A500.9.4.R​B Course Reflection​s

 

This course Leadership Foundations in Research has been life changing.  Many of the course concepts included, critical thinking, action research, conspiracy theories, concept maps, presentation design and ePortfolios. I plan to use all the concepts in both my professional and personal life.

This is my first graduate course and I found it initially very challenging. The use of various software tools required to upload assignments, the use of “The Brain” software to develop concept maps, reading and responding to the opinions of other classmates. I I was also required to express my opinion on topics that I, in some cases, was not familiar with.

I found the concepts of quantitative research a bit challenging. It was a new concept and more detailed instruction explaining the process and how it is done would have been useful.

The initial weeks were challenging because the processes and the study rhythm needed for course assignments did not become routine until week 3. At week 3 the “light” came on, I developed a system to prep for the coming week and built strategies for how I would accomplish my assignments for the week.

Also, the release of entire course material allowed me to plan for the week ahead.

This Master of Science in Leadership is a worldwide course and therefore the majority of the courses are online. On line courses, in my opinion, allows for some freedom in planning and scheduling your class assignments. However it does limit your ability to have the face to face interactions with the instructor and classmates. It becomes especially important when you required additional clarification on a particular topics and email just won’t suffice.

A balance between classroom and online instruction would be ideal for this program. Video chat would allow students to connect with the instructor in a virtual environment.

Finally, the instructor provided clarification to assignments as needed, was very responsive and encouraging.  I would recommend this foundational course to any graduate student.

Good Presentation Design

 

A500.8.3.RB Blog  Good Presentation Design

The topic of good presentation design has been an eye opener.  For many years I have been tasked with preparing information to share with internal and external stakeholders in both government and private organization. 

As a presenter my focus has been on the content rather that the design.  Often times the presenter is given a format or template that must be used to provide the information to the audience.  The standard template can limit the presenters’ creativity and their ability to design the presentation that will capture the audience’s attention.

It is my belief that a presenter, regardless of the boundaries set by the organization, can plan a presentation and create it in a way that will provide relevant, thought provoking and entertaining information to the audience.

The term design is defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary this way “to create, fashion, execute, or construct according to plan : devise, contrive. 2. a : to conceive and plan out in the mind.”

A good presentation is a result of three things; meaningful content, powerful & engaging delivery and good looking slides. (Singh 2011)

Good looking slides have 4 key design principles according to the author Garr Reynolds in the book titled Presentation Designs. The 4 Major design principles are the following:

·         The principles of contrast – creates strong dynamic differences among elements that are different

·         The principle of repetition – repeats selected elements throughout your slides. 

·         The principle of alignment – connects elements visually (through invisible lines)

·         The principles of proximity – ensures that related items are grouped together.

In my opinion, good presentation design is important in good presentations.  The principles of good design, if followed, can make the difference between a good presentation and a great presentation.  Paul Arden stated that “The more strikingly visual your presentation is, the more people will remember it.  And more importantly they will remember you”.

 

References:

Merriam-Webster dictionary Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/design‎

Singh, V. (2011) Principles of good presentation design. Retrieved from  http://www.ipeglobal.com/newsletter/May_2011/Presentations%20made%20easy.pdf

Reynolds, G. (2008). Presentation zen: simple ideas on presentation design and delivery. Berkeley, CA: New Riders Pub.

Quantitative Research Reflection

A500.7.3.RB SchmidtSandra Quantitative Research Reflection

 

The topic of quantitative research has been studied for many years. There are many definitions give to the topic. Creswell (1994) defined quantitative research as a type of research that is explaining phenomena by collecting numerical data that are analyzed using mathematically based methods (in particular statistics)”.

Key elements of quantitative research are:

1. Explaining the phenomena

2. Collecting numerical data

3. Analyzing using mathematically based methods (statistics)

In my literature research it appears that the core of quantitative research is gathering data (numerical) to explain phenomenon. Quantitative research seeks to answer why something occurs. 

Another key element to quantitative research is the use of the most appropriate data collections instruments and research design.

There are several types of research designs and associated methods that can be used and they include: survey, correlation all, experimental and casual-comparative.

 

According to an article titled Fundamentals of quantitative research (Sukamolson 2007) there are several advantages of quantitative research and they include 1) estimates of large populations 2) provides extensiveness of attitudes of people, 3) results can be converted into statistics, 4) provides precision, 5) measures occurrences and 6) can quantify responses.

The research process involves the following steps (Mamia):

1.      Develop Research Idea

2.      Conduct Literature Review

3.      Create theoretical formulation of research problem

4.      Develop empirical research questions

5.      Complete Research Design

6.      Collect the data

7.      Analyze the data

8.      Answer the empirical research questions

9.      Complete theoretical interpretations of the results

10.  Compare results with earlier research

11.  Draw conclusions. 

There is a new paradigm in the thinking around quantitative and qualitative research. The research suggests that the use of both qualitative and quantitative yields more in depth research results. (Goethals, MacGregor, Soreson 2004).  The suggested steps listed above can be used with both methods.

 

References

 

Creswell, J.W., (1994)  Research Design:  Qualitative and quantitative approaches, London: SAGE Publications

Goethals, G., MacGregor J., Soreson, G., (2004)  Qualitative Leadership, Encyclopedia of Leadership, London: SAGE Publication Retrieved from http://wagner.nyu.edu/leadership/publications/files/Qualitative_Research.pdf

Mamia, Tero  Quantitative Research Methods, General Studies ISS

Sukamolson, S. (2007). Fundamentals of quantitative research. Retrived from http://www. culi.chula.ac.th

Qualitative Research

A500.6.3.RB Qualitative Research

Qualitative Research is broadly defined as “research that produces findings not arrived at by means of statistical procedures or other means of quantification” (Strauss and Corbin, 1990, p.17)

Qualitative Research can produce intriguing study results when considering complex fields of study like leadership.   Qualitative research combined with quantitative research can also produce in-depth studies.  The use of qualitative research provides the researcher with additional flexibilities that quantitative research prohibits. 

There have been several documented reasons why qualitative research methods provides the leadership field  advantages over quantitative methods, they are  1) more opportunities to explore leadership phenomena in significant depth (Bryman, 1984), 2) the flexibility to discern and detect unexpected phenomena during the research (Lundberg, 1976) and 3) an ability to investigate processes more  effectively (Conger 1998)

Hoepfl (1997) synthesizes the basic elements of the qualitative research methods below:

1. Qualitative research uses the natural setting as the source of data.
2. The researcher acts as the "human instrument" of data collection.
3. Qualitative researchers predominantly use inductive data analysis.
4. Qualitative research reports are descriptive, incorporating expressive language
5. Qualitative research has an interpretive character, aimed at discovering the meaning events have for the individuals who experience them, and the interpretations of those meanings by the researcher.
6. Qualitative researchers pay attention to the idiosyncratic as well as the pervasive, seeking the uniqueness of each case.
7. Qualitative research has an emergent (as opposed to a predetermined) design, and researchers focus on this emerging process as well as the outcomes or product of the research.
8. Qualitative research is judged using special criteria for trustworthiness

Some of the core elements of qualitative research include participant observation, direct observation and interviewing. There are a number of qualitative research approaches that include ethnographies, phenomology, grounded theory and action research.  The qualitative research must be reliable, valid and an analysis must be completed.

Historically, qualitative research has not been the preferred research method.  However, recent studies have shown that the use of explore the complex field of leadership and has offered the research a vast amount of flexibility to explore the unexpected.   The challenge in qualitative research is to continue to prove to the academic community that use of this type of research can and will produce the desire results that will expand the field of leadership.

References:

Bryman, A.M, (1984).The debate about quantitative and qualitative research:  A question of method or epistemology?, British Journal of Sociology, 35, 75-92

Conger, J.A., (1998). Qualitative research as the cornerstone methodology for understanding leadership, Leadership Quarterly, Vol. 9 (1), pp 107-121

Hoepfl, M. (1997). Choosing qualitative research: a primer for technology education researchers. In M. Sanders (Ed.), Journal of Technology Education, 9(1). Retrieved from http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JTE/v9n1/hoepfl.html

 

Lundberg, C.C. (1976) Hypothesis creation in organizational behavior research. Academy of Management Review, 1, 5-12

 

Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1990), Basics of qualitative research:  Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Education Researcher, 24(3), 31-32