To have hypothesis or not?

As a result of research proposal presentation assignment in class, students are beginning to structure their research ideas into consistent and logical manners, following a few standard subtitles taught in class.  In the process of doing so, students are triggered to think through very carefully the links between ideas and how they help to solve research problem they identified or achieve research objectives they set to achieve. Thus, tutor and I are beginning to receive a lot of questions from students. I must say this is a positive development, at least we know students are learning.

Similarly, supervisors also are very involved in students’ proposal at this stage, now that proposal report is almost due for submission. There are debates among supervisors whether "hypothesis development" is a compulsory section in a research proposal. I have to agree with some supervisors that "hypothesis" is not always possible to develop, especially in "Exploratory" type of research where the topic has not been explored in the literature before.

A compulsory section in a research proposal which is quite similar to Hypothesis, is "research objectives" section. Research objective guides or directs the research process. Hypothesis is derived from research objective, hypothesis is an educated guess stated in testable form, to help achieve a research objective. Since all research types (regardless of quantitative, qualitative, primary data, secondary data, exploratory, empirical validation) are guided by “research objectives”, thus hypothesis development criteria in presentation assessment form is considered fulfilled if research objectives are clearly explained.

Thanks for the feedback from students and supervisors, intellectual debate such as this, helps in creating high quality research!

Research Proposal Submission Date is June 4

Time flies, it is now week 11!

There is some confusions over submission dates of Research Proposal and Final Year Project Paper. They are clarified as below:

1. Final Year Project Paper of 5 chapters due next week, as student will need to present.
2. FYP Research Proposal of 3 chapters due on June 4, 2012.

For majority of you who are submitting Research Proposal this semester, you have 3 more weeks to complete the 3 chapters! Make full use of the time and make full use of your supervisors' expertise!

Have fun!

Mental Blocks in Writing

Researchers and writers often experience mental blocks in writing. Mental blocks are occasions when one runs out of new ideas, one fails to link one idea to another in a convincing way, or one's brain simply refuses to function in usual productive way.  This leads to feeling of FAILURE, INCAPABILITY, DOUBTFUL of one's ABILITY, LOUSY, END OF THE WORLD........

Have I experienced that before? MANY many times, especially when WRITING LITERATURE REVIEW... So, you are NOT ALONE! How do I overcome that? To a certain extent, mental blocks are caused by tiredness or lethargic.  Thus, I usually allow myself to take half day off;  go watch a movie, sing a few songs, listen to audio books, read my favorite "chicken soup for the soul" book etc. Then, the next day, I will go back to search and read journal articles that gives me new ideas or justifications to link the concepts.

I know "WRITING" is not an easy task! But if you continue writing (KEEP TRYING, NEVER GIVE UP)  you will be surprise to see what you get in the end! The final version of the write-up will make you feel SO PROUD of yourself; discovering you can write so interestingly!

REMEMBER, writing is a skill! Not a born ability!  If you try HARD enough, you will get to the level you want!

Have you been seeing your supervisor?

Through a casual talk with a few lecturers over tea time, I got to know that some students who are supposed to submit their individual project proposal by end of this semester have not met the supervisors at all! HELLO, your supervisors are looking for you.....

This is not right! Students should see their supervisors at least once every 2 weeks! Supervisor needs to know your progress and see your effort, otherwise they are not able to even give you marks for EFFORT! Do not follow your way, get advice from supervisor and do it their way, they know the shortest route to PROPOSAL COMPLETION.

Now is week 8, not too late for you to change your strategy, your supervisors are there to help you, they are waiting for you, do not let them WAIT TOO LONG :)

The slide relating to "Writing Literature Review" is now uploaded in Putra LMS.

If you have compiled in a table format, a list of  independent variables reported to influence the dependent variable (the phenomenon you are trying to understand) you selected, bring them to class tomorrow. We will try to find themes among those independent variables and help structure your Literature Review chapter.

Literature Review Slide is Uploaded!

Putra LMS is kind enough to allow me upload Literature Review slide for week 6 lecture (tomorrow). Those who are interested, please download from Putra LMS.

Although several attempts were made to upload Research Objective and Problem Statement slide since last week until today, no signs of success is observed. Although my side appeared uploaded, the file doesn't show in main page, therefore not possible for anyone to download.

Frustration over technology stuff is especially painful when one is doing research. Make sure you keep a back up copy of all your soft copy journals, chapter write-ups and references. You wouldn't know when the computer disaster will hit you!

Mid Term Result

Mid Term Exam Result is released! Many of you must be very eager to see if your hard work paid off!

The answer is YES, your hard work paid off!

About 66% scored 80 marks and above, indicates that

1. Students in the class are hardworking, responsible and smart
2. The questions are too simple

Which interpretation best reflect the scenario? Whatever the interpretation is, I am proud of you. Well done everyone, keep up the good job!

BRM Tutorial class; to attend or not to attend?

Your ability to perform SPSS analysis for BRM SPSS ANALYSIS REPORT assignment and later on your PROJECT PAPER chapter four, is dependent on the attention you pay in tutorial class.

SPSS  is a very useful software for you to understand and interpret your data set. It is quite costly to take similar SPSS workshop conducted by private tutor. You wouldn't want to miss classes now and have to hire private tutor or consultant to help you in your project paper data analysis!

On top of that, once you grasp some SPSS skills, you will be able to understand and check result interpretation reported in journal articles, reading articles will then become more interesting. If you are able to pick up flaws in the article's result interpretation, you can justify a replication research (which will be conducted by you) is needed  to verify the flawed findings!

Putra LMS hiccup

Putra LMS is not publishing the file I have uploaded. Apparently, the system is not able to handle growing number of users. Plan B: The slide file is now forwarded to Desmond, those wanting the copy, please get it from Desmond.

Problem statement, Research Objectives and Hypotheses

Chapter 6 of Business Research Method textbook provides us with problem identification from industry or business organization perspectives used in Applied Research type. Academic research that belongs to Basic Research category identifies research problem following a very different approach. Thus, a different set of slides will be given to students to guide them on techniques to write Problem statement, Research Objectives and Hypotheses  in Project Paper research Proposal. The slide file is now uploaded in Putra LMS. See you in class and thanks for being patience!

Self-editing

Self-editing makes a BIG difference to the final version of our write-ups! 

I was marking individual assignments by students last Friday. As I was reading them, I was mentally classifying them into two categories; self-edited versus not self-edited. For those students who have self-edited their write-ups, reading their work is a PLEASURE :) For those who have not self-edited, reading their work is a TORTURE, as I kept picking up typo-mistakes like two words stick together, mispell some words, glaring grammar mistakes etc. When distracted by unnecessary glaring mistakes due to lack of "editing" effort, I could hardly enjoy the content. So ladies and gentlemen, be good to your lecturers by having a few rounds of self-editing (or get friends to proof-read) before submitting written assignments, good for your grade!

Before researchers/lecturers submit their work for publication, they perform at least 20 times of self-editing. And this is followed by a few rounds of "editing" according to Reviewers' comments, then only the near-perfect piece of work is allowed to appear on academic journals.

So you are not alone, lecturers do self-editing and peer proof reading too! It is a required process for any written work to look good as we tend to overlook our own mistakes the first time we read it :) We only able to pick up typo mistakes on second or third readings! On fourth reading, we are able to re-structure our ideas to make the flow more interesting! On fifth reading, we check on overall format and references!

Writing is a skill, everyone can master it given the effort and training!

Phrases

Phrases you can use in writing academic paper:

• It is widely accepted within the literature of …. That
• There is no known research in Malaysia that looks at….
• It is generally believed that….
• The paper presented here is based in part on an earlier study concerning…..
• The project paper suggests that …… has potential in the …. Context
• While ….. is unlikely to be the only factor influencing …… it seems to outweigh ….
• While a great deal of research has examined the factors that ……the impact …. has on …… remains unclear.
• There are at least two areas within the context of… requires further investigation..
• Thus, the issue on….in…. deserve more attention.
• There were a couple of notable limitations in our study that could be addressed in

future studies. First… Second…..

• It has been argued that...
• Despite the importance of…
• In this context, we expect that…
• The purpose of the study is threefold. First, … Second … Third…..
• It is clear that much additional work will be required before a complete understanding of ……. occurs...
• While this study makes a number of contributions, it also has a number of limitations ….
• As with all empirical research, there are a number of limitations.
• In the area of … a review of empirical literature suggested … affects …….
• Literature on…. seems to suggest that…..However, there are alternative views by…. that…
• It is now becoming apparent that …… is significantly more important than ……
• Empirical research conducted by…..provides support to the contention….

• There are three definitions given in the literature concerning the concept of ……
• The study is intended to close the gap in the literature on….
• The research was significant for several reasons. First, it extended….
• Research into …… have focused on …..Limited attention has been given to….
• To date, little attempt has been made to study the effect of …..on…

Asking for a favor

These are the tips/sample sentences you can use when you are asking for a favor via email or conversation:

1. Sorry to bother you Mr/Ms/Dr, but could you possibly have 5 minute?
2. If Mr/Ms/Dr don't mind, can Mr/Ms/Dr please take a look at my CV when you are free?
3. I'd be grateful if Mr/Ms/Dr could... 
4. I was wondering if I could ask Mr/Ms/Dr to do me a favor...
5. If Mr/Ms/Dr don't mind, can I have Mr/Ms/Dr's decision by Tuesday as.......

Respect

RESPECT

You got to respect all your friends and lecturers when you meet them
Even if their different, shouldn't change the way you treat them
We can get along if we all have a little respect....... 

There is one thing to have your own opinion, to speak your mind and tell how you feel
Is as important to listen to another, as they might have a new truth to reveal

Respect for yourself, respect for others....

Selecting a project paper supervisor

One of the most important decisions an undergraduate student has to make is "supervisor selection". It is a "difficult" and "time-consuming" decision because agreement from both parties (supervisor and student) are needed. It is however worth putting in effort and time in the decision as the working relationships between the student and supervisor is quite long, about a year or 2 semesters,  long enough to drive any party CRAZY! 

The lecturers might have some criteria in mind as to the quality of students he/she comfortable to supervise (e.g. first come first serve basis, research title within certain area, hard-working, good writing skill, reliable, honest, able to meet deadline, responsible, humble .....). On the other hand, the students might also have some criteria in mind as to what makes a Good Supervisor (e.g. lenient, guide them hand-in-hand, shows examples, patience, supportive, friendly, always have time for students, knowledgeable, ........). How to align the expectations? Key success factor for any relationship to work is OPEN COMMUNICATION.

If both parties are able to articulate their expectations effectively to other party, and open-minded about new ideas or suggestions, or the ways things should be done, the relationship will be a satisfying one that last forever....

To students who are not accepted by your nominated supervisor, please do not feel offended or sad! The lecturer probably is being nominated by more students than he/she can handle :)

BRM texbook

Getting a suitable textbook for Research Method undergraduate business students is a challenging task . Besides providing knowledge on research process engaged by businesses, the course is also designed to help students write a 3-chapter research proposal, as guide to accomplishing 5-chapter final-year thesis/project paper.

Books on research method available in the market are either too "Business-oriented" or "academic-oriented". The ideal book for my class is one that giving equal emphasis from business/practical managers' perspectives and include some thesis-writing tips like "choosing a research topic", "how to write problem statment", "how to write research objectives", "how to write literature review chapter" etc.

Although more business-oriented with limited academic writing example, hope students find the textbook of my choice useful to them at least in understanding research process....

Recommendations for excellent research method textbooks are welcomed!