Conducting Research

For most of your MBA papers, you will be using secondary sources (sources that did not originate the data they are reporting but secured them elsewhere) and secondary data (information which may be considered a primary source but was gathered for a purpose other than your paper) rather than primary data (information you collect through surveys, observations, or other primary research techniques specifically for your paper).  In QMS 6351, you will receive a brief introduction to research methods related to primary data.  This module will familiarize you with a method for conducting secondary research.

1. Start by learning about your topic in general.  Suppose you need to research a topic that has been introduced briefly in one of your classes, or one that your class has not yet discussed that you will be responsible for introducing to them.  Begin with a set of journalistic questions about the topic, such as:

1. What is supply chain management?
2. Who is relevant to the discussion of supply chain management?  What professionals or academicians are considered to be authorities in this area?
3. When did supply chain management become a hot topic?
4. Where is supply chain management relevant or critical?
5. Why is supply chain management important?
6. How is supply chain management accomplished?  Who or what is involved?

One you have a basic list of questions, choose your first source.  This source may be a textbook, encyclopedia entry, or some other general reference, and probably will not even appear on your list of references when you conclude your research.  Use the source to familiarize yourself with the topic, and generate a list of keywords, phrases, and names that you can use to conduct a more thorough review of literature related to the topic.

2. Zero in on the purpose of your research.  Decide whether you need to complete research that surveys the entire topic, or addresses in-depth one particular element or issue related to the topic.  Based on your conclusion, write a working thesis statement.  You may also use this step to refine the list of keywords you generated in step one.
3. Prepare a working reference list.  Compile a list of all the available books, articles, reference materials, and electronic resources which appear relevant to your research topic.  It is better to have too many than too few, since you will probably need to pare down your first list as your research refines.  The VC/UHV Library provides a listing of the most popular search engines and subject directories, as well as database listings by subject, that you can use in developing your reference list.
4. Pull together your resources.  Begin by using Internet search engines or electronic databases to see how many of your sources you will be able to obtain quickly and easily electronically.  For those which are not available online, consult a librarian about obtaining a copy.  In case the book must be requested through interlibrary loan, always make these requests as early as possible.
5. Take notes.  As you review each of your sources, record a complete citation (citation and reference formats are addressed in the module on Writing a Research Paper) and write down the information that you think you will use.  Decide on a system for keeping notes.  Some students prefer to write a single note on an index card so that the cards can be shuffled and reordered as the paper is outlined, while others type all of their notes into a single document to be cut and paste under appropriate outline headings.  Also, decide whether you will record your notes as direct quotations, paraphrases, summaries, or a combination, and make sure that you will be able to tell them apart later.  Knowing that you've been consistent about your notes will make you less likely to plagiarize from any of your sources inadvertently.
6. Evaluate your sources.  Because so much of our research is conducted online now, verifying the credibility of your sources has become both more challenging and more critical than ever.  Among the issues you should consider are

1. Purpose and audience - In many cases, your resources were not primarily intended to assist students with scholarly research.  Therefore, you must consider who the resource was written for and why.  Was it intended to advertise or promote something?  In that case, it is likely that the source is not objective.  Does it assume that you are already an expert in the field?  In that case, you may need to be more familiar with your topic before you can adequately interpret the information this source is providing.
2. Authority - You need to have some confidence that the person or organization who provided your source actually knows what they are talking about.  Do some checking on the author's credentials, any bias he or she may have on the subject, and, if the author purports to be a scholar, whether he or she has published anything on the topic in a refereed journal.  If your source is an organization, check for basic credibility hallmarks; they should have a legitimate mailing address, and their mission or vision statement should reassure you of their commitment to providing accurate information.  It is also helpful have they are affiliated with another organization which you already trust.
3. Currency - Assuming that you are research a "hot topic" in business, your sources should be as current as possible, with the exception of recognized seminal works on your subject.  The majority of your print sources should be no more than five years old.  If you are using web page references, the web pages should list dates of creation and update or modification, and updates should be recent enough to persuade you that the pages are still active.  (Note:  Because web pages can be modified so easily and so often, you should print a copy of any web pages which you are using in your research, and note the date that you printed them on your reference list.)
4. Context - Your resources should be evaluated against each other as well as on their own individual merits to ensure that you are building your research on the best information available.  Review the list of reference for each of your resources and decide whether all of them appear to be thorough and/or scholarly.  If one or two are obviously weaker than the others, you may not want to include them unless they provide an important and credible detail that other sources omit.  Also consider eliminating a source if its content is already covered more thoroughly by other resources at your disposal, or if it appears to be summarizing another work--you would be better off looking for the original source than using a second-hand summary of it.  Finally, decide whether each of your sources is truly appropriate for inclusion in an academic paper.

Throughout the resource evaluation stage, remember that your sources were written by other people who may be prone to the same errors that you are trying to avoid--the authors may have misattributed portions of their research, plagiarized (intentionally or unintentionally), or made mistakes about which of their sources should be included or excluded.  Do not take it for granted that the author of the resource you are using is fundamentally a better researcher than you are--find out.

7. Analyze your data.  Decide how to organize your information around your thesis sentence.  When your notes are in order, you are ready to begin writing a research paper.  However, don't be surprised if you find that you need to obtain additional research information before your paper is complete--research and writing are in many ways parallel activities.