design level: Research design is an overall research game plan that should be:
1. explicit of how it is (and the research methods to be used) anchored to the underlying methodologies (or methodology)
2. how the various research methods are related to the chosen research objectives (and their associated research questions), preferably by mapping the research methods onto an overall theoretical framework.
Research method level: Research methods are more specific on the how-to concerns with regard to data gathering and data analysis. Examples are:
a. Interview research
b. Participant observation
c. Questionnaire survey
d. Visual methods (e.g. photovoice).
e. Desk research
Overall thus, Methodology guides research design; research design makes use of a set of research methods.
A research methodology in a particular application is a tailored-made set of explicit and related ideas from the methodological, research design and research method levels.
A research design in a particular application is a tailored-made set of explicit and related ideas from from the research design and research method levels; it should be informed by an explicit methodology for it.
A research method in a particular application is a tailor-made set of explicit and related ideas the research method level; it should be subsumed under an explicit research design for it.
Academic article types related to Zone 1 [environmental drivers] of the ALRA: some suggestions:
Academic article types
Type 1: articles on the the macro-environment facing an industry or an organization in terms of its environmental attributes, i.e., environmental turbulence (i.e., dynamism, uncertainty, visibility, hostility, and complexity), especially associated to the PEST factors
Type 2: articles on the micro-environment facing an industry or an organization interns of its impact on the intensity and nature of competition in the market-place; they are especially associated to the market 5 forces (Porter's model).
Type 3 articles are related to type 2 but are more specific or focused, e.g. changing customer expectation, changing supply chain landscape.
Type 4: articles are related to the internal environment of an organization, e.g., corporate culture, organization politics and changing employee profiles, e.g. aging employees.
Some articles could be related to more than one academic article type.
Students should focus on evaluating the concepts that facilitate assessment of the external and internal environment that poses specific SWOT impacts on (i) the organization under review, especially on the present organization capability adequacy and (ii) the adequacy of its existing business/ functional strategies and business model setup. This focus is related to zone 1-zone 2 link; on this some articles also cover concerns about this zone 1-to-2 link, thus constituting academic article type 5.
How academic article ideas are related to ALRA zone 3a (outcomes-related): some suggestions:
Academic article types:
Type 1: articles on how certain factors affect certain organizational performance outcomes.
Type 2: articles on how to measure certain organizational performance outcomes.
Type 3: articles on on the nature (e.g., the main attributes) of a specific organizational performance outcome.
Type 4: articles on how a specific organizational performance outcome affect other variables in zone 3a, 3b and zone 2.
Organizational performance outcomes can be financial (e.g. profitability), non-financial (e.g. customer satisfaction, corporate reputation, employee morale, employee job stress), etc., or business in nature, e.g. innovation performance, brand performance).
On contextualization in research work: a note:
An exhibit:
** To respond to other people's ideas that you agree or disagree on with regard to your research topic. The ideas from others could come from your literature review and desk research findings.
Also watch the video on contextualization.
