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To begin with, this course poses quit a bit of heavy work load in that it pertains to a lot of research.  During  the orientation period the CC posted that it is imperative to check mail daily and to check class news and announcements regarding the posting of weekly discussions and assignments.  I know am in for quite a bit but I am willing to learn as the time progress.

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This Unit entails three sections such as Introduction to Research, Research Methods and Issues in Research. According to the Course Material, Research can be define as "a process of systematic inquiry that is designed to collect, analyse, interpret, and use data" .

What really caught my attention is that of the importance of business research which should not be a once in a while occurrence but businesses should be continual in order to keep up with market trends and to maintain a competitive edge on the other competitors. The issue here is that businesses should always keep up with innovated ideas to create more sales for the business which would be attractive to the consumer which would create a wider profit margin for the business on a whole.

Reference:- Course Material - Research Methods

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As I reflect on the readings of Unit 2, I was introduced to the six-stages of the research process and the problem which define the process.  The Course Material shown what is the Literature Review, its purpose, the sources of data used to conduct a review and how to carry out a Literature Search when writing a Literature Review.  What captured my attention mostly was how to write the literature review which requires a clear focus as well as a logical structure and sequence; it should be an academic style of writing which should capture the synthesis of the results of research and knowledge available on a specific topic. Its purpose is not to provide a subjective account of a topic, construct an argument for or against an issue, or convince the reader to take a particular position on a topic.

Reference: Course Material - Research Methods

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Unit 3 - Communication in the Research Process

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Unit 3 - Communication in the Research Process

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This unit covers the functions of a Research Proposal.  It also covered the component of an effective proposal for a business research proposal.  Unit 3 also provides the guidance to complete the Research project and the oral group presentation.

This shows the image of a Research Project (This process brings memory like that of a SBA)

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This unit speaks about Research Designs which can be used for conducting a research topic. This unit deals with qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods which relates to exploratory, casual and descriptive design in business research. Another aspect that was looked at was sampling methods which can be comprise of non-sampling as well as sampling. The different types of errors was use, when using samples.

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This unit’s reflection focuses on data collection and the different types of data.  The advantages and disadvantages of primary and secondary data were also items of discussion.  Two advantages and disadvantages that stood out in this week’s discussion are as follows:-

Advantages

- It saves time since it requires less time than primary data
- It saves money than that of primary data

Disadvantages
- Data can be outdated
- The relevant of the data may be questionable

Here you can see which data source can be effective depending on the situation that presents itself.

Another aspect that was noted was the roles of field workers and managers.  One should mention that while data collection is conducted one must remember that it involves interacting with persons outside of the organization.  Poor field work can negatively impact the process greatly.  Take for instance a field officer is required to measure a lot of land that is measured 1000 meters.  The field officer only measured 50 meters instead of 1000.  The data collected from that field officer would not reflect a true parameter of the land.

Lastly the unit examines observation, interviews and survey as common methods of data collection.  In this light one of these methods would better able me to construct and complete the report due in November.

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This unit stands out to me since it speaks on questionnaire design which was thought at a primary level.  A questionnaire is a list of research asked to respondents and specific information like:-

1.  Gender?
2. Where do you Live?
3. Age? etc.

Questionnaires are used to:-

1. Collect data;
2.  make data comparable and amendable to analysis;
3. make questions engaging and varied.

Even though an questionnaires are effective in obtaining data many errors are faced just to name one is that of respondent error. This occurs when respondents provide fake or inaccurate responses.

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Reflections - Review Week - Research Proposal 

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Reflections - Review Week - Research Proposal 

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This was a really busy week as to complete the research proposal within the time stated. I tried to use all the knowledge that was learnt throughout the units to complete the proposal. This allowed me to gain a practical understanding on writing a research proposal. I have introduced my research idea and analyse the data collection

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Reflection - Presentation Week - Question and Answer and Quiz

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Reflection - Presentation Week - Question and Answer and Quiz

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My goodness this was a crazy week.  The presentation of the group project, question and answer segment and THE QUIZZZ.

This week we were placed in group (not an option that I like) but I must commend that My peer was very cooperative. We submitted our paper for approval (Sexual Harassment in the workplace), when approve we decided to take the main points to be placed on power point. We had to learn a new software screencast-O-Matic where we had to record then we had the privilege of viewing two other presentations.

The week's activity did not stop there since we were required to complete an online quiz in thirty minutes.

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This was a very tedious week since we were again placed in groups. My team member from St. Lucia and I decided to work via google docs to obtain the necessary information for the debate. Our aim of submitting our post was great in that there was a smooth flow, there was not hiccups. This assignment has indeed widened my knowledge of the different sampling techniques of both probability and non-probability sampling.

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Unit 7 - Data Preparation and Presentation 

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Unit 7 - Data Preparation and Presentation 

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The focus this week was that of data collection more specifically on editing and cording, data dictionary, data entry and data cleaning along with displaying data visually to facilitate analysis.

The importance of data editing was outlined as data need to checked for omissions, consistency and legibility in preparation for coding so as to maintain its integrity.  The process of coding was also outlined as to how to make it understandable by using a computer in preparation for analysis by using a codebook and software used for coding data.  The construction of the codebook and software used; SPSS (quantitative data) and NVivo (qualitative data).

The process of database management and the data dictionary were looked at as well as the procedures for creating a data file and the tasks involved in data cleaning and data modification.  A database is an electronic representation of the data collection during research making the data dictionary a collection of descriptions of the data items in a database.  Data modification is altering the data so the researcher can combine several indicators to create an index, create an index score by adding data used to code responses, rearrange the numerical order of categories and create broader.

Presenting data were introduced which included tables, bar graphs, pie charts, line graphs etc. We learnt how to distinguish between techniques for displaying data and how to explain these techniques by creating and interpreting visual representation of data.

This weeks reflection was very interested as we were tasked to use the appropriate display instrument to represent data given and explain why we chose what we used and how we created the graph.

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Oh what an achievement, this week's assignment I reflected on all the units that was put forward and to conclude with Data Analysis.  Not only am I grateful of having completed the Research Project (WAW).  I was able to grasp some critical information from the unit's reading that would be beneficial to me.  This unit points out qualitative data analysis and how it enables the researcher to move from the collection of qualitative data to an interpretation and rationalization of what is being studied. Data Analysis is one of the most critical aspects of research as it involves analyzing the data collected that will be used for decision making.

As we are now drawing closer to the end I must say that this course was challenging yet there was a lot of knowledge to be gain which would guide me along my degree program.