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University of Maryland Eastern Shore

Organizational Leadership Ph.D. Program

Research in Organizational Leadership – ORLD 620-0101 (#2182)

Hazel Hall 1012
Spring 2013

Todd Matthews, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Coordinator, ORLD Program

Office: 1106 Spaulding Hall

Phone: (410) 651-8361(O)

Email:

ORLD Educational Model

The ORLD program utilizes the cohort model:students who begin their doctoral journey the same semester, follow the same schedule of courses until they reach their electives and the dissertation stage. The cohort model is a powerful pedagogical tool that allows students to pursue the core of the Ph.D.courses at the same pace and facilitates the development of a multidisciplinary knowledge base in organizational leadership. Through the cohort model, students are able to reinforce each other by sharing face-to-face and e-learning experiences. The ORLD program intends to develop and equip students for lifelong learning.

The Ph.D. Program in Organizational Leadership (ORLD) is based on a blended educational model that uniquely combines face-to-face classes during two weekend sessions with intermittent online delivery of instructional materials and integrative assignments. The program emphasizes student autonomy and self-directed learning in the development of a scholarly understanding of organizational leadership theory, research, practice, and application.

Course Description

ORLD 620 is about learning to apply research methodologiesby being actively and pragmatically engaged in the research process. The course builds on ORLD 610, ORLD 611, ORLD 612- 614 (as well as the sequence of content courses ORLD 601-604)and is designed to advance students’ research skills and competencies necessary to conduct scholarly research in organizational leadership and help foster preparation to conduct dissertation research. ORLD 620 is an application-oriented course that requires students to apply their knowledge of quantitative and qualitative research methods and use bivariate and multivariate statistics or qualitative coding procedures to design and carry out a quantitative or a qualitative research project. It is based on the premise that doctoral students need hands-on experience conducting a research project from A to Z prior to embarking on dissertation research. It is also based on the premise that second year doctoral students in the final semester of formal course work have fairly well defined dissertation topics that can be tested empirically.

In contrast to ORLD 610and ORLD 611which were instructor-ledcourses, ORLD 620 is a student-led, application-driven course. It requires a thorough review of ORLD 610, 611, and 612-614 inclusive of all textbooks and additional required readings listed in the syllabi of the respective courses. In addition, students are expected to be well grounded in theories of organizational leadershipand understand the role of theory in both quantitative and qualitative research.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

  • Formulate sound research questions and apply appropriate research designs
  • Derive theory-based research hypotheses in quantitative research
  • Develop theory inductively using a qualitative research design
  • Design and conduct a quantitative leadership study from initial conceptualization, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, and discussion
  • Analyze and interpret quantitative data using SPSS output
  • Design and conduct a qualitative leadership study from initial conceptualization, datacollection, data analysis, data interpretation
  • Analyze and interpret qualitative data
  • Be fluent in the terminology of quantitative and qualitative organizationalleadership research
  • Effectively communicate quantitative and qualitative research concepts
  • Critically evaluate your own research and that of other organizational leadership scholars
  • Conduct research that satisfies standard social scientific ethical principles in research with human participants

Attendance and Participation

Punctual attendance is expected in all face-to-face classes and in any online sessions. Participation means that students come to class having completed the assigned readings and have prepared discussion questions based on their understanding of the assigned readings.

Requirements

This syllabus should be regarded as a contract that may be subject to change with proper notification. Each assignment is designed to incorporate readings, discussion, and students’ real life experiences. Due dates for assignments are set, so please mark your calendars. Late submissions will only be accepted under extenuating circumstances and with prior approval.In-class learning activities must be submitted on time and cannot be made up.

Course Requirements

  1. IRB Training – Certificate (5%)
  2. IRB Application (10%)
  3. Quantitativeor Qualitative Concept Paper(25%)
  4. Quantitative or Qualitative Research Project(60%)

ORLD 620 requires the completion of one high quality original research project to provide students with an opportunity to test their research competencies and review the knowledge acquired in previous research and statistics courses.

IRB Training with CertificateDue: Friday 2/15

Each ORLD doctoral student must complete the IRB training prior to completing a research study/dissertation. Each ORLD620 student must complete the training and submit a copy of the certificate by Friday 2/15. Information on the IRB training and the link to start it is available at

IRB ApplicationDue: Sunday 2/24

IRB approval is NOT required by UMES for students who do a study as part of a class assignment. However, if the data will be used for a future publication, presentation or project that reaches beyond ORLD 620, then IRB approval is required prior to the gathering of data. If you are CONSIDERING using the data for a subsequent project, you should complete an IRB application. Anticipate a minimum of 2 weeks (likely longer) before receiving approval. The directions and application are available at

For the purposes of ORLD 620, each student must complete an application for your study. The application does not need to be submitted to the IRB office for approval, but must be submitted to the instructor. AGAIN, if you intend to use this data / study for the purpose of publication or presentation, then the IRB application MUST be submitted to the IRB office for approval.

Research Project (Quantitative OR Qualitative): You will do EITHER a quantitative or qualitative paper in this course. Directions for the option you select follow:

Quantitative Concept Paper Due: Friday 3/15

Preparation of a 5-page concept paper for the quantitative organizational leadership study.Some Quantitative Research methods include: (1) Survey design; (2) lab experiments; (3) field studies; (4) quasi-experimental designs; and (5) longitudinal studies.The concept paper must include the following elements:

  1. Introduction
  2. Initial review of major theory from which the research hypothesis is derived
  3. Hypothesis statement postulating a directional relationship between IV and DV (if you have more than one IV, you need to state the hypothesis for each relationship)
  4. Description of sample (the data must be collected in an organization other than the organization sponsoring the student’s dissertation research): instruments should be included
  5. Methodsection which should justify the choice of chosen methodology appropriate to address research questions
  6. Proposed data analysis
  7. Timeframe for data analysis and completion of the quantitative study

Quantitative Research Project Due: May 5

This project requires the design and execution of a small study that tests the bivariate relationships described in your concept paper. The quantitative study should be grounded in a single theory; a comprehensive (but brief and well written) review of the theory is expected.

More specifically, this project must meet the following requirements:

  1. Data must be collected in an organization other than the student’s’ employing organizationor the company that will sponsor the student’s dissertation research
  2. The research hypothesis must be postulated based on the principles of the hypothetico-deductive method
  3. Description of sample should include participants, data collection procedure, and instruments/measurements
  4. Constructs of interest must be operationalized using existing reliable and valid measureswhich must be included as appendices
  5. The minimum sample size is 50 (higher N is strongly encouraged when possible)
  6. Statistics must include (as appropriate) descriptive statistics, intercorrelations, Cronbach α, OLS or logistic regression (more advanced statistics are encouraged but not required)
  7. The data must be depicted graphically and translated into verbal description
  8. The research report must follow the format of a published quantitative leadership study
  9. Appendices that include copies of the instruments, IRB certificates and other pertinent information

For the quantitative study, use one of the emergent leadership theories (i.e., authentic, ethical, complexity, spiritual, or servant leadership theory) for which standardized, reliable, and valid instruments are available.

The paper should be about 20 pages in length not including references, title page, appendices, and exhibits.

Qualitative Concept Paper Due: Friday 3/15Preparation of a 5-page concept paper for the qualitative organizational leadership study. Some Qualitative Research Methods include:(1) case study; (2) content analysis; (3) narrative analysis; (4) ethnography; (5) grounded theory; (6) phenomenological, etc. The concept paper must include the following elements:

  1. Introduction
  2. Philosophical assumptions underlying the proposed qualitative study (ontology, epistemology, axiology)
  3. Research question(s)
  4. Organizing conceptual frameworks
  5. Description of proposed method
  6. Data collection and content of the interview protocol
  7. Proposed data analyses
  8. Timeframe for data analysis and completion of the qualitative leadership study

Qualitative Research Project Due: May 5

This project requires the design of a small qualitative interview study based on the following stipulations:

  1. A research question that can be uniquely and best examined using a qualitative interviewing design
  2. Data must be collected in an organization other than the students’ employing organization or the organization that will sponsor the student’s dissertation research
  3. The interview protocol must be designed using a reputable interview format
  4. The interview protocol must consist of at least 10 questions
  5. The minimum sample size is 10 research participants
  6. The coding must be based on a reputable coding system
  7. The data set must include the audio taped responses of the ten research participants, the transcribed interviews, codes, themes and pattern, andsupercodes
  8. The research report must reflect a format adhered to in published qualitative empirical studies
  9. Appendices that include copies of the instruments, IRB certificates and other pertinent information

The paper should be about 20 pages in length not including references, title page, appendices, and exhibits.

Grading Scale

This course is not graded on a curve. The assignments will be combined using a weighted average grading scheme with the corresponding weights given below.

90--100= A

80-89.99=B

70–79.99= C

60-69.99= D

Below 60= F

Submission Guidelines

All written assignments MUST be typed and should be submitted via theBlackboard system. Note that you should develop a contingency plan in case of computer problems (i.e., backing up files on another computer); computer breakdowns are not an excuse for late submissions. As a backup, you should send a copy to my UMES email account () from YOUR UMES account – emails from other addresses may be filtered through junk mail and not get through, so use YOUR UMES account to be safe!

The files should be named in the following manner:

Last name-ORLD620-assignment

For example: Matthews-ORLD620–quantconceptpaper

Plagiarism

Plagiarizing materials without giving credit where credit is due is a major offense which will result in termination from the program. The ORLD program uses several software programs to check for plagiarism. See the ORLD position on plagiarism on the ORLD website.

Required Texts

Loseke, D. (2013). Methodological Thinking: Basic Principles of Social Research Design. Sage.

Morgan, S., Reichert, T., Harrison, T. (2002).From Numbers to Words: Reporting Statistical Results for the Social Sciences. Allyn and Bacon.

Machi, L., & McEvoy, B. (2012).The Literature Review: Six Steps to Success. Corwin.

American Psychological Association.(2010). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.American Psychological Association.

Various articles (see schedulebelow)

COURSE SCHEDULE

Weekend 1 (February 1-3) –

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 1 (Research background):

5:30-6 P.M.Opportunity for program/general questions

6-7 P.M.Syllabus review/discussion of course requirements

7-7:15 P.M.Break

7:15-8 P.M.Idea/topic formulation

8-9 P.M.Literature review

9-9:15 P.M.Break

9:15-10:30 P.M.Experiential discussion of research process

Readings:

  • Machi and McEvoy (entire book)
  • Loseke (entire book - especially Chapters 2, 3, 5-8)

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 2 (Quantitative Methods):

9-10:30A.M. Review of Quantitative Methods

10:30-10:45 A.M.Break

10:45-12:15 P.M. Review of Quantitative Methods continues

12:15-1:30 P.M. Lunch break (on your own)

1:30-3 P.M. Discussion/deconstruction of selected Quantitative studies

3-5 P.M.Work on project formulation/literature/design

Readings:

  • Review materials from ORLD 611-614 as needed

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 3 (Qualitative Methods):

9-10:30A.M. Review of Qualitative Methods

10:30-10:45 A.M.Break

10:45-12:15 P.M. Review of Qualitative Methods continues

12:15-1:30 P.M. Lunch break (on your own)

1:30-3 P.M. Discussion/deconstruction of selected Qualitative studies

3-5 P.M.Work on project formulation/literature/design

Readings:

  • Review materials from ORLD 610 as needed
  • Gephart, R. 2004. Qualitative research and the Academy of Management Journal. Academy of

Management Journal, 47(4): 454-462.

  • Bansal, P. & Corley, K. 2012. What’s different about qualitative research? Academy of Management Journal, 55(3): 509-513.
  • Graebner M. E., Martin J. A. & Roundy, P. T. 2012. Qualitative data: Cooking without a recipe. Strategic Organization, 10(3): 276-284.

In between sessions–

Required to have at least one working meeting of 30 minutes length (or more) between student and faculty (by Friday April 12) – can be f2f, phone, Skype

Readings:

Morgan et al. (entire book)

APA Manual (as needed to properly format references and citations)

Weekend 2 (April 26-28) – NO FRIDAY (26th) session

SATURDAY April 26 (Working Session):

9 A.M.-12P.M. Collective Working Session (small groups of N=2)

12-1:30 P.M. Lunch break (on your own)

1:30-5 P.M. One on one meetings (15-20 minutes) with faculty (times will be scheduled in advance with you)

SUNDAY FEBRUARY 3 (Qualitative Methods):

9 A.M.-12P.M. Conference-style presentation of papers (15 minutes per student)

12-1 P.M.Lunch break (on your own)

1-5P.M. Conference-style presentation of papers (15 minutes per student)

continues