I clearly see why many of the “research” projects I conducted in the past were always short of being conclusive. I obviously lacked understanding of the necessary terminologies and steps required for conducting effective research. A crossword puzzle was available for completion as part of learning activity 1.2; I tested myself on what I read earlier in the session and to my surprise I was able to figure out the entire puzzle. This tells me that I was able to fully grasp the information passed on to me in this week’s unit reading. I am looking forward to putting this knowledge to use in the near future as many of my courses require research being done for one reason or another.

 

The subtopic on literature review had me baffled at first; simply put, my impression of a literature review was a critique of a book of some sort. However, I was not surprised to find that I was completely wrong; a literature review, explained by the text is basically a compilation of analyzed and evaluated information on a specific topic. The information on the literature review is going to be very useful as I start the research process for my very first ‘official’ research project.

 

The research report was highlighted in session 3.2 which appeared fairly simple; it basically followed the same layout as the proposal minus a few steps and the report has to be written in past tense and not future like the proposal. I am hoping I don’t forget this very important point when I get to the actual report writing part of this course. The unit came to an end with the oral presentation which either accompanies or follows the written report. I do not anticipate a challenge with the oral presentation as I have always been a very vocal individual. So here I am looking forward to what’s next on the list of assignments for Research Methods for Business.

 

Session 4.3 covered sampling designs with a breakdown of probability and non-probability sampling; each containing four techniques.  The steps in the sampling process were outlined along with detailed criteria for selecting sample size and design. A graded discussion called for a concept map on sampling. To say that I knew what a concept map was would be untrue; google aided in my knowledge and understanding of what a concept map entailed. The task ahead was to depict all the necessary information in an appropriate diagram. I struggled a bit as I attempted said map on three occasions before I was able to come up with something useful. It was definitely a relief knowing that I did not have to read this unit multiple times in order to grasp the information.

 

I was introduced to the term triangulation; using different research techniques in the same study to confirm and verify data gathered. I was not aware of such, or even that there were three types of triangulation; I intend on making use of this. For my research project, I will have two persons working with me during the data collection process. Session 5.3 of the unit was useful in highlighting the qualities of a good field worker and how I should go about training these workers. I assumed that a fieldworker would just have to go out there and interview persons based on the questionnaire, which did not seem very difficult until I read further into the session; I may now have to analyze the individuals selected.

 

One of my biggest challenges was with the literature review. Although I was able to gather academic research papers in close relation to my topic, I encountered some difficulty with tying it all together. Despite the challenges, it was completed in time for submission by the 13^th; one (1) day before the deadline. The unit readings assisted me greatly with this assignment.

 

It would have been great if that was the end of presentation week. However, the cherry on top was the pre-recorded oral presentation of the document using a program called screencast-o-matic. That was the first time I had heard of or even used a program like this and it was a headache from start. I attempted to do my recording countless times and it ended in disaster every single time. I was growing rather impatient and was ready to give up when finally, I was able to record error free. I enjoyed the activities for this week, including the question and answer segment. I was able to learn much from the back and forth that came with the questioning. 

 

I utilized the guidelines provided in an attempt to construct my questionnaire. My first sample was useless as it contained too many leading and a few memory taxing questions. This would have led to an unsatisfactory response rate and that was unacceptable for me. After a couple more attempts, I was eventually successful in creating a questionnaire that carried many of the questions necessary to gather the required information.

 

 In my lifetime, I have prepared maybe about three (3) questionnaires and my response rate was always very low; never understood why. I now have a full understanding of where I went wrong on so many occasions. 

 

Session 7.3 however was very familiar and a smile graced my face as I read through the material. I recalled having to construct frequency distribution tables, stem and leaf diagrams as well as scatter plots for Introduction to Statistics. I definitely enjoyed the last session in this unit. I decided at that point that I was going to utilize the frequency distribution tables, pie charts and histograms to display the results from my research project. 

 

Despite most of the information in the unit being new and confusing to me, towards the end I appreciated the knowledge that I was exposed to and hope that maybe sometime in the future I will be able to put it to good use.

 

At the time that I did Introduction to Statistics, I often wondered why it was all necessary and I doubted that I would ever need to make use of the knowledge. I was of course proven wrong as I was tasked with calculating the mean, median, mode and standard deviation for a set of numbers as part of the discussion question. I can safely say that nothing in this unit was new to me and I was pleasantly delighted knowing that there was no need to read over material or attempt a hair pulling exercise; I thoroughly enjoyed the unit material.