ACADEMIC PROJECT
FOUNDATIONS
Research: a type of systematic investigation that is empirical in nature and is designed to contribute
to public knowledge
!Empirical knowledge base for humanity
!Purposeful
Research in business and management
!Transdisciplinary
!Double hurdle (theoretical and practical impact)
!Science-practise gap / translation research
!Evidence based management
“Research Enterprise”: macro-level effort to accumulate knowledge across multiple empirical
systematic public research projects
Translational Research: effort to move research from initial to discovery to practise
Research-Practice Continuum: Process from initial idea to practice
Basic research: designed to generate discoveries and how they work (theoretical)
!Satisfies curiosity
Applied research: when discovery is tested under increasingly controlled conditions in real-world
contexts (practical)
!Finding answers to “real-life” problems
Implementation & dissemination research: assesses how well innovation/discovery can be
distributed beyond context of original study
Policy research: designed to investigate existing policies or development and test new ones
Impact research: assesses broader effects of a discovery or innovation on society
Research synthesis: systematic study of multiple prior research projects addressing the same
research question or topic and summarizes it for others
!Meta-analysis (uses statistical methods to combine results of similar studies quantitatively)
!Systematic review (focuses on a specific question, uses pre-planned methods to identify, select,
assess and summarize findings)
! Practice guideline (recommendation for actions based on study)
Evidence-based practise (EBP): movement encouraging employing outcomes of research
Conceptualizing Research
!Requests for Proposals (RFPs) (governmental documenting issued that need to be addressed)
!Literature review (compilation of literature that is written on a specific topic)
!Peer review (system for reviewing potential research studies)
,Variables: entity that can take different values
!Independent (variable that you manipulate; e.g. treatment or program) cause
!Dependent (affected by the independent variable; e.g. the outcome) effect
Attribute: specific value of a variable (e.g. ‘male’ and ‘female’ for the variable ‘sex’)
Attributes of a variable need to be
!Exhaustive (including all possible answers)
!Mutually exclusive (no possibility of respondent having two attributes simultaneously)
Types of Data:
!Qualitative (‘build theory’)
Text, pictures, sounds etc.
!Quantitative (‘test theory’)
Numeric
Unit of analysis: the analysed entity (e.g. individuals, groups, social interactions)
Types of studies:
→Descriptive (documents what is going on and what exists)
→Relational (investigates connection between two ore more variables)
→Causal (investigates a causal relationship between two variables)
→Cross-sectional (time-based: takes place in a single point of time)
→Longitudinal (time based: takes place over time)
Hypothesis: specific statement of predication
!Null-hypothesis (predication that nothing will happen; no effect of the independent variable)
!Alternative hypothesis (predication of what will happen in study)
!One-tailed hypothesis (one that implies a direction; e.g. program will increase outcome)
!Two-tailed hypothesis (without specific direction, unclear effect)
!Hypothetico-deductive model (if one hypothesis is accepted, the other must be rejected)
Patterns of Relationships
How is one level of variable related to another?
!Positive (direct effect)
!Negative (direct effect)
!None
!Curvilinear
Third variable or missing variable problem
!Unobserved variable that accounts for a correlation between two variables
(mediation; indirect effect)
(moderation; conditional effect: X and Y moderated by M so relationship stronger/weaker)
Hourglass model
Abstract/Introduction Introduction
General General
Methods
Specific
(Observations and Measurements)
Conclusion
General
, Induction and Deduction
!Qualitative research is inductive (Top-down: from general to specific)
!Quantitative research is deductive (Bottom-up: from observation to theory)
Validity: best available approximation of the truth of a given proposition, inference, or conclusion
Causal relationship:
à Beware of third variable and
reversed causality (presumed effect
causing presumed cause)
Cause-Effect Construct:
Land of theory
Real world in which ideas
are translated
ETHICS
Conflict of Interest: When researcher’s primary interest in the integrity of a study is compromised
by a secondary interest such as personal gain
FOUNDATIONS
Research: a type of systematic investigation that is empirical in nature and is designed to contribute
to public knowledge
!Empirical knowledge base for humanity
!Purposeful
Research in business and management
!Transdisciplinary
!Double hurdle (theoretical and practical impact)
!Science-practise gap / translation research
!Evidence based management
“Research Enterprise”: macro-level effort to accumulate knowledge across multiple empirical
systematic public research projects
Translational Research: effort to move research from initial to discovery to practise
Research-Practice Continuum: Process from initial idea to practice
Basic research: designed to generate discoveries and how they work (theoretical)
!Satisfies curiosity
Applied research: when discovery is tested under increasingly controlled conditions in real-world
contexts (practical)
!Finding answers to “real-life” problems
Implementation & dissemination research: assesses how well innovation/discovery can be
distributed beyond context of original study
Policy research: designed to investigate existing policies or development and test new ones
Impact research: assesses broader effects of a discovery or innovation on society
Research synthesis: systematic study of multiple prior research projects addressing the same
research question or topic and summarizes it for others
!Meta-analysis (uses statistical methods to combine results of similar studies quantitatively)
!Systematic review (focuses on a specific question, uses pre-planned methods to identify, select,
assess and summarize findings)
! Practice guideline (recommendation for actions based on study)
Evidence-based practise (EBP): movement encouraging employing outcomes of research
Conceptualizing Research
!Requests for Proposals (RFPs) (governmental documenting issued that need to be addressed)
!Literature review (compilation of literature that is written on a specific topic)
!Peer review (system for reviewing potential research studies)
,Variables: entity that can take different values
!Independent (variable that you manipulate; e.g. treatment or program) cause
!Dependent (affected by the independent variable; e.g. the outcome) effect
Attribute: specific value of a variable (e.g. ‘male’ and ‘female’ for the variable ‘sex’)
Attributes of a variable need to be
!Exhaustive (including all possible answers)
!Mutually exclusive (no possibility of respondent having two attributes simultaneously)
Types of Data:
!Qualitative (‘build theory’)
Text, pictures, sounds etc.
!Quantitative (‘test theory’)
Numeric
Unit of analysis: the analysed entity (e.g. individuals, groups, social interactions)
Types of studies:
→Descriptive (documents what is going on and what exists)
→Relational (investigates connection between two ore more variables)
→Causal (investigates a causal relationship between two variables)
→Cross-sectional (time-based: takes place in a single point of time)
→Longitudinal (time based: takes place over time)
Hypothesis: specific statement of predication
!Null-hypothesis (predication that nothing will happen; no effect of the independent variable)
!Alternative hypothesis (predication of what will happen in study)
!One-tailed hypothesis (one that implies a direction; e.g. program will increase outcome)
!Two-tailed hypothesis (without specific direction, unclear effect)
!Hypothetico-deductive model (if one hypothesis is accepted, the other must be rejected)
Patterns of Relationships
How is one level of variable related to another?
!Positive (direct effect)
!Negative (direct effect)
!None
!Curvilinear
Third variable or missing variable problem
!Unobserved variable that accounts for a correlation between two variables
(mediation; indirect effect)
(moderation; conditional effect: X and Y moderated by M so relationship stronger/weaker)
Hourglass model
Abstract/Introduction Introduction
General General
Methods
Specific
(Observations and Measurements)
Conclusion
General
, Induction and Deduction
!Qualitative research is inductive (Top-down: from general to specific)
!Quantitative research is deductive (Bottom-up: from observation to theory)
Validity: best available approximation of the truth of a given proposition, inference, or conclusion
Causal relationship:
à Beware of third variable and
reversed causality (presumed effect
causing presumed cause)
Cause-Effect Construct:
Land of theory
Real world in which ideas
are translated
ETHICS
Conflict of Interest: When researcher’s primary interest in the integrity of a study is compromised
by a secondary interest such as personal gain
