If you have the time, please read all the way through to the end. My questions are at the bottom. In order to get the help that I need, I felt it necessary to include some important information; which is why the message is so long. Thanks. Topic: How do Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Styles affect Conflict Management among American Corporate Executive Teams? Research Question In an effort to shed light on conflict management, this concurrent mixed methods study will examine, explain, and describe the degree to which a relationship exists between emotional intelligence and the leadership styles of high level executives in the management of conflict. The study is limited to US corporations. Participants This concurrent mixed methods study will be restricted to a stratified sample of 25 corporations selected through Dun and Bradstreet Global Business Databases. The random sampling of 25 participants will hold executive titled positions in private organizations of no less than 100 employees. The purpose is to generalize from a sampling of population so that inferences can be made about how and why emotional intelligence and the leadership styles of executives affect the way conflict is addressed in North American corporations (Creswell, 2009). Through a single-stage sampling process using longitudinal data, the research will be conducted at the participant’s organization. The research participants will be managers, directors, vice-presidents, presidents, or CEO’s of private service or product based organizations. There are no age, gender, racial, geographical or educational limitations. Data Collection Existing survey instruments such as the Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, the Reuven Bar-On Emotional Quotient Assessment Instrument and the Conflict Styles Assessment Test, will be used to measure the participant’s emotional intelligence, leadership styles and participants preferred conflict management styles. The results of these assessments will be analyzed against the frequency and different types of conflict experienced in high level executive teams. In addition to the survey instruments discussed above, this study will include a combination of interviewing and ongoing participant observation of events, situations, and occurrences in order to capture the whole picture and better understand whether the executive’s perception of conflict and their leadership and emotional intelligence are in concert (Creswell, 2009). The reason for combining both quantitative and qualitative data is to obtain statistical, quantitative results and then follow up with the participants to better understand the problem and explore their views with the intent on building on these views (Creswell, 2009). Once permission and clearance has been received from the organization, the study will take place during the weekdays between the hours of 9 am to 5 pm, depending upon the participant’s availability. The data will be collected from May 2010 through November, 2010. The participants will be asked to participate in two 2 hour meetings. During the first meeting, the participant would take the assessment tests and will participate in an interpersonal interview session. The second meeting will include a two hour observation of the participant’s daily activities (Creswell, 2009). Only the details and observations relating to conflict will be recorded by the researcher. The researcher will also keep a diary so that she could chronicle her own thoughts, experiences, feelings and perceptions during the investigation (Creswell, 2006). The results of the survey and the ethnographic study will be recorded in words, rather than numbers (Creswell, 2006). END OF METHODOLOGY - NOW FOR MY QUESTIONS; The above is what I plan to do. I have difficulty determining my variables, however, I believe my DV is Conflict Management and my IVs are EI and Leadership Styles. Does it appear that way to you? Also, I'm being asked to: Describe your plan to find instruments for your proposed variables. What is your dependent variable? What are your independent variables? Specifically address the following: Identified your dependent variable. Are they operationally defined? (Not sure what operationally defined means) Identified your independent variables. Described your plan to find instruments for your proposed variables. • Which database would you search? • What is your alternative plan if you cannot find a validated (published) instrument for each of your variables? I am having issues with this; Based on my methodology and sampling (indicated above) am I being asked to describe and explain the Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, the Reuven Bar-On Emotional Quotient Assessment Instrument and the Conflict Styles Assessment Tests and why I decided to use these testing mechanisms as opposed to any other testing? I am stressing over this because this is one of my final courses, and despite my best efforts, apparently, think I’m missing something. I keep submitting work and, although I am at an A grade, my grade is steadily decreasing and I have no idea why. Therefore, I decided to ask for help, primarily to see if I am at least on the right path. Any ideas? Once I know what is being asked, I am sure I'd be able to respond to it. Thanks a bunch!
Test scores don't affect anything. What you're looking for is the relationship between test scores and the other phenomenon. Why 25? If this is a mixed methods study, that implies qualitative methods. One of the hallmarks of qualitative study is that you don't sample in order to infer about the greater population. Rather, you draw data until no new knowledge is emerging. That might happen in quite a few fewer than 25. Why 25? If you're going to apply quantitative analysis, that's a tiny sample that will require a very big observation before you're able to make inferences about the population from which the sample was drawn. Or, if you're not making comparisons, then your margin of error (the range around the sample result where the population value would lie, within a chosen level of confidence) will be huge, and likely to be unrevealing. I love Cresswell's books; I have several. But I recommend you do some other reading about qualitative and quantitative analyses. Charmaz for grounded theory, for example. Or Chang for autoethnography. And you really should read Patton. You might need to account for the impact on the phenomenon brought about by administering that test. Yeah, you MUST explain your use of the instruments intended, both in terms of what they measure and why their results will inform your research question. You look like you're taking a positivist approach. Qualitative methods often call for deductive/constructive methods, which you'll need to reconcile. Hope this helps.
Rich Thanks Rich. My professor is leading us in a direction that I do not understand. My problem is that what she is asking her students to do, is different from what my chair is asking me to do. I actually told my professor and my chair that I wanted to do a qualitative study. They advised me against it. I still want to do a qualitative study, and what you are telling me now is exactly as I have told my professors. They disagree and here is where the problem and the confusion lie.
You choose a research methodology based upon one of two things (or a mix, usually): (1) philosophy about how to understand the world and its phenomena, and (2) the method that best fits the research problem. Quantitative methods are used inductively to inspect phenomena and test ideas (hypotheses). Essentially, you have a theory about how things work and you seek out evidence that either supports it or refutes it. You, the researcher, are not much of a factor in the study, and the underlying epistemological assumption (how things can be understood) is positivist (not really related to the viewpoint of the one doing the looking). You work from theory (broad) down to the observed phenomena (data). Science is a good area for that. Qualitative methods are used deductively--you wade into the data and figure out what's going on. You start with little or no preconception--certainly not to the extent of forming hypotheses--but build understanding through observation and examination. You go from data to theory. Quantitative methods tend towards sampling--measuring a portion of the population and making inferences about that population as a whole. There are statistical methods involved, as well as probabilities (how likely you're right or wrong and by how much). Qualitative methods are about studying the phenomenon itself for deeper understanding. Researchers don't make inferences about the larger population. However, readers are free to do so, but these inferences are not measured for probability. The result of a qualitative study should be a deep understanding about a narrow issue that might help others understand theirs. Unfortunately, you run into schools of thought when you do your thinking in schools (and pay their tuition). If you're battling a prevailing prejudice towards one school of thought and away from another, then you might have to go with the flow. Like the tail wagging the dog, your pre-chosen research methodology will dictate largely what you can and cannot study--and what you can and cannot understand. For example, if you're in a school with a prevailing attitude about positivist, qualitative study, then you might not get approved to do a longitudinal case study on a group of 3rd-graders being put through an experimental curricula. Instead, you might take that same situation and use quantitative methods to measure their test score changes or some change in the psychological profiles, etc. Instead of drawing a deep, rich, observation-filled description of what they experienced, you get to write some hypotheses and test them, then argue whether or not they (and the research questions/theory they represent) are supported or not. Both are science, but your school may only recognize one of them as being worthy. As far as the conflict between your advisor and others goes, you'll have to work that out among them. Beware, though, your advisor may have one take on the situation. He/she can push you into compliance, but can't necessarily get others (like the dean) to agree. You'll be caught in the middle and you'll create a dissertation that is acceptable to your advisor but not to the committee or the administration. Strive early for alignment and commitment. Good luck. Hope this helps.
Off topic: On another note, I'm sad to see Argosy acting so traditional and institution-centered. It's as if the University of Sarasota never existed. I know this is the way of things--I've watched the Union I attended and loved get crushed by the forces of traditional academe. But why would Argosy--a school that exists to serve working adults--get so pedagogical? Yeesh. (That's no reflection on the quality of the school, nor the degrees it issues. Just one guy talkin' here...)
OMG! You have helped me a great deal! I am not kidding. I have only a clue of what I was going when I drafted my methodology. I pretty much got through it by reading several examples and then deducing a format for how I should draft my own. I did it, but didn't understand why I was doing it that way. I did and still do know the direction I wanted to take but had no idea how to path that course, so to speak. Believe me when I say, that you have cleared up things for me. Creswell (2009) does a good job and directing how to do things, but not explaining what these things are. He even has scripts to go by. I guess if anything, my legal background has taught me that I have to understand why something is, in order to know how to do it. For me, it is not just enough to show me what needs to be done. I'll do it, fine, and would manage to get an A in the process but once I understand why something is, I have the framework for drafting a top quality paper. Thank Rich, I won't soon forget your kindness.
Shay, You're not alone - I didn't have a full grasp of my qualitative methodology until I was well into my dissertation proposal. and then it just hit me. I'm glad that Rich was able to help. Shawn
Thanks for the kind comments. But in my haste, I reversed "inductive" and "deductive." Qualitative methods are inductive because they go from observations to creating meaning: a reasonable conclusion based on what you saw. Quantitative methods are deductive. You start with an argument and then produce the evidence to support it. Sorry, just a typo. And of all the writers about this stuff, I really recommend Creswell. Patton's great, too. I happened to have served on a doctoral committee with Michael, and have been a guest in his home. Of course, I'm not even qualified to mow his lawn, much less expound on such things.
Are you serious that you didn't have a full grasp of your qualitative methodology until after you started your dissertation? I would never have imagined that. My professor has behaved as if the inability to grasp this information when you first come across it is an indication that you're not quite ready for research. I, however, disagree and to know that you had have the same problem as I, makes me feel better; I do respect you. As for Rich being able to help me...he has an ability to make things very clear. I like that. I am forever in his debt. You know why? He is the one person, of whom I've spoken about my research problem, who has helped me to have that 'A Ha' moment. He turned the lights on, in my brain and now I can see my way clear. I'm his devoted fan, for life! Thanks Rich!!
Maybe I'm being a bit hard on myself, but I didn't fully "get it" with qualitative interviewing until I was writing the proposal. I mean, I knew how to connect the dots with the guide, but when writing the proposal, and with all the reading, that's when I became more "in tune" with the methodology. To be fair, my research methods courses leaned more quantitative than qualitative - and that no doubt had a bit to do with that also. At any rate - I'm almost done. I have a tentative defense date of March 9. It feels good! Shawn
First, good luck on your defense. Second, I really like Capella, and I think it's great that you took your Ph.D. there. One of the key aspects of qualitative research is to NOT formulate the research questions, methodologies, etc. before embarking. It is key to let the data emerge; the methods will follow. If you introduce too much structure too early, you tend to shape the phenomenon to the structure, instead of allowing it to emerge and be understood as itself. The bias you report is very common. I'm glad you were able to "go with the flow." Graduating is the key. I just hope you were able to do the research you needed to become the person you aimed to be. (Some of us decide, even after completing a perfectly good Ph.D., to fix that.)
I vote degree. A house is an abode. A degree is an integral part of your identity. Get that right. You can always sell a house, but your educational choices will define you for a lifetime.
Along that same frame thought then, I am not qualified to mow your lawn either. I am still a awe because you have managed to explain to me, in a couple posts, what I wasn't able to get from an entire semester of teachings! Thanks, again, buddy! LOL
Ahhh Shawn, I understand what you were feeling. Rich helped me connect the dots. I sent in my proposal a few days ago and I'm crossing my fingers and praying. March 9 is not far off. How are you feeling as the days get closer? Does it seem real? Would you tell us about it? I'd really like to know since I'm sure I'll doing the same thing, in the future. You don't need any of my wishes, for sure, but please know that I'll be there in spirit. OK?
Rich...no problem with the typo. I was able to figure that out. I like Creswell myself, but he is better for showing how to do things and not why they need to be done. I'm the type of thinker that needs to now why something needs to be done in order to know how to do it. Am I making sense? Either, this entire process hasn't been easy for me to grasp and I am sure my impending divorce has quite a bit to do with it. In retrospect, I should have waited to divorce until after my dissertation process.
It feels good. I'll be glad when the 9th gets here. I can't set the date for the defense until Monday, when I receive the draft from the Capella U Form and Style editor. I don't anticipate major issues, since I had one of the English Faculty at my community college edit the draft. She did a great job! Now we're shifting focus, getting our 16 yr old off to Southern Virginia University in the fall. She needs to come up with 5K more in scholarship money or else she's borrowing it. Shawn
