Research Informatics Modern Academic and Professional Career

Question:-

Write paper on the modern academic and professional career, focusing on reflecting on Research Design.

Answer:-

The knowledge on the emergence of research helped to understand that every research aims at investigating phenomena (Asimov, 1966). It would help me to put the primary emphasis on the investigation while researching academics and profession. The importance of reality in research would also help me to set directions of the studies in such a way so that some value can be obtained from the findings. For instance, the focus on reality in my research at the workplace may reveal some useful insight which can be used for management decision-making. Finally, the concept of testing theories would help me to analyse applicability in any specific context. For instance, in the workplace, I can research to test the applicability of the employee motivation theories.

I would be able to use both qualitative and quantitative methods in the context of social science in my academic career. The knowledge of scientific research would help me to view the social phenomena scientifically in the analysis (King, Keohane, & Verba, 1994). The knowledge of research design would help me conduct research independently in my academic career by using the key components such as research question and hypotheses.

Learning from the source would be extremely helpful in my academic writing. The knowledge of researching would be effective to find information from different sources such as the internet and books (Kirszner & Mandell, 2011). The knowledge of source evaluation is necessary to identify authentic sources. Finally, outlining is effective to make a structure of the essay.

The video, "overview of research designs" informed me about the differences between different research designs, use of experimental and correlational research. The knowledge of correlational and experimental research is extremely useful in the researches done at my workplace, which is a retail organisation. At the workplace, the research is often done to analyse the behaviour of consumers, their purchasing patterns and the relationship between purchasing decisions and other factors such as the pricing offers or packaging. Previously, I focused on finding the relationship between the variables only. After watching the video, I realised that the correlational research done at the workplace does not confirm causality behind the particular behaviour of the consumers (Fiala, 2014). Instead, the results reveal predictor and criterion only. To confirm the relationship between two variables such as a discount on a product and demand of that item, experimental research should be done. However, the video does not indicate how the experimental research can be applied in different settings including the retail organisations.

 The video " Exploratory, Descriptive and Explanatory Nature of Research" helped m to know about exploratory, descriptive, explanatory research and the nature of questions answered by three types of research. The knowledge of three different types of research helped me to understand that most of the studies done at my workplace are exploratory. In these studies, the applicability of the basic management concepts is studied in the retail context (MeanThat,2016). I understood that the exploratory study only provides an idea regarding consumer behaviour, but to identify the underlying reasons the explanatory studies should be used. For example, in future, I can use the explanatory study to answer how the pricing discount increases the sale of a product.

The video, Research Aim, Questions and Objectives, helped me to learn what is research aim, objective and question, the best ways to write those and the concept of narrowing down research aim. To start research, having a clear direction is necessary which can be described in the research aim. The knowledge of research aim would enable me to initiate research independently at my workplace and also in an academic career. Writing the research report is necessary for a both academic and professional career. So, the knowledge would help me in both cases. Finally, the knowledge on narrowing down the aim would be effective to focus on one single issue only and complete the research within time and allocated resources.

            After reflecting on the sources, I realised that the knowledge of research design is useful for both my academic and professional life. I would like to learn more on the applicability of different research designs in future.