1. Articulate the Problem: (Min 150 words)
There are many reasons we might want to read research studies and reports. When researchers use high-quality research standards, the reader has access to data, analytic techniques, and findings that may be useful. We might read a research report about the way employees behave during organizational restructuring or about the effectiveness of centralization versus decentralization in a global company. Information gleaned from research may be applicable to our own organizational strategies.

In this course, our focus is to understand the research process, to distinguish between different research approaches, and to evaluate the quality of a research study. Then to apply this learning, students conduct the first two stages of a research process and develop a paper, which serves as the Portfolio Project for this course.

Think about a specific issue or problem in your organization, your community, your professional association, or your industry. What are the first three things you might do to begin to articulate your problem or opportunity in order to learn more? Consider some of the new terminology you encountered while reading Chapter 1 when composing your posts. For example:

• Evidence-based practices
• Process of research
• Identifying a research problem
• Reviewing the literature
• Specifying the purpose for research.

Support your thoughts with information from the course and from external sources. Use APA citation style to cite any references and/or sources you use.

2. State the Problem: (Min 150 words)
State the problem, topic, or idea of interest that you intend to use for our critical thinking assignment. Tell us how you intend to go about finding information related to your topic. What professional publications or industry trade information might you review? What other resources may be available? If you have already found your two research articles, tell us how you did it. Please also note any problems you encountered. What helpful hints might you give us to assist in finding what we need? Be sure to list the articles/studies you found using APA citation style.

3. Identify the Topic: (Min 150 words)
Think about and identify a potential problem or opportunity for the Portfolio Project that you will develop in this course. The problem that you choose should be related to an issue that you know of in your work, in another organization, in your community, or in your profession. By conducting practical research that we can apply to a real-world problem, consider the contribution we can make to problem resolution and heightened learning. The problem or opportunity that you identify will become part of Section I of your Portfolio Project.

In your post, describe why you chose the problem or opportunity and why it is worthy of study. Please support your thoughts with information from the course and from external sources. Use APA citation style to cite any references and/or sources you use.

4. Review a Research Report: (Min: 150 words)
Review one of the research studies that you found for your research study literature review. Provide the reference for the article in APA format, the purpose of the study, and the type of research approach that is used. Then tell us how you determined the purpose. Did the author clearly articulate the purpose for the reader? In your post, explain the difference between the purpose and the problem or opportunity description.

5. Quantitative or Qualitative? : (Min 150 words)
When reviewing your topic of interest, are you finding that most of the research is quantitative or qualitative in nature? Pick one of your quantitative studies/sources of information. Tell us the problem statement of the study and provide us an overview of the research effort. Then tell us what kind of quantitative design is used and why it was chosen. Finally, provide details on what type of analysis was performed.

6. Why Qualitative? : (Min 150 words)
Why might a business choose to use a qualitative research approach? Think of the problem or opportunity developed in Module 3 and a manager you know who might want to resolve it. Now review the management and capstone research questions that were developed in Module 4. What type of data might you gather and what analytic technique might you use as you set out to answer the manager’s question? Pick a specific analytical technique and describe it, being sure to include appropriate citations.