COURSE: Survey Research
PROFESSOR: Barbara B. Flynn
FACULTY INFORMATION
Barbara B. Flynn received a D.B.A. in operations management from Indiana University, a M.B.A. from Marquette University and a B.A. in psychology from Ripon College. She is currently a visiting professor of operations management at Fundação Getulio Vargas and the Richard M. and Myra Louise Buskirk Professor of Manufacturing Management at Indiana University. Her previous academic appointments have been at Wake Forest University, Iowa State University and Louisiana State University. She is a Fellow of the Decision Sciences Institute and recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Decision Sciences Institute and the Distinguished Scholar Award from the Operations Management division of the Academy of Management. Professor Flynn has received research funding from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education and the Center for Innovation Management Studies. She is director of the High Performance Manufacturing global research group, which studies the relationship between manufacturing practices and performance in various organizational and national cultures using a large-scale global survey. Professor Flynn is Co-Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Supply Chain Management, former Editor-in-Chief and founding editor of Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, and former Editor-in-Chief of Quality Management Journal. She is a past President of the Decision Sciences Institute and has held leadership positions within the Decision Sciences Institute, Academy of Management, Institute for Management Sciences (TIMS) and APICS.
Email address: Barbara.Flynn@fgv.br
Office at Itapeva 474 building, 8th floor.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course will develop participants’ ability to plan, develop and publish survey research in Operations Management and related areas, with a particular focus on writing articles targeted at international journals. Through class discussion and activities related to important topics relevant to survey research and in-depth analysis of journal article construction and writing style, participants will develop important skills related to publishing survey research in international journals. At the end of the course, each participant will present a proposal for an original survey research project and receive feedback from the other participants.The course will also focus on success strategies for publishing empirical research of all types in high quality international journals, through class discussion, article critique and activities that focus on topics that are important to empirical researchers.
The course is targeted at graduate students who are in the process of developing their own research projects. PhD students at all levels, including first year students, are encouraged to join the class. Advanced masters degree students with some familiarity with research methods are also encouraged to participate. Researchers who have already completed their PhDs, but would like to develop their ability to design and execute survey research to publish internationally will also benefit from this course.
MATERIALS
There is no assigned textbook. However, if you are not familiar with survey research methods, I recommend getting a good textbook for reference. One that is particularly well done is: Fink, Arlene, The Survey Kit, second edition. Sage Publications. This is a set of short books related to various important aspects of survey research. You will find them helpful in the future, as you design and implement your own survey research studies.
The primary course materials will be a set of articles, which will be provided in eClass.
GRADING AND EVALUATION
| Opportunity | % of Grade |
| Class discussion | 15 |
| Article reviews | 15 |
| Q-sort presentation | 5 |
| Elevator speeches | 5 |
| Writing assingments | 15 |
| Outlines | 5 |
| Checklists | 10 |
| Proposal presentation and outline | 15 |
| Exam | 15 |
| 100% |
- Class Discussion
Class discussion is a critical means of mastering the material covered in this class. As such, it is important that you attend every class session, arrive on time and be well prepared. During a typical class discussion, I will ask questions to move the discussion forward and ensure that the key topics are covered, however, you and your classmates will be responsible for providing the content that we discuss. Thus, it is imperative that you read and reflect upon the assigned materials prior to class and that you come to class ready to actively contribute to the discussion. Each
class session will consist of: 1) A detailed discussion of the assigned discussion article(s), 2) A detailed discussion of the article assigned for review, 3) A detailed discussion of one section of the research paper that you selected for focus, and 4) Another class activity. You are expected to be well prepared and actively participate in all of these elements and will receive a discussion grade for every class session. Because much of the learning will take place from participation in the discussion, there is no way to make up for a missed discussion.
- Article Reviews
Reviewing the work of your colleagues and serving as a reviewer is an important part of learning how to do your own research. You will be writing a written review of each of seven survey research articles, which we will discuss during class. Some will be published articles, while others will be manuscripts. You should write your review in detail, from the perspective of a journal reviewer, following the template that we will discuss during the first class session. We will spend substantial class time discussing the review articles, emphasizing keys to effectively publishing in international journals, in order to help you develop an understanding of is expected of you as an author. For the first day of class, you should prepare the assigned review article for discussion during class, but should not turn in a written review.
- Outlines and Checklists
Each day of the course will focus on a different section of a survey research article. Through critique of published articles and our class discussion, you will develop a better understanding of the key characteristics of each section. You will submit an outline of the day’s section of your selected article prior to class, which will serve as the basis for our discussion. Based on the understanding that you develop during class, you will develop a checklist for each section to guide you as you do your future research. This checklist can be a list of do’s and don’ts, an outline or any other format that you find helpful. It should be in sufficient detail to be of use in the future, so please be sure to take good notes during our class discussion. You will develop a total of eight checklists (research question, abstract, introduction, literature review, method, results, conclusion and discussion), to be handed in a week after the classes on the relevant sections have been completed.
- Writing Assignments
There will be four writing assignments that are designed to help you apply and better understand the material that we are discussing during class. Details about each assignment will be provided during class. Each writing assignment will be due a week after the assignment has been made.
- Q-sort Presentation and Elevator Speeches
There will be several short presentations that you will make during class. Details about these will be provided during class.
- Proposal
You will be designing and a survey research project on the topic of your choice. This should be a new project (not the research that you are using for your thesis, if you are an advanced student). Based on the guidelines that we develop during class, you will develop a detailed outline of your proposed project and present it during class on December 17. You will receive feedback on your presentation from your classmates and me. You should make note of the important points and address them as you prepare the final written project, which is due on December 31. Your final written project will include a written outline, a list of the key comments that you received during your presentation on December 17 and a description of how you addressed each of these points as you prepared your final proposal outline.
- Exam
There will be a final exam given during class on December 17. It will cover material from the assigned reading and class discussion.
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES
| Date | Topic | Discussion Article(s) | Review Article | Assignments1 |
| 08/10 | Survey Research |
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| 25/10 | Writing Style and Structure |
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| 29/10 | Theoretical Foundation |
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| 08/11 | Measurement Scale Development |
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| 12/11 | Measurement Scale Development |
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| 12/12 | Measurement Scale Refinement |
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| 13/12 | Ethical Considerations |
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| 17/12 | Presentation and Exam |
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1 To be submitted to eclass prior to the start of the class session, unless otherwise specified.
DISCUSSION ARTICLES
Barley, S.B., 1989. When I write my masterpiece: Thoughts on what makes a paper interesting. Academy of Management Journal, 49(1), 16-20.
Bartunek, J.M., Rynes, S.L. and Ireland, D.W. 2006. What makes research interesting, and why does it matter? Academy of Management Journal, 49(1), 9-16.
Farh, J-L, Canella, A.A. and Lee, C., 2006. Translation approaches to scale development in Chinese management research. Management and Organizational Research, 2(3), 301-318.
Flynn, B.B., Pagell, M. and Fugate, B., 2017. Survey research design in supply chain management: The need for evolution in our expectations. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 54(1), 1-15.
Ketokivi, M. and McIntosh, C.N., 2017. Addressing the endogeneity dilemma in operations management research: Theoretical, empirical and pragmatic considerations. Journal of Operations Management, 52, 1-17.
Knight, L. and Tate, W.L., 2018. Quality and integrity in PSM/OSCM research. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, June.
Marlow, M.A., 2014. Writing articles like a native English speaker. Clinics, 69(3), 153-157.
Podsakoff, P.M. and Organ, D.W. 1986. Self-reports in organizational research: Problems and prospects. Journal of Management, 12(4), 531-544.
