Week+3

= Critical Analysis and Research Design Processes =



(sometimes it's not a matter of finding enough information, but finding the important information)
For an amusing example of informal research, view a clip from Dave Chappelle's social experiment investigating what makes people dance.

** This week, locate at least two research studies providing useful information for your analysis. **** Work toward completing your analysis of the leadership challenge you have been examining. **
=Important considerations:=

Developing an informed perspective regarding the problem:
====As discussed during class meetings, your problem statement identifies the target zone of your research with core questions to guide your analysis, and the background section demonstrates your existing awareness of important context, history and background relevant to the leadership challenge you have chosen to examine. What makes your analysis critical is the manner in which you approach developing a clearer, deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the targeted problem area, including significant factors, elements and dynamics that influence how the challenge manifests and persists in your organization. Thoughtful selection of analytical frameworks can help reveal additional considerations and guide your process of identifying key areas where further investigation is merited, even if time will not permit you to investigate it fully in this particular study. Given what you already know about this challenge as a participant-observer, what additional information will help you understand it better? Whatever new information you feel is worth seeking, chances are that you can locate existing studies that can aid your critical analysis of the problem at hand.====

Reigning in the work connected with this project:
====Another aspect of this process discussed in class is the realistic limits of this project, which is not expected to be truly comprehensive. In this semi-formal research undertaking, you are demonstrating your ability to complete a research design process that applies higher order critical thinking skills to real world problem solving. Perhaps the most crucial part of any problem solving effort is first clearly identifying and diagnosing the problem, which is the main goal of this critical analysis project. You are not expected to formulate solutions, and it would be understandable if even fully diagnosing the problem would take more time to accomplish than you have available in this course term. Therefore, you are encouraged to be selective about how you approach completing this research design process, and the following points are offered in an attempt to maximize the resultant outcomes of this effort:====
 * ====following the hypothetical scenario presented at the beginning of this process, the intended purpose of the final product you will create is to provide an informed critical analysis of the problem you identified for other people who are less familiar with the situation, so that they can proceed with conducting further research related to key leadership challenges in your organization more effectively;====
 * ====since you are translating an insider's view of the problem for outsiders, the critical aspects of your analysis are important, thereby meriting the use of critical voice to make tacit, implicit and underlying aspects of the problem more explicit for those who otherwise may not notice key factors, elements and influences (in this way, you are a relative authority on the subject you have chosen, even if you have not formally attained expert status);====
 * ====beyond harnessing and leveraging the knowledge gained from your own experience, you are also utilizing established frameworks and methods drawn from the research community, including existing studies examining related problems, to support your own conclusions;====
 * ====ideally, the report generated through your critical analysis serves as a preliminary research design plan that can guide the process of facilitating broader and deeper understanding of the problem you have targeted by more people who are affected by it, including those who can research it further (which merits viewing this report as more of a critical needs assessment, rather than a plan for solutions);====
 * ====what is important at this stage is to begin identifying the key findings and conclusions that you have gleaned from this analytical process, and supporting your conclusions with the information that you have obtained directly, including relevant findings from other related studies you have found. [[image:magnifying_glass width="193" height="191" align="right"]]====

=Instructions for Week 3 tasks:=

1) Discussion post:
(Use the discussion area of this page to submit your post)
 * ====Before posting (by week's end): Review the problem statements posted in the Project Content Page and respond to this question:====

2) Writing assignment:
(Submit your document as a Word file in the Project Content Page by week's end)
 * ====Locate at least two research studies related to your analysis, and explain what useful information they provide for your study;====
 * ====Combine these explanations of literary research results with your partial analysis draft that applied frameworks to your problem;====
 * ====Complete this analysis section by explaining any additional examination of the problem you have conducted since the initial draft;====

Considerations:
 * In the analysis section, focus on the process you have undertaken to clearly understand the challenge targeted in your problem statement;
 * Next week, you will create the findings and conclusions/recommendations sections of your analysis report and compile the final product