New Graduate Course
Stevens Institute of Technology
Approved by GCC 06-12-13
School: Howe School of Technology Management
Course Title: Colloquia Series Research Seminar
Program: Howe School Ph.D. Program
Course: MGT 769
Catalog Description:
This course is designed to provide doctoral students with an in-depth knowledge about the research process in technology management and related disciplines. The course content includes assigned readings about conducting academic research in general, as well as assigned readings related to public Howe School research colloquium presentations by different guest speakers during the course of the semester. Students will prepare for the presentation by reading the assigned papers and writing up a set of questions to be posed during the discussion with the presenter, which will take place after the presentation. Each semester there will be six or seven guest speakers who will formally present their research during the first hour of the seminar. After the talk, guest speakers will discuss issues related to conducting research with doctoral students. In the weeks without guest speakers, students discuss assigned readings related to conducting academic research with other class members.
Course Objectives:
In this course, students will:
- gain an in-depth knowledge about academic research in management
- develop skills to evaluate the work of other researchers
- improve their ability to think critically about research
- improve their ability to communicate their ideas as authors and as reviewers
List of Course Outcomes:
After taking this course, students will be able to:
- describe the academic research process in management
- describe how to conduct rigorous research
- read, write, and discuss scientific papers more efficiently and effectively
- think critically about data and research findings
- evaluate and write reviews for others’ research
Prerequisites: Only for accepted Ph.D. students
Cross-listing: None
Grading Percentages: HW Class work Mid-term Final Projects
Other
Class work (20%): Participation in each seminar meeting, involves asking questions to guest speakers and discussing ideas with guest speakers and other members of the class.
HW (30%): Reaction papers (see the sample syllabus), which are assignments involving either (1) written critiques of assigned readings to be discussed with other class members or (2) written notes in preparation for interactions with guest speakers during and immediately following their presentations. These assignments are due to the instructor in advance of each seminar meeting. All guest speakers will provide a copy of accepted or published peer-reviewed conference paper or journal article on which their presentations will be based, as well as two additional articles related to the research stream of their presentation.
Term paper (40%) is a final assignment, in which students will prepare a literature review, which relates to their own research interests or to the topics covered in the colloquium presentations. Advanced students will prepare a paper that presents research questions and a research design that addresses a research gap identified in their literature review. Each student will present the term paper in a formal presentation (10%) to other class members at the end of the semester. The term paper will be delivered in the last week of the semester. Research papers that have the potential to be developed into conference paper, journal article, or grant proposal submissions are highly encouraged.
Credits: 3 credits Other
For Graduate Credit toward Degree or Certificate:
Yes No Not for Dept. Majors Other
Textbook(s) or References:
Reading materials will be articles. See reading in the sample syllabus.
Mode of Delivery: Class Online Modules Other
Program/Department Ownership: Ph.D. Program
When first offered: Spring 2012
Department Point of Contact and Title: Thomas Lechler, Associate Professor and Ph.D. program director
Date approved by individual school and/or department curriculum committee: 05-06-13
Sample Syllabus: Guest speakers and associated reading materials are an example. They will change each time the course is offered.
Topic / Reading / HWWeek 1 / Introduction and overview of the course / None / None
Week 2 / Ethical writing, Plagiarism, Scientific writing style / 1. Ethical writing should be taught by Miguel Roig (2006)
2. Avoiding plagiarism, self-plagiarism, and other questionable writing practices: A guide to ethical writing by Miguel Roig (2006)
3. Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association / Reaction paper 1
Think about term paper
Week 3 / Guest speaker presentation: Multi-period Vehicle Routing Problems with Consistent Service Constraints by Panagiotis Repoussis (Howe School) / 1. Collaborative Template-based Tabu Search and Branch-and-Cut Methods for the Consistent Vehicle Routing Problem by Panagiotis P.Repoussis, Foteini Stavropoulou, Christos D.Tarantilis (2012)
2. A template-based Tabu Search algorithm for the Consistent Vehicle Routing Problem by C.D. Tarantilis, F. Stavropoulou, P.P. Repoussis (2012)
3. A template based adaptive large neighborhood search for the consistent vehicle routing problem by Attila A. Kovacs, Sophie N. Parragh, Richard F. Hartl
4. The Consistent Vehicle Routing Problem by Chris Groërs, Bruce Golden, Edward Wasilt (2008) / Reaction paper 2
Week 4 / False positive, Publication bias, Value of replication, Research integrity / 1. False-Positive Psychology: Undisclosed Flexibility in Data Collection and Analysis Allows Presenting Anything as Significant by Joseph P. Simmons, Leif D. Nelson, and Uri Simonsohn (2011)
2. Too good to be true: Publication bias in two prominent studies from experimental psychology by Gregory Francis (2012)
3. Psychology’s Woes and a Partial Cure: The Value of Replication by Henry L. Roediger, III (2012)
4. Rigor Without Rigor Mortis: The APS Board Discusses Research Integrity by Douglas L. Medin (2012) / Reaction paper 3
Write a summary of term paper
Week 5 / Guest speaker presentation: The Impact of Asymmetric Multi-Market Competition on Competitive Interactions of User-Generated Content by Gaurav Sabnis (Howe School) / 1. The Impact of Asymmetric Multi-Market Competition on Competitive Interactions of User-Generated Content by Gaurav Sabnis (2013)
2. Mine Your Own Business: Market Structure Surveillance Through Text Mining by Oded Netzer, Ronen Feldman, Jacob Goldenberg, Moshe Fresko (2012)
3. Cable News Wars on the Internet: The Competitive Influence of User-Generated Content by Gaurav Sabnis, Rajdeep Grewal (2012) / Reaction paper 4
Week 6 / Preparing conference papers and journal manuscripts / 1. Summary Report of Journal & Conference Operations: Statistics on various journals (e.g., rejection rates, number submitted, etc.)
2. Reviewer Guidelines: What is expected in the reviews for journals and conferences (what to focus on, how to structure the review, etc.)
3. Style Guide: How to structure the paper (advice on each section of the paper, such as title, abstract, introduction, etc.)
4. Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly by Daniel M. Oppenheimer (2006) / Reaction paper 5
Revise the summary of term paper
Week 7 / Guest speaker presentation: Organizational learning and the continuity of adaptive success by Murad Mithani (Howe School) / 1. Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning by James G. March (1991)
2. Rival Interpretations of Balancing Exploration and Exploitation: Simultaneous or Sequential? by Eric L. Chen, Riitta Katila (2008)
3. Organizational learning and the continuity of adaptive success by Murad Mithani (2013) / Reaction paper 6
Week 8 / Term paper proposal presentation / None / Prepare the term paper proposal presentation
Week 9 / Guest speaker presentation: Impact of R&D Investment and Workforce Education on the Performance of Information Technology Firms by Fang-Chun Liu (How School) / 1. Impact of R&D Investment and Workforce Education on the Performance of Information Technology Firms by Fang-Chun Liu (2013)
2. The Stock Market Valuation of Research and Development Expenditures by Chan, Lakonishok, Sougiannis (2001)
3. Human Capital and Institutional Effects in the Compensation of Information Technology Professionals in the United States by Sunil Mithas, M. S. Krishnan (2008) / Reaction paper 7
Week 10 / Preparing grant proposals / 1. Funding Opportunities Announcement: study the requirements, review criteria, etc.
2. Reviews: study the reviews for winning and declined proposals (NSF and NIH)
3. Three examples of winning grant proposals (NIH, NSF, AFOSR) and some declined examples / Reaction paper 8
Term paper draft
Week 11 / Guest speaker presentation: Single, Multiple, and Repeated Decisions: Why They are Different by Jim Corter (Columbia) / 1. When mixed options are preferred in multiple-trial decisions by Chen, Y.-J., Corter, J. E. (2006)
2. Gambling with the house money and trying to break even: the effects of prior outcomes on risky choice by Thaler, R., Johnson, E. (1990)
3. The description-experience gap in risky choice. By Hertwig, R., Erev, I. (2009) / Reaction paper 9
Week 12 / Review each other’s term paper / Each student will review two term papers by other members of the class. / Reaction paper 10
Week 13 / Guest speaker presentation: Model Calibration and Automated Trading Agent for Euro-Futures by German Creamer (Howe School) / 1. Model Calibration and Automated Trading Agent for Euro-Futures by German Creamer (2011)
2. A link mining algorithm for earnings forecast and trading by German Creamer, Sal Stolfo (2008)
3. Learning a board balanced scorecard to improve corporate performance by German Creamer, Yoav Freund (2010) / Reaction paper 11
Week 14 / Term paper presentation / None / Prepare term paper presentation
Term paper will be delivered in the last week of the semester.