52 discussion

Background Information

You will use the following example scenario for analysis and your research methodology decision. Note there is very limited detail available This is intentional. Part of the exercise is to consider what additional information you would need to make an informed decision. Nevertheless, you will be asked to make a choice and defend it, so make sure you have strong justification!

Example Scenario 

Imagine you are a student in a well-respected DBA program. To meet your graduation requirements, you need to demonstrate your research acumen by completing a research project with a partner organization.

The partner organization you have selected has a serious retention problem.  Even though the company has a strong reputation and pays their employees well above market rates, turnover has been a consistent issue. Despite several major recruiting drives, the company has been unable to back-fill lost employees quickly enough to meet its customers’ demands. This is starting to lead to frustrated customers and lost business.

Your partner organization has asked you to identify the root cause of their retention problem and to recommend a solution. The company is large and complex, with well over 20,000 employees spread throughout the globe. They have provided you with access to all their internal data on this issue, including their HR database with demographic information, training records, employee performance reviews, and the detailed results of the past several years’ worth of employee satisfaction surveys.

Instructions

1. Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.
2. Read:
   1. Chapter 5 of Kuhn (1970): The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
   2. Chapters 7 and 8 of Arbnor and Bjerke (2009): Methodology for Creating Business Knowledge
3. By Day 5 of the workshop, prepare and submit an initial discussion posting responding to the following questions:
   1. Considering the scenario given above, what additional critical information would you like to have before making a decision regarding methodology?
   2. What general methodological approach would you recommend?  (Qualitative, Quantitative, or Mixed Methods).
   3. Why did you choose this methodological approach? Explain and justify your choice.
4. Your initial post should be at least 250 words in length. Robustly support your arguments and appropriately cite any sources you use. Include a reference list.
5. By the end of the workshop, you will evaluate two of your classmates’ proposed research methodologies by:
   1. Explaining the tradeoffs inherent with the methodological approach chosen by your classmate.
   2. Suggesting an alternative approach that may be effective for the given scenario.
      1. Explain the advantages of your suggested alternative over your classmate’s proposal.
      2. Note it is not important whether you agree or disagree with your classmate’s proposed approach. Instead, it is important you understand the tradeoffs involved with every methodological choice.