A note on the format of theoretical framework level-1a of the agile literature review approach for housing studies

A note on the format of theoretical framework level-1a of the agile literature review approach (ALRA) for housing studies:

The generic format of theoretical framework level-1a (ALRA) is as follows:

Main points of clarification:

1. The theoretical framework level-1a is essentially theoretical framework level-0, populated with academic ideas (which are the output of the researcher's literature review.

2. Academic ideas are mainly "the scientific claims" and other evaluation/analytical notions from the academic literature (as relevant to the diagram items (i.e. research objectives in the diagram: i.e. "to evaluate", "to formulate...", etc.). A major form of academic ideas is definitely theories (re: the study materials [videos] on theories)

3. The core-focus-domain (CFD) comprise the main research objectives of the dissertation project investigation (of the housing-concerns/ consulting-oriented type). It is appropriate to have two CFD items. The study content on all the CFD items together in your dissertation report should make up about 50% of the overall literature review and research methods  study content in your dissertation report.

A note on zoning and basic format of the agile literature review approach diagrams for Housing Studies, notably housing-concerns diagrams

A note on zoning and basic format of the agile literature review approach (ALRA) diagrams for Housing Studies

Regarding the housing-concerns diagram, the items are labelled as Housing concern 1 (HC1), Housing concern 2 (HC2), etc. As to the theoretical framework level-0, the items are simply labelled as item 1, item 2. 

Housing concerns are housing issues that certain stakeholders are worried about or exited about. These concerns need to be addressed urgently (i.e. as urgent housing concerns [uhc] or not urgently [hc]. Their formulation and identified in the housing-concerns diagram should be co-created by the researchers and some of the major stakeholders directly or indirectly.

The various items are linked vertically and horizontally. The items in the housing-concerns diagram are expressed in terms of "worried about", "unclear about", or "concerned about" while items for the theoretical framework level-0 are mainly expressed in terms of "to evaluate", "to formulate", "to find out", etc. (refer to the blog note about wordings to use in the ALRA diagrams)

All the items are grouped into four zones:

Zone 1: environmental drivers

Zone 2: housing topic(s): characteristics and their status

Zone 3a: outcomes related

Zone 3b: solutions/ policies related.

It is important to note that, in the theoretical framework level-0, two items are encircled within the circle of the "core-focus-domain". These two items are chosen as the main research objectives of the housing dissertation project. The main idea of Zone 2 items are about the the conceptual definition and operational definition (and its status) of the housing topic (also study the e-resource [videos] on conceptualization and operationalization in this regard).

With further literature review effort, the theoretical framework level-0 is populated with academic ideas to become theoretical framework level-1a. After research methods are mapped onto the theoretical framework level-1a, the theoretical framework becomes theoretical framework level-1c. 

Housing dissertation course assignment 2 note 2022

Housing dissertation course assignment 2 note 2022

Pls refer to the assignment 2 document and use this note as clarification of the assignment requirement.

Lecture handout

Some research methods terms mentioned in the diagram:

1. Dissertation project types.

2. Research gap analysis.

3. Research objectives and questions (in the context of academic oriented dissertation project type)

4. The housing-concerns-/ consulting-oriented project type mainly employs the agile literature review approach (ALRA).

*** A blog note on research methods pros and cons for further study.

What to study on the topic of "the pros and cons of individual research method": a note

What to study on the topic of "the pros and cons of individual research method"?

The first thing to consider is straightforward; in general there are some general pros and cons of individual research methods and they are not difficult to find. My blog note is a useful e-resource in this regard.

The second consideration is that different research philosophies (e.g. positivism and interpretivism) view the pros and cons of different research methods in dissimilar ways. This difference in view also appear in the discussion of research method quality of qualitative research vs quantitative research (re: video resources on research methods quality).

The third consideration is to deal to two related issues: (i) to what extent is a particular research method more useful than other research methods in providing relevant information to a specific research question and (ii) is the research question formulated (e.g. a question about variable correlation or about people's emotional experience) via the positivist  (mainly associated to quantitative research) or the interpretive research philosophy lens (mainly associated to qualitative research)? [bear in mind that quantitative research and qualitative research embrace different research methods quality criteria).

The fourth consideration is the extent a research method is useful to complement usage of other research methods, including for triangulation purpose. This consideration is especially prime in mixed methods research.

Some ideas and readings on the "holistic" nature of the agile literature review approach

Some ideas and readings on the "holistic" nature of the agile literature review approach (ALRA):

One of the key characteristics of the agile literature review approach (ALRA) is that it is holistic. In this note, I provide some basic information about what does being "holistic" mean in the context of ALRA: 

1. Dictionary explanation: Holistic: adjective: dealing with or treating the whole of something or someone and not just a part:

Examples of usage:

My doctor takes a holistic approach to disease.

Ecological problems usually require holistic solutions.

2. Some basic information on holism.

3. Some basic ideas on the holistic approach.

4. A briefing (video) on holism and reductionism.

5. Some basic ideas about the holistic view in Systems Thinking.

** The agile literature review approach (ALRA), specifically, is grounded on critical systems thinking and endorses creative holism as put forward by M.C. Jackson. For example, all the ALRA diagrams are encouraged to be constructed in a co-created, systemic, critical and complicated way with stakeholders, encompassing inter-related factors that cover zones on environmental factors, organizational capabilities, outcomes and solutions. Nevertheless, each dissertation project needs to have sufficient research focus as indicated in the core-focus-domain in the ALRA diagrams. Another example of systems thinking endorsement is the employment of expansionism in research objective formulation in the ALRA.

The course of research methods for MBA students does not require the teaching of systems thinking in management, thus MBA students doing dissertation projects only need to have some basic awareness of the topic of "holistic" nature, as adopted by the ALRA. In this regard, spending time to study the information as provided in this blog note is quite adequate for learning the ALRA at this stage.

References of the ALRA can be found in the specific website section of JKK Ho.

Additional reading: on the organizational unit of analysis in dissertation project (MBA).

A note on core-focus-domain in the agile literature review diagrams

A note on the core-focus-domain in the agile literature review approach (ALRA) diagrams:

Core-focus-domain (CFD)is required to be indicated in the theoretical framework level-0; some students also indicates CFD early in the management-concerns diagram.

What CFD comprises are the main research objectives of a consulting-oriented dissertation project that employs the agile literature review approach. My recommendation is that at least 1  CFD item should be located in zone 2 (organizational capabilities) of the ALRA diagrams. It is normally a good idea to have 2 CFD items in zone 2. Anyway, the number of CFD items should be 1 to 2, in order to offer a reasonably robust research focus for a dissertation project. Each CFD item should be populated with about 6 academic ideas while a non-CFD item makes use of 1-2 academic ideas. As such a full-fledged two-direction literature review is mainly relevant to CFD items.

The implication of having a CFD is that about 50 to 60% of the literature review and research efforts should be spent on the CFD items. 

The non-CFD items are useful in that they provide a clear contextualization of the research project work and help in clarifying the nature of the CFD items.

Additional reading: on core-focus-domain research formulation.

A guide to study literature review to apply the agile literature review approach

A guide to study literature review to apply the Agile literature review approach (ALRA) [i.e. the consulting oriented type]:

The agile literature review approach requires knowledge from the mainstream literature review literature (re: the video resources). Literature review study with regard to an MBA dissertation project informs research gap analysis and proper clarification on dissertation project contextualization. The 4 unique characteristics of the ALRA are:

1. it is management-concerns driven. (re: the management-concerns diagram)

2. it is done in an agile (spiral) way to heed the incremental learning efforts under tight time constraint.

3. it is done in a focused way, by sparing much more efforts on the core-focus-domain items, than on the non-core-focus-domain ones (re: the theoretical framework level-0).

4. it is done under a holistic theoretical framework that is sensitive to factors in the external environment, organizational capabilities, outcomes and solutions realms (re: all the ALRA diagrams: the notion of zoning).

2 additional advices:

Advice 1. Doing some exploratory literature review study is useful for converting your management-concerns diagram (mainly in the language of the stakeholders in the case study) into a theoretical framework level-0 (using more management subject terms at the category level [rather than the code level] with better quality.

Advice 2: When writing up the dissertation report chapter on literature review, you need to pay attention to the following two writing tasks:

1. Examine enough academic ideas in your writing: core-focus-domain item: 6 academic ideas per core-focus-domain item; 1-2 academic ideas per non-core-focus-domain item; try to at least adopt 1 item from zone 2 as a core-focus-domain item; the number of core-focus-domain items should 1-2, preferably 2).

2. Review academic ideas in two main directions per theoretical framework level 1a item.

** An additional reading on ALRA (an academic article). (this article compares the mainstream literature review approaches and the ALRA).

A related reading on literature review practice: a note about quality