On the "holistic" nature of the agile literature review approach (ALRA) for housing studies

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

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 for housing studies: 

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 [zone 1], housing topics: nature and characteristics [zone 2], outcomes-related [zone 3a] and solutions/ policies- related [zone 3b]. This zoning practice is done on the ALRA diagrams. Nevertheless, each dissertation project needs to have sufficient research focus as indicated in the core-focus-domain in the ALRA diagrams. The involvement of stakeholders could take a direct form or an indirect form (e.g. via desk research).

Additional reading: a collection of blog notes on the ALRA for housing studies.

On dissertation supervisor style: a note

 On dissertation supervisor style: a note for my MBA students:

Style 1: versatile or specialized in a particular field and perspective (quantitative or qualitative)?

Style 2: close supervision or not?

Style 3: tendency toward a complication or simplification topic?

Style 4: friendly and generous or not?

Style 5: helpful or not?

Style 6: visible or not?

Style 7: exploratory or structured in guidance

What to do in case of supervision process problems?

To uncover elements of project and diagrams titles etc of an MBA project report that uses ALRA

To uncover elements of project and diagrams titles etc of an MBA project report that uses ALRA:

I. About project title:

An example: An investigation of the marketing and innovation competencies of the ABC Ltd: a mixed methods research

Element 1: the marketing and innovation competencies: Information from the core-focus-domain of the theoretical framework level-0.

Element 2: ABC Ltd: the organizational unit of analysis in focus.

Element 3: mixed methods research: informed by the theoretical framework level-1c.

II. About management-concerns diagram:

An example: the management-concerns diagram for the Production Department of XYZ Ltd

Element 1: the Production Department: the organizational unit of analysis in focus

Element 2: XYZ Ltd: the containing unit

Element 3: the management-concerns diagram: an ALRA diagram.

III. About theoretical framework level-0 diagram:

An example: the theoretical framework level-0 for the Production Department of XYZ Ltd

Element 1: the Production Department: the organizational unit of analysis in focus

Element 2: XYZ Ltd: the containing unit

Element 3: the theoretical framework level-0: an ALRA diagram.

IV: About the main research objectives:

An example: to evaluate the Information Systems management competence of the ABC tutorial centre.

Element 1: the whole research objective statement comes from the core-focus-domain of the theoretical framework level-0.

The notion of "organizational unit of analysis" in MBA research projects: a note

The notion of "organizational unit of analysis" in MBA research projects, notably of the consulting-oriented type: a note

"One of the most important ideas in a research project is the unit of analysis. The unit of analysis is the major entity that you are analyzing in your study. For instance, any of the following could be a unit of analysis in a study:

• individuals
• groups
• artifacts (books, photos, newspapers)
• geographical units (town, census tract, state)
• social interactions (dyadic relations, divorces, arrests)"

Re: unit of analysis in a research project

In the context of doing an MBA dissertation project [notably on the consulting-oriented project type], oftentimes, the unit of analysis is a department of an organization, e.g. the IT Department of ABC Bus Service Ltd. In this regard, it can be more clearly called the organizational unit of analysis.

In this case the organizational unit of analysis under investigation is the IT Department while the containing unit is ABC Bus Service Ltd.

Since the MBA student is encouraged to adopt strategic thinking and holistic thinking (notably with the expansionism lens) to study the organizational unit of analysis under investigation [thus also avoiding the pitfall of suboptimization], it is useful to spare some effort to also the management-concerns at the containing unit level. My suggestion in this regard is as follows:

• Research effort at the organizational unit of analysis level: 75-85%
• Research effort at the containing unit level: 15-25%.

The following diagram is illustrative on the relatedness of analysis at the containing organization unit level and the organizational unit of analysis level in terms of the agile literature review approach (ALRA) thinking:

For a set of ALRA diagrams at the organizational unit of analysis level to also include a few items that belong to the containing unit level could be viewed as a set of squeezed ALRA diagrams. For an organized case study diagnosis with the squeezed ALRA diagrams, the researcher needs to show awareness in his/her line of reasoning at which unit of analysis level (the higher containing level or the lower unit of analysis level) in a specific reasoning stage that he/she is in. [Squeezing the ALRA diagrams simplifies the diagramming and analysis somewhat; besides, to do their dissertation projects, my MBA students are not required to learn contemporary systems thinking, which is required to perform more sophisticated ALRA diagram construction].

Note that some students might be interested in studying a particular business/ industry sector, e.g., the logistics sector in Hong Kong as their organizational unit of analysis. In this case the containing sector could be the whole economy of Hong Kong. See the following table on examples for clarification:

Examples	The containing unit	The organizational unit of analysis [the dissertation project focus]
Project example 1	The regional logistics Industry	The Logistics Industry of Hong Kong
Project example 2	ABC Bus Service Ltd	The IT Department of ABC Bus Service Ltd.
Project example 3	The retail sector of skincare products for the elderly in Hong Kong	XYZ Ltd (a startup) that sells skincare products for the elderly in Hong Kong

Lastly, with regard to dissertation reporting writing, the organizational unit of analysis should be explicitly indicated in the dissertation project title and the ALRA diagrams, illustrated as follows:

Project title: An investigation on the managerial competence of the customer service department [the organizational unit of analysis] of XYZ Ltd.: a case study research

Management-concerns diagram title: The management-concerns diagram of the customer service department [the organizational unit of analysis] of XYZ Ltd.

Additional readings: 

1. a Youtube video on the basic idea of unit of analysis. [note again that this blog note examines a particular kind of unit of analysis called the organizational unit of analysis].

2. The holistic nature of the ALRA. (blog note)

The implications of research methods mapping in theoretical framework level 1c, in ALRA for housing studies

The implications of research methods mapping in theoretical framework level 1c, in the agile literature review approach (ALRA) for housing studies:

[In the theoretical framework level 1c, as in level 1a, the academic ideas should possess the one or more of the values for research project work: (i) explanatory, clarifying and evaluative power, (ii) useful research practice and problem solving advices, and (iii) empirically observed patterns in social reality with actionable value].

By mapping research methods onto theoretical framework level 1a to produce theoretical level 1c, the student indicates the following 3-points research methodological position:

1. the full set of research methods to be used in the dissertation project within an encompassing intellectual response scaffolding that is housing-concerns driven (re: theoretical framework level 0);

2. the purpose of each of the research methods to be used: i.e. to conduct investigation on a specific research objective [or a number of research objectives]. Specifically, to use a specific research method to to gather and analyse data to produce knowledge so as to achieve a targeted research objective [or a number of research objectives];

3. an explicit recognition that certain chosen academic ideas [re: theoretical framework level 1a] are employed to inform the research method design, e.g. interview research questions formulation, and subsequently, the theory-driven analysis on the research method findings. In this regard, the research methods design is explicitly informed by the literature review findings [re: chapter 2 of the dissertation report of housing studies].

With the research method architecture made explicit in the form of of a diagram, the student can then describe, evaluate and justify the research methodology of his/her dissertation project with a clear blueprint; this written work is done in chapter 3 of the dissertation report. At the same time, his/her dissertation project supervisor can more easily monitor and provide feedback on the dissertation project research methodology.

How to make management-concerns item formulation more concise and precise: 2 illustrative examples

How to make management-concerns item formulation more concise and precise, with reference to the agile literature review approach: illustrative examples:

Example 1: an item located in zone 1 (from a student's management-concerns diagram:

Zone 1 (environmental drivers)

The original management-concerns item: "Concerned about the decreasing circulating capital in IT department of ABC Bus Service which afftected by the overall impact of rising fuel cost during a period of the decreased passenger traffic".

Zone 1 (environmental drivers)

Revised to become: "Concerned about the tighter supply of external financial capital to finance the increasing operational cost of for IT department of ABC Bus Service" 

There could be other ways to refine this management-concerns item; this example is to illustrate how to make the item formulation more concise and precise. Some of the details filtered out could be presented in the description of the management-concerns diagram in the dissertation report writing.

Example 2 an item located in zone 2 (from a student's management-concerns diagram:

Zone 2 (organizational capabilities)

The original management-concerns item: "Must calculate the cost of available fund in IT department for ABC Bus Service"

Zone 2 (organizational capabilities)

Revised to become: "Concerned about the difficulty by the Accounting and Finance Dept to calculate cost of fund available to the IT Dept of ABC Bus Service".

With the revised management-concern item from me, it is then up to research methods student to pick up the idea of concise and precise formulation to work out his/ her own formulation to capture his/her true thinking. 

On proposal and progress review paper report requirements for Housing Dissertation Projects 2022

On proposal and progress review paper report structures for Housing Dissertation Projects 2022

A. Proposal (about 1,500 words) [10% of overall mark]

1. title and research area: 

 ▪Is there a working title?

▪ Has the research area been clearly identified and explained?

▪ Are the specific aims of the proposed research clear?

▪ Has the relevance of the topic to human geography/planning been made clear?

▪ Has reference been made to literature in the field?

2. research questions:

▪ Are the provisional research questions clear?

▪ Are they appropriate?

▪ Are they realistic?

3. research methods:

▪ Have these been clearly set out (notwithstanding that they are only provisional at this stage)?

▪ Has the choice of methods been adequately justified?

▪ Do they seem realistic?

4. sources of information

▪ Are these appropriate?

▪ Is there sufficient identification of relevant academic literature?

▪ Has their relevance been explained?

5. timetable for research:

▪ Is the timetable clear?

▪ Is it realistic?

6. list of references:

▪ Does it include all references?

▪ Have references been formatted correctly in Harvard style

7. overall

▪ Has it been clearly and accurately written?

▪ Overall comments

B. Progress review paper (about 2,000 words) [10% of overall mark]

1. title: 

▪ Is the working title clear?

2. research questions: 

▪ Has the research area been clearly set out and in sufficient depth?

▪ Have aims and objectives been clearly set out?

▪ Have research questions been provided? Are they clear? Are they appropriate? Are they realistic?

3. discussion of relevant literature:

▪ Is there a discussion of relevant literature?

▪ Is it sufficiently broad?

▪ Does it demonstrate clear understanding of main arguments and opinions?

▪ Has it been made clear where the proposed research fits within the existing literature?

4. methodology

▪ Has an overarching methodological approach been identified?

▪ Have the research methods been clearly set out and in sufficient detail?

▪ Has the choice of methods been justified?

▪ Are they realistic?

▪ Have ethical issues been identified?

▪ Has ethical approval been sought?

▪ Have the limitations of the methodology been identified and discussed?

▪ Has the planned structure of the dissertation been outlined?

5. list of references:

▪ Does it bring together all the references in the paper?

▪ Does the list of references conform to the Harvard system?

▪ Are online sources referenced correctly?

6. overall

▪ Has it been clearly and accurately written?

▪ Overall comments

** also study the note on the dissertation report template 

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